Oasis have confirmed it’s happening – Noel and Liam Gallagher are reuniting, with huge shows planned for 2025.
The announcement comes just ahead of the 30th anniversary of Oasis‘s seminal debut album Definitely Maybe, released on 29 August 1994, and 15 years since the last time the brothers performed together before their infamous fall-out.
Both Noel and Liam Gallagher shared the news on their social media sites, saying: “This is it, this is happening.” They will play four Wembley concerts – as well as four Manchester gigs and shows in Scotland, Wales and Ireland in July and August 2025.
Oasis said: “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
The brothers have been pictured together for the first time in years to mark the announcement, with the photograph taken in London in July.
Image: Liam and Noel Gallagher, pictured at the famous Oasis Knebworth gigs, are finally reuniting. Pic: Times Newspapers/Shutterstock
‘The time is right’
Revealing details about why the reunion is finally happening now, the band’s statement said there had been “no great revelatory moment”, but rather “the gradual realisation that the time is right”.
However, they said the timing “must be a subconscious influence”, coming so close to the Definitely Maybe anniversary.
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The shows announced will be the only gigs in Europe next year, they said, potentially quashing rumours of a headline slot at Glastonbury. Plans are also under way for shows further afield later in 2025.
Details of who else from Oasis’s previous line-ups will rejoin them, or of other musicians in the pipeline, have yet to be confirmed.
Image: Definitely Maybe was released 30 years ago. Pic: CBW/Alamy
Liam had also dropped hints beforehand, telling a user on X: “See you down the front.” He also shared a post saying he “never did like that word FORMER”.
It comes after a run of solo shows for Liam marking the Definitely Maybe anniversary, while older brother Noel, 57,was playing shows during the summer with his band, the High Flying Birds.
During one Definitely Maybe gig, Liam, 51, made a point of dedicating Half The World Away to his “little brother”, saying he was “still playing hard to get”.
But at one of Noel’s shows, when apparently asked about Liam by a fan, the Oasis songwriter said his younger brother should be “thankful for my genius” and told the crowd: “Just remember who wrote all the f***ing songs.”
Image: Oasis on Top Of The Pops at BBC TV Studios in 2002. Pic: AP Photo/Mark Allan
What happened in 2009?
Formed in the early 1990s, Oasis rose to fame with songs such as Supersonic, Cigarettes & Alcohol and Live Forever, before second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory gave them their first number one single, Some Might Say, the following year.
With other hits including Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back In Anger, Stand By Me, Lyla and The Importance Of Being Idle, became one of the biggest bands in British music history.
When and where will the Oasis gigs take place?
4 July 2025 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff
5 July 2025 – Principality Stadium, Cardiff
11 July 2025 – Heaton Park, Manchester
12 July 2025 – Heaton Park, Manchester
19 July 2025 – Heaton Park, Manchester
20 July 2025 – Heaton Park, Manchester
25 July 2025 – Wembley Stadium, London
26 July 2025 – Wembley Stadium, London
2 August 2025 – Wembley Stadium, London
3 August 2025 – Wembley Stadium, London
8 August 2025 – Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
9 August 2025 – Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
16 August 2025 – Croke Park, Dublin
17 August 2025 – Croke Park, Dublin
Their infamous break-up, prompted by a backstage brawl before they had even made it on stage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in August 2009, has only added to the band’s legendary status.
It happened when Liam damaged one of his elder brother’s guitars, causing Noel to dramatically quit – ending the partnership that had propelled them to fame and fortune.
“It is with some sadness and great relief… I quit Oasis tonight,” Noel later said in a statement. “People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
With no less swagger than you’d expect from one of the biggest bands in British rock, “the great wait is over” is how Oasis put news of their reunion.
The prospect of Noel and Liam Gallagher ever performing together again had felt less likely with every passing year but, brotherly spats have now been put on ice.
The rumoured record-breaking 10 nights at Wembley are only four, for now, but how sales go will likely dictate whether or not extra dates can be magically made available. As Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham told Sky News, “two lads from Manchester” are generously going to be “giving London a boost”.
So what are their motivations? While some may cynically interpret the 14 gigs as a cash-grab, the dates in so many different parts of the UK and Ireland certainly feel like a commitment to doing this for the fans.
So pull out your parkas. Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Because Oasis are back. The question of course being, given their history, whether the boys will actually manage to make it through the full run.
The feud continued over the years, with the pair exchanging insults publicly – Liam on social media, Noel more when asked about his brother in interviews – but reportedly never speaking in person.
