JOSE JORDAN / AFP
Tens of thousands of ecstatic Oasis fans descended on Cardiff on Friday as the legendary Britpop band kicked off a highly anticipated reunion tour nearly 16 years after last performing together.
The concert at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital will be the first of a 41-date run of gigs spanning the globe, including the United States, Japan, Australia, and Brazil.
"I know I'm about to have one of the best moments of my life," French fan Charlotte Abisset, 37, a customer service manager at a winery, told AFP after arriving in Cardiff.
"I've been a fan of Oasis for 25 years, and I've never seen them. So I'm very emotional... I'm so happy to have gotten a ticket to the first concert of the tour."
Once-warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher will play in Cardiff on Friday and Saturday before five hometown gigs in Manchester starting on July 11.
Further sold-out British and Irish concerts will follow at London's Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium and Dublin's Croke Park, before the international leg of their Oasis Live '25 tour.
The band's 1990s gigs are the stuff of legend, but the chance to see them perform again was once considered a remote prospect, following one of music's most acrimonious break-ups in 2009.
"I've have been waiting for this one for the best part of 16 years," said Tom McIntosh, 38, an IT worker from Edinburgh.
"Now that we're getting closer to Cardiff... the excitement's kicking in," he told AFP aboard a morning train from London to the Welsh capital.
Plenty of other fans were aboard, sporting Oasis T-shirts, tour-branded jackets and bucket hats of the style famously worn by Liam Gallagher in the 1990s.
Oasis, famous for hits like "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall", announced their comeback tour last August, days before the 30th anniversary of their debut album, "Definitely Maybe".
The Manchester rockers split in 2009 with Noel saying he "simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer".
The brothers maintained a war of words about each other for more than a decade, performing individually over those years but never together.
The surprise announcement that they had finally put aside their feud to reunite sparked an online frenzy for tickets that devolved into outrage over sudden price hikes that saw Britain's competition watchdog threaten legal action.
Resale tickets costing thousands of pounds have surfaced, while online scams have also targeted fans.
The tour is expected to be a boon for the struggling UK economy, as fans spend on tickets, transport and accommodation.
"All that matters is how the people in that stadium feel," Liam Gallagher, 52, said on social media last week, as months of anticipation reach a climax.
Oasis will be supported in the UK by Richard Ashcroft, frontman of British rock band The Verve, as well as 1990s indie band Cast.
Illuminated drones displayed Oasis's classic logo above the Cardiff stadium late Wednesday, adding to the buzz around the tour's kick-off.
The stadium, which has a capacity of 74,500 for concerts, is set to have its retractable roof closed for both nights, with an incredible atmosphere expected.
Oasis reportedly began jamming together months ago, before starting rehearsals in London more recently.
The band has reportedly welcomed several new members for the tour, including a keyboard player and drummer.
Writing in the tour programme, Noel, 58, reflected on the band's enduring popularity, saying "a new generation recognises how Oasis wasn't manufactured".
"It was chaotic, and flawed, and not technically brilliant. We were rough and ready guys from a rehearsal room, and people recognised it."
© Agence France-Presse
