Fight for Oasis tickets will 'absolutely dwarf Taylor Swift', music journalist says

• ITV Granada Reports Andrew Fletcher took a look at what the Oasis announcement could be for

The fight for tickets to see the reunion of Oasis will "absolutely dwarf" that seen for Taylor Swift, a music expert has said.

Liam and Noel Gallagher heightened speculation a reunion could finally be on the horizon after the brothers teased a band announcement to be made on Tuesday 27 August.

Confirming the Oasis Live 25 tour just a day later, they said: “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

Fans of the Manchester rock band have pleaded with the brothers to regroup since they disbanded in 2009, prompted by a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris.

Reunion rumours have circulated over the years but intensified recently amid the apparent thawing in the feud between the pair.

The brothers will perform a 14-date UK and Ireland tour in 2025 including shows at London’s Wembley Stadium and Manchester’s Heaton Park.

Music expert Kevin McManus says demand for Oasis tickets will be huge, eclipsing the mass demand there was for Taylor Swift

With the gigs going ahead, music expert and former music journalist and DJ Kevin McManus says the want for tickets will be bigger than what any have experienced, despite the plethora of gigs.

"I think people forget but the two Knebworth shows they did almost 4% of the population tried to get tickets," he said.

"They sold out 250,000 tickets, but it was a ridiculous amount of people who tried to buy tickets, they were that huge.

"But this, because people have been talking about it for the past decade, it's going to be even bigger.

"I think everybody is going to try and get a ticket.

"Taylor Swift was obviously the big deal this summer, I think it's going to absolutely dwarf that, just because it's them and there's that talk.

"And there's always going to be that 'are they going to do it? Are they going to fall out before the first show, are they going to fall out after five shows? Will they do the rest?'

"There's always going to be that air of jeopardy."

The announcement came as the band’s classic debut album Definitely Maybe is set to mark its 30th anniversary with a special edition release.

Liam has been touring the UK this summer on his Definitely Maybe tour to celebrate the 30 years since its release in 1994.

Noel has been notably absent from the concerts but during a show in Cardiff, Liam made a point of dedicating Half The World Away to his “little brother”, saying he is “still playing hard to get”.

Liam also played a host of Oasis hits during his headline performance at Leeds Festival on Friday night.

Fans were also surprised to hear Noel pay Liam a string of compliments in an interview released last week with music journalist John Robb at Manchester’s Sifters Records in honour of the album’s 30th anniversary.

Reflecting on Liam’s performance on a number of their hits, Noel said: “It’s the delivery or the tone of his voice and the attitude.

“I don’t have the same attitude as him.”

Music journalist John Robb speaks about the announcement

Speaking ahead of the announcement, John Robb said it the rumoured gigs would "suit the whole narrative of Oasis".

He told ITV Granada Reports: "Everyone kind of knows what it will be, but I like the tease, don't give everything away at once.

"But it will be a fantastically amusing disappointment if it's something like a new t-shirt or something, won't it, after all this?

"Reading between the lines most people have worked out what this is going to be like, it'll be the 10 Wembley shows, the eight Heaton Parks and the Glastonbury, that would be the way to do it, wouldn't it?

"Make it the biggest shows of all time in the UK, there is no point in Oasis coming back and being the third biggest event ever, it has to be the biggest.

"It suits the whole narrative of Oasis, which is bigger, brasher and louder than everything else."

He said the band would "easily sell out" tickets, adding: "It sounds like a lot of tickets but it will go in 10 minutes.

"There will be a mad scramble, there will be some people buying tickets for all of them.

"They're not a critics band, they're a people's band, it's one of those bands that have sort of permeated British life, people forget the size of them."

Formed in 1991 in Burnage in South Manchester, the Britpop group rose to fame with hits like Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back In Anger and Stop Crying Your Heart Out.

The band's first gig was at the Boardwalk nightclub in August 1991, and within five years they were playing to 250,000 over two nights at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire.

They went on to become arguably one of the biggest bands in British music history before their break-up in 2009.

The gigs will be the first in 15 years for a band who have sold more than 75 million albums, and still have thousands of loyal fans and followers.

It is something Kevin McManus, from the British Music Experience in Liverpool, says will capture fans old and new.

"Even if you wouldn't class yourself as an Oasis fan there's going to be a handful of their songs you think 'oh they're amazing songs'," he said.

"And there are, Live Forever is amazing, Wonderwall is one of those songs everyone knows to Champagne Supernova, and that's before you even touch on Cigarettes and Alcohol.

"There's just so many, it's just such a great news story, it keeps the interest in the music alive, and people will discover and go back to listen to the old stuff."

The brothers went on to have successful separate careers, with Noel fronting the group Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Industry insiders predict Oasis will pocket £50million from the reunion.

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