The B-Sides Part Two: Who Should Support Oasis on Live ’27?

Back in September 2024, before Oasis had played a single reunion show, I wrote ‘The B-Sides’, looking at the artists I thought should join Liam and Noel Gallagher on what was then the almost unimaginable Live ’25 tour.

At the time, none of us really knew what an Oasis reunion would look like. We didn't know who would be in the band, what they would play, whether Liam and Noel could make it through an entire tour together, or what kind of audience would turn up sixteen years after the split. Live ’25 answered most of those questions emphatically, taking Oasis around the world for 41 shows and bringing together people who had seen them at Maine Road and Knebworth with thousands who had never had the chance before. I was nine when Oasis split, and plenty of people at those shows were younger than me.

Live ’27 starts from a completely different position. Richard Ashcroft has already been confirmed as a special guest across all 38 dates, continuing a partnership that became one of the best parts of the UK and Ireland shows. ‘Sonnet’, ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ were enormous before Oasis even appeared, so bringing him back makes complete sense.

The interesting question is what happens underneath and alongside him.

Oasis are playing five nights at Celtic Park, 11 at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, shows across mainland Europe and America, two nights at Slane Castle and four at Knebworth. That gives them far more freedom than a normal stadium tour. Manchester does not need the same bill as Glasgow, Slane should feel different from Knebworth, and four nights at Knebworth certainly do not need to be identical.

The original Knebworth weekend in 1996 understood that. Ocean Colour Scene and Manic Street Preachers could share a bill with The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy because the point was not to find four smaller versions of Oasis. It was to put together a day that felt exciting in its own right.

That is what I would like Live ’27 to do.

Richard Ashcroft is already there. Here is who I would like to see join him.

Courteeners

If Oasis are playing 11 nights at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, Courteeners have to be part of the conversation.

The connection runs much deeper than both bands simply coming from Greater Manchester. Liam Fray has spoken about seeing Oasis at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium in 2000 and deciding with his friends that they should start a band themselves. Courteeners followed a few years later, eventually building an enormous audience and becoming one of the defining Manchester guitar bands of the late 2000s and beyond.

For plenty of people around my age, ‘St. Jude’ and the records that followed became part of our own relationship with Manchester music rather than something inherited entirely from the 1990s. ‘Not Nineteen Forever’, ‘What Took You So Long?’ and ‘Are You in Love with a Notion?’ have grown into communal songs in their own right, particularly in Manchester, where Liam Fray can often leave huge sections of them to the crowd.

Their outdoor shows have proved repeatedly that they understand this kind of occasion. I have seen Courteeners enough times to know that putting them in front of tens of thousands of people waiting for Oasis would not feel like a difficult support slot. They know how to turn a Manchester field into something that feels much bigger than a normal gig.

There would also be something satisfying about the full-circle element. Fray went to see Oasis as a young man, left wanting to form a band and could now find himself opening for them during an extraordinary 11-night run at Manchester City’s stadium. Across that many shows, there's surely room for Courteeners on at least a few of them.

Gerry Cinnamon

Five nights at Celtic Park need a Scottish artist capable of making the stadium feel alive long before Oasis appear, and Gerry Cinnamon feels almost tailor-made for it.

Something about his relationship with an audience suits these shows perfectly. Gerry doesn't need elaborate production or a huge band to make an enormous space feel communal. Give him a guitar, a microphone and tens of thousands of people who already know the words and ‘Belter’, ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Canter’ become massive almost immediately.

His rise has also happened largely on his own terms, through relentless touring, word of mouth, and songs people carried into festivals, pubs, football trips, and nights out before the traditional music industry fully caught up. That relationship with the audience is the important part. Even in enormous spaces, there is very little distance between Gerry and the people watching him.

I have seen that happen enough times to know what Celtic Park would be like. He would not feel like somebody filling time before Richard Ashcroft. He would make the afternoon part of the occasion, and five nights in Glasgow should surely have at least one major Scottish artist helping make those shows feel specific to the city.

Oasis, Richard Ashcroft and Gerry Cinnamon at Celtic Park already looks like a bill that needs little explanation.

Blossoms

I had Blossoms near the top of my Live ’25 wishlist, and I still think they make enormous sense for Live ’27.

