Music Folks
Oasis: The Brothers Who Ruled Britpop, Split and Came Back
October 13, 2026 · by Music Folks
For a few years in the mid-’90s, Oasis were the biggest band in Britain, and two brothers from Manchester made sure everyone knew it. Then they spent 15 years not speaking. In 2025 they finally got back on stage together.
Quick Facts
- Formed: 1991, Manchester, England
- Key members: Liam Gallagher (vocals), Noel Gallagher (guitar, songwriter)
- Debut album: Definitely Maybe (August 29, 1994)
- Records sold: more than 100 million worldwide
- UK No. 1s: eight singles and eight albums
From the Boardwalk to Knebworth
Oasis began in 1991 with Liam Gallagher, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and Tony McCarroll. They played their first gig at Manchester’s Boardwalk club on August 14 that year. Liam’s older brother Noel joined a few months later and took over the songwriting, and everything changed.
Definitely Maybe went straight to No. 1 in the UK in 1994 and was, at the time, the fastest-selling debut album in British history. A year later (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? spent ten weeks at No. 1 and became the fifth-best-selling album in UK chart history.
The peak came on August 10 and 11, 1996, at Knebworth Park: two nights in front of 125,000 people each. About 2.5 million people applied for the 250,000 tickets.
Fights, Splits and a Long Silence
The albums kept coming. Be Here Now (1997) sold 696,000 copies in its first week in the UK, and Dig Out Your Soul (2008) was the last. So did the rows between the brothers. On August 28, 2009, backstage at the Rock en Seine festival near Paris, Noel quit for good. Liam carried on with the rest of the band as Beady Eye until 2014.
The Reunion Nobody Thought Would Happen
On August 27, 2024, almost exactly 15 years after the split, Oasis announced they were back. The Oasis Live ’25 tour opened on July 4, 2025, at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, their first show in 16 years. It grew from UK and Ireland dates into a world tour that ended in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 23, 2025.
In 2026 Oasis were voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with the ceremony set for November 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Will there be new music? Late in 2025 Liam said the band would have to “sit down and discuss” what comes next. For now, nothing new has been confirmed.