Five toe-tapping spots on the Oasis trail
Hype continues to swirl around the big Oasis reunion. Before the Britpop icons head to Melbourne and Sydney in October and November, they will do a massive sold-out tour of the UK and Ireland (then North America, South Korea and Japan).
The Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, will perform together for the first time since the band’s messy 2009 break-up, with everything kicking off in Cardiff on July 4 when the 70,000-plus crowd will be mad for it, belting out the likes of Champagne Supernova and Wonderwall. Or at least that’s The Masterplan.
Fans can get into the spirit by hitting the following Supersonic spots with links to Oasis (and discover some surprising gems in the localities). And if you didn’t manage to get concert tickets, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, Don’t Look Back In Anger, and keep checking the ticketing platforms (Ticketmaster or Twickets) for resale tickets. D’You Know What I Mean?
MANCHESTER
The siblings were born to Irish parents in south Manchester, where they would flick through the second-hand vinyls at Sifters Records shop. (Mr Sifter earned a mention in their song Shakermaker and he and the store are still there, on Fog Lane, next to Burnage train station, a nine-minute ride from Manchester Piccadilly.)
Noel later lived in a city-centre apartment, India House, an ornate former Edwardian packing warehouse, where he penned tunes for Definitely Maybe, Oasis’ debut album.
That’s a stroll from the Boardwalk, an old music venue where the band gigged early on. For their comeback, they have five dates at Heaton Park, the city’s biggest green space, in Prestwich, north Manchester, where they last played 16 years ago.
A mural of Noel and Liam has been painted in Prestwich near Besses o’ th’ Barn metro station, which is named after one of the oldest brass bands in the world (founded here in 1818 and still going). You’ll see other Oasis-tinged murals, plus vinyls, posters, books and mosaics across Manchester, including at Afflecks, a quirky shopping emporium in the Northern Quarter, and the Cast No Shadow piece, which reflects the name of the band’s 1995 tune into a canal in the neighbouring Ancoats district.
In July an interactive city-wide art trail, including an installation comprising broken guitars, will be launched to coincide with Oasis’ return home.
GLASGOW
In the early 1990s, Noel was a roadie and technician for the Manchester band Inspiral Carpets while harbouring dreams that Oasis — formerly called The Rain — would make it.
He didn’t have to wait long. Noel’s guitar chords and songwriting, allied with Liam’s vocals and rock-n-roll-star swagger, plus their stirring cover of The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus, caught the ear and eye of Scotsman Alan McGee, the founder of Creation Records. So impressed was McGee by Oasis’ 1993 performance at King Tut’s Wah Wah Club that he signed them on the spot.
You’ll hear more about this legendary gig on musically themed walking tours of Glasgow, a UNESCO City of Music that is celebrating its 850th birthday with an array of cultural festivities in 2025. Still one of Scotland’s most beloved live venues, King Tut’s — capacity 300 — couldn’t be more different from Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium, the nation’s temple of rugby where nightly scrums of 70,000 people will be watching Oasis on August 8, 9 and 12.
LONDON
Buoyed by TV coverage, radio airtime and record sales, the Gallaghers relocated south, to London, where the Britpop scene was brewing amid a haze of cigarettes and alcohol.
Oasis’ rivalry with Blur was bubbling too, apparently stoked by a row at The Good Mixer, one of the musically minded boozers dotting the district of Camden. Liam still lives fairly close by — you may see him on his morning jogs around rolling Hampstead Heath, north London’s answer to Heaton Park.
Copious other spots in the capital boast Oasis connections. One is Berwick Street, a lively strip in Soho that featured on the cover of the band’s second album, What’s The Story, Morning Glory? Mosey down the street, browse LPs in stores like Sister Ray and Reckless Records, and enjoy drinks or jukebox tunes in a pub like The Blue Posts.
That venue also stages live music, as does the nearby 100 Club on Oxford Street, where, in March, Noel was in the audience to watch a re-formed Sex Pistols — now fronted by 40-year-old punk-rock firebrand Frank Carter — play this venue for the first time in 50 years.
CROMFORD
The gorgeous, peaceful countryside of Derbyshire may not be the first place you’d associate with Oasis. But it’s the setting for one of their most renowned single covers.
Fans still flock here to take photographs at Cromford train station, which appeared on the sleeve of the Some Might Say single released in 1995. Cromford is still a stop on the Derwent Valley line, which runs between Nottingham, Derby and Matlock.
On the platform, the heritage-listed former waiting room has been converted into a holiday let, The Waiting Room Holiday Cottage. While you’re here, branch out to savour the treasures on the station’s doorstep. Cromford edges the Peak District National Park, and is part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage site, so you can hike in and around dramatic limestone gorges and visit the world’s first water-powered cotton spinning mill.
It was built in 1771 by Sir Richard Arkwright, who later brought his mills to Manchester, helping to transform it into the world’s first industrial city — one that would attract migrants from around the globe seeking work, including Gallaghers from Ireland.
KNEBWORTH
From Madison Square Garden and Wembley Stadium to Rock in Rio and Glastonbury, Oasis have appeared at some of the world’s most famous venues and festivals.
But none have gone down in folklore like their 1996 shows at Knebworth, a sprawling country estate with a grand Tudor home in Hertfordshire, north of London. More than 250,000 revellers watched the band perform over two nights, with many music critics regarding this as peak Oasis.
Knebworth’s parkland has also staged concerts by other rock legends, including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen, who played their final concert with Freddie Mercury here in 1986.
Your entrance ticket at Knebworth House includes access to its exhibitions, such as Live At Knebworth, which celebrates the estate’s musical legacy, and On Location, which shines a spotlight on the productions that have been filmed here, from Batman and The Crown to The King’s Speech and Paddington 2.
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