Their connection with the Gallaghers was already established before the reunion. Noel Gallagher had taken them on the road during the High Flying Birds years, Liam had shared bills with them, and Blossoms had long existed comfortably within that wider Manchester orbit. Then their Wythenshawe Park show in August 2024 became part of the Oasis reunion story itself.

At the end of Blossoms’ biggest homecoming show to that point, the screens displayed the now-famous Oasis teaser announcing that something would happen at 8 am on August 27. The same teaser appeared around Liam Gallagher’s Reading Festival headline set and across the official Oasis, Liam and Noel accounts, meaning tens of thousands of people in Wythenshawe were among the first to watch the reunion campaign unfold in real time.

What makes the story even better is that Blossoms barely knew more than the audience. Tom Ogden later explained that their management had called only a few hours before the show to say a mysterious video needed to be played on the screens afterwards. Ogden and Joe Donovan ended up running towards the barrier after their own set so they could see what was happening. Anaïs Gallagher was there too and, according to Ogden, had been staying with him and his wife while the reunion rumours exploded, without knowing for certain what was coming.

For a few minutes, Blossoms’ own Manchester show became part of the announcement.

That is why I still think they were slightly hard done by when Live ’25 came around. After playing such a visible role in the build-up, I expected that connection to lead somewhere, even if it was only a handful of Manchester dates. Ogden said at the time that if Oasis asked, the band’s “bags are packed” and they would “smash it”, but the tour came and went without them.

By 2027, Blossoms will have ‘Songs From the Wedding Cake’ added to a catalogue already capable of carrying huge outdoor shows. They have the songs, the experience, the Manchester connection and an unusual place in the story of how the reunion itself was revealed.

Across 11 nights at the Etihad, there is surely room to put that right and get Blossoms on the bill.

Johnny Marr 

Johnny Marr might be one of the most natural choices on the entire list.

His friendship with Noel Gallagher stretches back decades. Marr recognised something in Noel early, lent him guitars when Oasis were still finding their feet and eventually watched instruments associated with The Smiths become part of Oasis history too. Most famously, Marr’s 1982 Rickenbacker later appeared at Noel’s feet on the cover of ‘Supersonic’.

The relationship continued long after Oasis became enormous. Marr and Noel remained friends, shared stages and worked together, with Marr appearing across several High Flying Birds records. This isn't a support slot created from a vague Manchester connection. They have a genuine history.

Then there is the catalogue. Marr can draw from a substantial solo career, but he also has ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’, ‘How Soon Is Now?’, ‘Panic’ and ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ available to him. Add ‘Easy Money’, ‘Hi Hello’ and the rest of his solo work, and he could put together a set that barely gives the stadium time to recover between songs.

Manchester is the obvious place for it. Marr’s guitars became part of Noel’s early story, their friendship survived everything that followed, and both have spent decades carrying different parts of the city’s musical history. Putting Johnny Marr on an Etihad bill would make sense long before anybody started counting how many Smiths songs he might play.

Sam Fender 

Sam Fender doesn't need to support Oasis, which is probably the biggest obstacle to this ever happening. He is already a stadium artist in his own right, having sold out London Stadium and played three nights at St James’ Park during the ‘People Watching’ era.

That is also why I would love to see it happen.

Fender has songs built for these spaces. ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, ‘The Borders’, ‘Will We Talk?’, ‘People Watching’ and especially ‘Seventeen Going Under’ can move from intensely personal writing into enormous communal moments without losing what made them work in the first place.

Knebworth is where I would make the call. This wouldn't need to become a full-tour support slot, and it probably couldn't. Instead, treat it as a special appearance on one of the four nights and make an already huge show slightly absurd.

Oasis, Richard Ashcroft and Sam Fender would be far too strong for a normal support bill, but Knebworth is one of the few places where that feels like an argument in its favour.

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys might be the biggest pipe dream on this entire list.

They have been away from the live circuit for a while, with their last shows taking place in 2023. Any proper return would therefore become an event before they had even played a note, and the idea of that return happening underneath Oasis at Knebworth is almost too ridiculous to suggest seriously.

Almost.

Arctic Monkeys certainly do not need the exposure. They can headline stadiums and festivals themselves, and a set containing ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’, ‘505’, ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, ‘R U Mine?’ and ‘There’d Better Be a Mirrorball’ would have the depth of a headline show rather than a support set.

