What we’ve learned from the Oasis announcement – and the unanswered questions
It is the news fans have waited 15 years for – Liam and Noel Gallagher are finally reuniting Oasis for a comeback tour.
They will play 14 shows across the UK and Ireland in 2025 – an announcement made on Tuesday morning following weeks of speculation.
Liam and Noel Gallagher both shared the news on social media.
Tickets go on sale on Saturday, and further Oasis shows outside Europe are also being planned.
Here’s what else we’ve learned from the reunion announcement – and the questions yet to be answered.
The first photo
Pic: Simon Emmett
Noel Gallagher famously left the band, signalling the end of Oasis (or so we thought at the time), back in 2009. The brothers have not been pictured in public together since – so Simon Emmett, the photographer who took this photographer, has captured a moment in history.
The new image comes after they met for a photoshoot in London last month, Sky News understands.
The pair were “laughing and joking” with each other as they stood in front of the camera, according to reports, with a source close to the brothers confirming to The Mirror newspaper that they did pose together.
“I know it looks like it could be photoshopped but they were both there and they have met up,” the source reportedly said. “They were laughing and joking. It was great to see after all the years apart.”
Is Glastonbury off the cards? What about a Wembley record?
Liam Gallagher played Glastonbury as a solo artist in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Ahead of the official announcement from Oasis, tabloid reports suggested the band would also be headlining Glastonbury.
It seemed to make sense, especially as the festival will be taking a break for a fallow year in 2026. Next year’s should be a big one.
The band previously headlined the festival in 1995 and 2004 and Liam and Noel have played separately in recent years.
However, their statement says the UK and Ireland shows will be their only shows in Europe next year, seemingly quashing those rumours. Glastonbury falls before what is currently the first show in Cardiff on 4 July. Would the Gallaghers really want to share a stage for their first performance?
There were also reports they had booked 10 dates for Wembley – which would break Taylor Swift’s recently set record of eight. So far, only four are announced – but if tickets sell out quickly on Saturday, as expected, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more dates are added.
Are Liam and Noel friends again?
The brothers pictured ahead of their famous Knebworth gigs in 1996. Pic: Stefan Rousseau/PA
After years of exchanging insults, some joking but some deadly serious, the Gallagher brothers deciding to appear on stage together again is huge – but the statement announcing their comeback does not reveal how and why they finally kissed and made up.
“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
This was the official statement from Oasis confirming the reunion. Further details said there was “no great revelatory moment”, but rather “the gradual realisation that the time is right”. This is it as far as it goes when it comes to addressing their infamous fall-out.
There is no real acknowledgement of the fact they haven’t been on speaking terms for years. Fans will be hoping this is about building bridges and friendship, as well as bringing the music back.
The rest of the band
The Oasis line-up in 1997 (L-R): Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan and Alan White. Pic: Reuters
So far, it has only been confirmed that Liam and Noel will reunite, with no details yet of the musicians who will join them on stage.
The band went through numerous incarnations after forming in 1991 with Liam, rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll – later being joined by Noel.
Gem Archer, who took over rhythm guitar duties following Bonehead’s departure in 1999, has managed to remain close to both Gallaghers, performing in Liam’s Beady Eye post-Oasis and now currently part of Noel’s High Flying Birds. Chris Sharrock, who was in the band from 2008-09 and is the only other Oasis member to join the brothers in their respective solo projects, seems the most likely presence on drums.
In recent years, Bonehead has performed with Liam, with the presumption being that he and Noel were not talking – but, replying to a fan on social media last year, he revealed the pair had recently spoken and were on good terms.
It is highly unlikely Guigsy or McCarroll will be joining the reunion. Drummer McCarroll was fired in 1995, before the band went from being the next big thing to the biggest band on the planet, while bassist Guigsy has rarely been seen in public since he quit the band weeks after Bonehead. He declined to take part in the Supersonic film in 2016 and in 2019 Liam said: “Not seen him since he left the band and he only lives up the road.”
There is also Andy Bell, who performed with Beady Eye but was said to have a frosty relationship with Noel. However, in 2023 his band Ride supported High Flying Birds. Alan White, Oasis’s longest-serving drummer, was fired from the band in 2004, with the reasons remaining unclear; his replacement, Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo, performed with the band from 2004 until 2008, but reportedly fell out with Noel.
Get saving
Get booking your hotels for Wembley and other venues now. File pic: iStock
The reaction, unsurprisingly, has been significant. Thousands and thousands of people will want to get their hands on those tickets.
If you don’t live in any of the gig cities, you might need somewhere to stay, too. But get in there quickly.
Hotel prices for Oasis’s first night at Wembley are already as much as three times as expensive as the week before, our news correspondent Matthew Thompson reported.
He said a quick look at hotels following the announcement showed some don’t have rooms available for the 25 and 26 July and 2 and 3 August gigs, while others appear to have seen an increase in price.
“I had a quick look at a Holiday Inn a couple of miles away the week before the concert, it’s £195 a night. The first night of the concert, it’s £594 a night,” he reported.
“So already people are getting on the hotel rooms even before the tickets go on sale. That gives you some sense of just how much demand there is for these tickets.”
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
Layton has been described as a ‘beautiful soul’
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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