When his documentary As It Was was released in 2019, Liam told Sky News he had wanted to “break [Noel’s] jaw” after he apparently refused permission for Oasis music to be featured in the film.
But after 15 years, they have now made amends – giving thousands of Oasis fans the chance to see them play live once again.
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Previously unheard versions of tracks including Live Forever, Cigarettes & Alcohol and Rock ‘n’ Roll star from the first recording session for Definitely Maybe will also be put out on Friday, marking the anniversary.
In expectation of the official announcement of the reunion tour, Spotify said Oasis streams increased more than 160% globally between Monday and the previous week.
The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.
The US president told reporters in Canada: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”
Sir Keir said the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, describing it as a “really important agreement”.
“So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength,” the prime minister added.
Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.
However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.
What exactly does trade deal being ‘done’ mean?
The government says the US “has committed” to removing tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on UK aerospace goods, such as engines and aircraft parts, which currently stand at 10%.
That is “expected to come into force by the end of the month”.
Tariffs on car imports will drop from 27.5% to 10%, the government says, which “saves car manufacturers hundreds of millions a year, and protects tens of thousands of jobs”.
The White House says there will be a quote of 100,000 cars eligible for import at that level each year.
But on steel, the story is a little more complicated.
The UK is the only country exempted from the global 50% tariff rate on steel – which means the UK rate remains at the original level of 25%.
That tariff was expected to be lifted entirely, but the government now says it will “continue to go further and make progress towards 0% tariffs on core steel products as agreed”.
The White House says the US will “promptly construct a quota at most-favoured-nation rates for steel and aluminium articles”.
Other key parts of the deal include import and export quotas for beef – and the government is keen to emphasise that “any US imports will need to meet UK food safety standards”.
There is no change to tariffs on pharmaceuticals for the moment, and the government says “work will continue to protect industry from any further tariffs imposed”.
The White House says they “committed to negotiate significantly preferential treatment outcomes”.
Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”
He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.
“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”
Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.
As the pair exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, Mr Trump held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.
Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Sir Keir quickly stooped to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”
Image: Sir Keir Starmer picks up paper from the UK-US trade deal after Donald Trump dropped it at the G7 summit. Pic: Reuters
The US president also appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.
In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.
Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.
Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, Sky News can reveal.
Dominic Cummings, who was working for Lord Gove at the time, has told Sky News that officials in the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cummings said that officials wanted a “total cover-up”.
The revelation shines a light on the institutional reluctance of some key officials in central government to publicly highlight the grooming gang scandal.
In 2011, Rotherham Council approached the Department for Education asking for help following inquiries by The Times. The paper’s then chief reporter, the late Andrew Norfolk, was asking about sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Rotherham.
The council went to Lord Gove’s Department for Education for help. Officials considered the request and then recommended to Lord Gove’s office that the minister back a judicial review which might, if successful, stop The Times publishing the story.
Lord Gove rejected the request on the advice of Mr Cummings. Sources have independently confirmed Mr Cummings’ account.
Image: Education Secretary Michael Gove in 2011. Pic: PA
Mr Cummings told Sky News: “Officials came to me in the Department of Education and said: ‘There’s this Times journalist who wants to write the story about these gangs. The local authority wants to judicially review it and stop The Times publishing the story’.
“So I went to Michael Gove and said: ‘This council is trying to actually stop this and they’re going to use judicial review. You should tell the council that far from siding with the council to stop The Times you will write to the judge and hand over a whole bunch of documents and actually blow up the council’s JR (judicial review).’
“Some officials wanted a total cover-up and were on the side of the council…
“They wanted to help the local council do the cover-up and stop The Times’ reporting, but other officials, including in the DfE private office, said this is completely outrageous and we should blow it up. Gove did, the judicial review got blown up, Norfolk stories ran.”
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3:18
Grooming gangs victim speaks out
The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times’ publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain.
A second source told Sky News that the advice from officials was to side with Rotherham Council and its attempts to stop publication of details it did not want in the public domain.
One of the motivations cited for stopping publication would be to prevent the identities of abused children entering the public domain.
There was also a fear that publication could set back the existing attempts to halt the scandal, although incidents of abuse continued for many years after these cases.
Sources suggested that there is also a natural risk aversion amongst officials to publicity of this sort.
Mr Cummings, who ran the Vote Leave Brexit campaign and was Boris Johnson’s right-hand man in Downing Street, has long pushed for a national inquiry into grooming gangs to expose failures at the heart of government.
He said the inquiry, announced today, “will be a total s**tshow for Whitehall because it will reveal how much Whitehall worked to try and cover up the whole thing.”