That is part of the fun of it. For people around my age, Oasis were already part of music history by the time we were properly discovering bands for ourselves, while Arctic Monkeys were happening in real time. They were the band whose records, changing sound and increasingly huge shows, we got to experience as they happened. Seeing both names on the same Knebworth poster would bring those two experiences together without needing to pretend the bands ever sounded particularly alike.

A brilliant little connection also makes the idea feel even more appropriate. Long before Arctic Monkeys existed, Alex Turner and Matt Helders were already pretending to be Oasis. At their primary school leavers’ assembly, Turner, Helders and some friends mimed along to ‘Morning Glory’ using tennis rackets as instruments. Helders put on a bucket hat and played Liam Gallagher, while Turner took the role of the bass player. Turner later joked that they mostly just stood there doing what Oasis did on stage.

It obviously wasn't the beginning of Arctic Monkeys, and they weren't even really playing. Still, the image is almost too perfect: two kids from Sheffield pretending to be Oasis in a school assembly, years before they formed a band capable of headlining stadiums themselves.

Would Arctic Monkeys agree to support Oasis when their own comeback could fill those stadiums without anybody else on the poster? Probably not. But if Oasis are returning to Knebworth 31 years later and want one of those four nights to feel genuinely extraordinary, this is exactly the sort of unreasonable phone call somebody should make.

From tennis rackets at a school assembly to Arctic Monkeys and Oasis sharing Knebworth would be quite a way to complete the circle.

Pulp

If Oasis are going back to Knebworth, I want at least one additional support to come from the 1990s, and Pulp would be my choice.

Cast had that role on Live ’25 and, personally, I was less than impressed. Blur would obviously be extraordinary, but I cannot imagine Damon Albarn agreeing to open for Oasis, however entertaining the idea might be. Richard Ashcroft is already performing The Verve songs as part of his solo set, while an actual Verve reunion hardly feels imminent.

That leaves Pulp, and the more I think about it, the better they fit.

Oasis and Pulp were two of the biggest bands associated with Britpop, yet they sounded remarkably different. Oasis were direct, swaggering, and increasingly huge; Pulp were theatrical, strange, funny, and often uncomfortable, with Jarvis Cocker turning class, sex, boredom, and everyday British life into drama.

More importantly, Pulp didn't arrive purely to trade on the past. ‘More’ became their first studio album since ‘We Love Life’ and went straight to Number One, giving their return a new chapter rather than reducing it to another run through the old songs.

Those old songs would still be the reason Knebworth lost its mind. ‘Common People’, ‘Disco 2000’, ‘Babies’, ‘Do You Remember the First Time?’ and ‘Sorted for E’s & Wizz’ before Richard Ashcroft and Oasis would make the day look less like a normal stadium show and more like a festival.

If the four nights are going to lean heavily into the 1990s, Pulp are the band I would choose. They have the history, the songs, and enough new life in them to keep the whole thing from feeling like somebody rebuilding an old poster.

The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy

If Pulp would bring one side of the 1990s back to Knebworth, The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy would bring another.

Both played on the Saturday in 1996, alongside Ocean Colour Scene and Manic Street Preachers, with The Prodigy appearing directly before Oasis. It is easy to remember Knebworth purely as a landmark moment for Britpop, but the original bill was far broader than that.

The Chemical Brothers would be particularly fitting because their relationship with Noel Gallagher extends far beyond sharing that stage. Noel sang on ‘Setting Sun’, which became their first UK Number One single, before working with them again on ‘Let Forever Be’. Even at the height of Oasis, those collaborations showed that his interests stretched well beyond traditional guitar music.

Bringing The Chemical Brothers back would therefore feel less like a nostalgic cameo and more like revisiting a genuine musical connection. Put them on as the light starts to disappear over Knebworth and the entire atmosphere of the day changes before Richard Ashcroft and Oasis even arrive.

The Prodigy would offer something far more confrontational. Their 1996 appearance has become part of that weekend's mythology, with ‘Firestarter’, ‘Breathe’, ‘Voodoo People’, ‘Poison’ and ‘No Good (Start the Dance)’ making them almost absurdly well suited to playing directly before the biggest band in the country.

Keith Flint’s absence means The Prodigy can never be exactly what they were then, but that music still carries an extraordinary amount of force. I would not even put them on the same night as The Chemical Brothers. Across four Knebworth shows, give each of them their own return.