He also described Mr Johnson, with whom he has a long-standing animus, as a “moron’ for saying that money spent on inquiries into historic child sexual abuse had been “spaffed up the wall”.
Asked by Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates why he had not pushed for a public inquiry himself when he worked in Number 10 in 2019-20, Mr Cummings said Brexit and then COVID had taken precedence.
“There are a million things that I wanted to do but in 2019 we were dealing with the constitutional crisis,” he said.
The Department for Education and Rotherham Council have been approached for comment.
Flawed data has been used repeatedly to dismiss claims about “Asian grooming gangs”, Baroness Louise Casey has said in a new report, as she called for a new national inquiry.
The government has accepted her recommendations to introduce compulsory collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in grooming cases, and for a review of police records to launch new criminal investigations into historic child sexual exploitation cases.
Image: Baroness Louise Casey carried out the review. Pic: PA
The crossbench peer has produced an audit of sexual abuse carried out by grooming gangs in England and Wales, after she was asked by the prime minister to review new and existing data, including the ethnicity and demographics of these gangs.
In her report, she has warned authorities that children need to be seen “as children” and called for a tightening of the laws around the age of consent so that any penetrative sexual activity with a child under 16 is classified as rape. This is “to reduce uncertainty which adults can exploit to avoid or reduce the punishments that should be imposed for their crimes”, she added.
Baroness Casey said: “Despite the age of consent being 16, we have found too many examples of child sexual exploitation criminal cases being dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges where a 13 to 15-year-old had been ‘in love with’ or ‘had consented to’ sex with the perpetrator.”
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3:18
Grooming gangs victim speaks out
The peer has called for a nationwide probe into the exploitation of children by gangs of men.
She has not recommended another over-arching inquiry of the kind conducted by Professor Alexis Jay, and suggests the national probe should be time-limited.
The national inquiry will direct local investigations and hold institutions to account for past failures.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the inquiry’s “purpose is to challenge what the audit describes as continued denial, resistance and legal wrangling among local agencies”.
On the issue of ethnicity, Baroness Casey said police data was not sufficient to draw conclusions as it had been “shied away from”, and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators.
‘Flawed data’
However, having examined local data in three police force areas, she found “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as in the significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity identified in local reviews and high-profile child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country, to at least warrant further examination”.
She added: “Despite reviews, reports and inquiries raising questions about men from Asian or Pakistani backgrounds grooming and sexually exploiting young white girls, the system has consistently failed to fully acknowledge this or collect accurate data so it can be examined effectively.
“Instead, flawed data is used repeatedly to dismiss claims about ‘Asian grooming gangs’ as sensationalised, biased or untrue.
“This does a disservice to victims and indeed all law-abiding people in Asian communities and plays into the hands of those who want to exploit it to sow division.”
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3:07
From January: Grooming gangs: What happened?
The baroness hit out at the failure of policing data and intelligence for having multiple systems which do not communicate with each other.
She also criticised “an ambivalent attitude to adolescent girls both in society and in the culture of many organisations”, too often judging them as adults.
‘Deep-rooted failure’
Responding to Baroness Casey’s review, Ms Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons: “The findings of her audit are damning.
“At its heart, she identifies a deep-rooted failure to treat children as children. A continued failure to protect children and teenage girls from rape, from exploitation, and serious violence.
She added: “Baroness Casey found ‘blindness, ignorance, prejudice, defensiveness and even good but misdirected intentions’ all played a part in this collective failure.”
Ms Cooper said she will take immediate action on all 12 recommendations from the report, adding: “We cannot afford more wasted years repeating the same mistakes or shouting at each other across this House rather than delivering real change.”
Image: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper responded to the report. Pic: PA
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “After months of pressure, the prime minister has finally accepted our calls for a full statutory national inquiry into the grooming gangs.
“We must remember that this is not a victory for politicians, especially the ones like the home secretary, who had to be dragged to this position, or the prime minister. This is a victory for the survivors who have been calling for this for years.”
Ms Badenoch added: “The prime minister’s handling of this scandal is an extraordinary failure of leadership. His judgement has once again been found wanting.
“Since he became prime minister, he and the home secretary dismissed calls for an inquiry because they did not want to cause a stir.
“They accused those of us demanding justice for the victims of this scandal as, and I quote, ‘jumping on a far right bandwagon’, a claim the prime minister’s official spokesman restated this weekend – shameful.”
The government has promised new laws to protect children and support victims so they “stop being blamed for the crimes committed against them”.