It would acknowledge 1996 without trying to reproduce it exactly.

Jungle and Young Fathers

Jungle and Young Fathers are on this list for a much simpler reason: Noel Gallagher loves them, and I would love to see either of them there.

Neither has been seriously linked with Live ’27. Young Fathers appeared on one of the fake posters that circulated before the Live ’25 announcement, but beyond that, there has been little reason to believe either act is under consideration.
That does not make the idea any less appealing.

Noel has spoken repeatedly about his admiration for Jungle, once describing their debut as one of his favourite records of the previous decade. Their mix of soul, funk, disco and electronic music could completely change the pace of an Oasis show, particularly in the early evening when a field is ready to turn into something closer to a dancefloor.

Young Fathers would be an even stranger booking. Noel has championed them for years and regularly praised their live shows, while their music moves between hip-hop, soul, electronics, noise and art-rock without settling comfortably into any of them.

It would also be refreshing to see Oasis book an act simply because they rate them. Not because the fanbase obviously overlaps, not because somebody played Knebworth in 1996 and not because the name looks safe on a poster.

If Jungle or Young Fathers appeared when the remaining supports were announced, I would be absolutely buzzing.

Wolf Alice 

Wolf Alice have already shared a huge outdoor stage with a Gallagher, supporting Liam at Finsbury Park in 2018. They are a considerably bigger band now.

A Wolf Alice set could move from ‘Giant Peach’ and ‘Smile’ into ‘Bros’, ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ and ‘The Last Man on Earth’ without ever feeling as though the band are simply repeating themselves. Few British groups of the last decade have built a catalogue with that much range while still sounding unmistakably like themselves.

They also have the live show for Knebworth. Ellie Rowsell can command a huge crowd without needing excessive production around her, while the heavier parts of the band’s catalogue would give the day a completely different energy.

By 2027, Wolf Alice may well be too big for a conventional support slot, but that problem seems to apply to quite a few of my favourite ideas.
For the Knebworth shows, I would ask anyway.

Jamie T

Jamie T is one of the easier names to imagine actually appearing.

He has more than enough songs for it. ‘Sheila’, ‘If You Got the Money’, ‘Sticks ’n’ Stones’ and ‘Zombie’ would require very little introduction to an Oasis crowd, while his 2026 return means there would be new music in the set rather than a complete reliance on records people have already been living with for nearly twenty years.

Jamie T also has a looseness that would work brilliantly in the middle of a long outdoor bill. His mix of indie, punk, hip-hop and storytelling has always made him hard to place neatly, but easy to imagine in front of a festival crowd.
Manchester or Knebworth would both suit him.

Not every booking needs to carry some enormous symbolic meaning. Jamie T has a brilliant catalogue and would be great fun before Oasis. Sometimes that is enough.

Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party

I would also like to see more female-led bands on the Live ’27 posters. Wolf Alice already make this list, while Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party would offer two completely different options.

Wet Leg have spent the last few years proving that their dry humour and strange, wiry guitar pop can translate to enormous stages. Songs that initially sounded deliberately detached have become huge festival moments, and there is a playfulness to their live show that could work brilliantly earlier in the day.

The Last Dinner Party would approach it from almost the opposite direction. They are theatrical, dramatic and completely unafraid of excess, with the kind of stage presence that suggests they would treat a 3 pm support slot as though they were headlining Wembley.

Both already have strong identities, which matters more to me than whether they look like an obvious Oasis booking.

Across a tour this long, there should be room for both.

Inhaler 

Slane Castle should have a major Irish band on the bill, and Inhaler feel like one of the most natural choices.

They already have a genuine relationship with the Gallagher family. Inhaler have been friends with Anaïs Gallagher for years, with Anaïs touring with them early in their career and helping put together the video for ‘My Honest Face’. Noel has also already given them a major support opportunity, inviting the band to play with the High Flying Birds at Malahide Castle.

They also have experience of Slane itself. Inhaler supported Harry Styles there in 2023, meaning they already know what it feels like to walk onto that stage with tens of thousands of people stretching out in front of them.

By 2027, they would return in a completely different position. Arenas and major festival stages are now familiar territory, and the early attention around Eli Hewson being Bono’s son has long since been replaced by the band's own catalogue and audience.

The pieces fit unusually neatly: Irish band, previous Slane experience, existing friendship with Anaïs and a history of supporting Noel.

For those two shows, I'd call Inhaler first.

Catfish & the Bottlemen

Catfish and the Bottlemen are one of the easiest names on this list to imagine working.

Van McCann has never hidden his love for Oasis. He has spoken about seeing them at V Festival in 2009, during the final weeks before the original split, and that admiration even filtered into the making of ‘The Ride’. Catfish worked with Dave Sardy, who produced Oasis records including ‘Don’t Believe the Truth’ and ‘Dig Out Your Soul’, with McCann wanting some of the same enormous guitar sound.

The songs Catfish built afterwards hardly need much explaining to a British festival crowd. ‘Kathleen’, ‘Cocoon’, ‘Pacifier’, ‘7’ and ‘Tyrants’ are direct, immediate and made to be shouted back, while their move into stadiums proved they would not be overwhelmed by the size of these shows.

The band still has an element of unpredictability. Their career has included long silences and periods of uncertainty followed by sudden returns to enormous demand, which would make an Oasis appearance feel more interesting than another stop on a conventional tour.

Manchester would work, but Knebworth might be even better. Put Catfish in front of that crowd, give them forty-five minutes and a set packed with those songs, and I doubt anybody would need convincing for long.

Wunderhorse 

Wunderhorse feel almost perfectly placed for one of these support slots.

‘Cub’ introduced a band with plenty of promise, but ‘Midas’ took them somewhere else. The venues grew bigger and the crowds louder, without the band losing the roughness that made them compelling in the first place.

Their songs would work beautifully outdoors too. ‘Teal’, ‘July’, ‘Purple’, ‘Leader of the Pack’, ‘Rain’ and ‘Midas’ have enough immediacy to travel across a field, while Jacob Slater and the band still play with a looseness that makes parts of the set feel as though they could collapse at any moment.

That is what makes the timing interesting. Wunderhorse are no longer a tiny band being thrown into an impossibly large situation, but an Oasis date would still represent a meaningful jump.

They would be ideal somewhere in the middle of the bill, above the earliest acts but before Richard Ashcroft and whichever huge special guest might appear on that particular night.

Of all the realistic names here, Wunderhorse would be high on my list.

The Royston Club

Keo and Westside Cowboy

Not every act on these posters needs to have already played arenas. I hope a few of them have not.

Keo and Westside Cowboy are exactly the kind of bands I would like to see given an early slot.

They are moving quickly. ‘Put A Smile On For Me’, written and recorded in just ten days, keeps much of the roughness of their early demos intact. Huge shoegaze guitars sit against quieter, more uneasy moments, and melodies throughout already sound capable of filling much bigger rooms.

By 2027 they will have made another significant jump, including Brixton Academy, but an Oasis show would still be a completely different scale.

Westside Cowboy offer something less easy to pin down. ‘It Goes On’ pulls together indie rock, country, folk and jangling guitars without sounding overly concerned with fitting into one category. There is still a sense of discovery around them, as though the band are working out what they can become while everybody else watches.

That is what makes both acts appealing here. Across 11 Etihad shows and four nights at Knebworth, Oasis have enough room to give bands like these a genuine opportunity. Someone could arrive early, hear Keo or Westside Cowboy for the first time and leave with a new favourite band.

A huge tour should still be capable of producing moments like that.

And a Few More...

There are plenty of names I have not given their own section, and with 38 shows there is room for the Live ’27 bill to go much further than the bands above.

Start with the completely ridiculous possibilities. The Strokes appearing on one of the American dates would be incredible, particularly because there are not many bands from the early 2000s whose songs could walk into an Oasis stadium without needing much introduction. ‘Last Nite’, ‘Someday’, ‘Hard to Explain’ and ‘Reptilia’ would make for a fairly ridiculous hour before Richard Ashcroft and Oasis. If Las Vegas is supposed to feel like an event rather than simply another stop on the tour, that is the kind of booking I would be looking at.

Tame Impala would be another fascinating choice, either in Europe or America. Kevin Parker has moved so far beyond the traditional idea of a guitar band that the contrast would be the whole point. A set built around ‘Elephant’, ‘Let It Happen’, ‘The Less I Know the Better’ and ‘Borderline’ before Oasis would make very little sense on paper and probably make complete sense once it started.

Then there is Florence + the Machine. This is firmly in the same category as Sam Fender and Arctic Monkeys, where you are effectively asking another headline act to play below Oasis, but if Knebworth is supposed to be excessive, then why stop halfway? Florence Welch in front of that field would be extraordinary. ‘Dog Days Are Over’ alone would make the booking worthwhile.

Blur are the most obvious impossible suggestion. I mentioned them when talking about Pulp because, however brilliant Blur supporting Oasis at Knebworth would be, I simply cannot imagine Damon Albarn agreeing to it. Maybe that is exactly why people will keep suggesting it. If it happened, it would instantly become one of the most talked-about British concert bills imaginable. Imagine if you got Pulp on the same day. 

Paul Weller feels realistic. His friendship and creative relationship with Noel goes back to the earliest years of Oasis, and the two have continued collaborating ever since. Weller also has one of those catalogues where a relatively short set could move between The Jam, The Style Council and his solo career without struggling for songs. If Johnny Marr represents one strand of Noel's musical upbringing, Weller represents another.

There are also several names from Oasis history who would require almost no explanation. Ocean Colour Scene and Manic Street Preachers were there at Maine Road in 1996, while The Charlatans have crossed paths with Oasis repeatedly and would be completely at home on one of these afternoons. Cast have obviously already done Live ’25, and I would rather see some fresh names this time, but it would hardly be shocking if they returned for selected dates.

Kasabian are perhaps the most obvious omission from the main list. They have a long history with Oasis, toured with them and became close with Noel and Liam, so nobody would question why they were there. Maybe that familiarity is why I find some of the stranger choices more exciting, but if Oasis wanted somebody who could walk onto the stage and immediately understand exactly what was required, Kasabian would be difficult to argue against.

At the other end of the scale, The Enemy, The Reytons and The Royston Club would all fit comfortably into UK dates. The Enemy have enough songs from the 2000s indie explosion to make the crowd respond immediately, while The Reytons have built a fiercely loyal live following that would translate easily to an early Manchester or Knebworth slot.

The Royston Club might be the most interesting of the three for a different reason. The Wrexham band have spent the last few years steadily moving into bigger rooms while building a catalogue of direct, melodic guitar songs that already feel comfortable in large festival crowds. They are established enough not to be swallowed by an Oasis stage, but a Live ’27 appearance would still represent a significant opportunity rather than simply another name on their touring schedule. Somewhere in the earlier part of an Etihad or Knebworth bill, they could make a lot of sense.

DMA’s are another obvious possibility. There has always been a significant crossover between their audience and the Gallagher fanbase, and their huge choruses would suit these shows without them feeling overqualified for the slot. If Oasis wanted something dependable on selected UK or European dates, they would make plenty of sense.

Stereophonics are probably too big to be treated like a normal support act, but that has not stopped me elsewhere in this list. Rather than using them in Britain, where they can headline enormous shows themselves, I could imagine them making more sense on selected European or American dates. They have decades of songs, an instantly recognisable voice in Kelly Jones and enough experience to walk onto almost any stage without being remotely intimidated by the occasion.

Some of these are realistic, and others are probably impossible, while a few are here simply because imagining the poster is half the fun. With 38 dates stretching from Glasgow and Manchester to Europe, America, Slane and Knebworth, Oasis have enough shows to choose a few supports nobody sees coming.

What About Fontaines D.C.?

When I wrote the original ‘The B-Sides’ in 2024, Fontaines D.C. were one of the bands I most wanted Oasis to take out on the road.

Two years later, I think that moment has probably passed, and that is a compliment rather than a criticism.

Since then, Fontaines have headlined Reading & Leeds, moved into arenas and announced a huge 2027 run that includes two nights at Slane Castle, alongside major outdoor shows of their own. ‘Dopamine Chamber’ arrives before those dates, adding another album to a rise that has accelerated remarkably quickly.

Slane says everything. By the time Oasis arrive there later in 2027, Fontaines will already have played two nights of their own at the castle. They no longer need to be introduced to a crowd of that size.

Would Fontaines into Richard Ashcroft into Oasis be unbelievable? Of course. I would be there from the moment the gates opened.
It just no longer feels like the kind of support slot I imagined in 2024. Fontaines are now building the sort of events other bands would want to open.

I would rather Oasis find whichever band is currently where Fontaines were when I wrote that first article. Maybe that is Wunderhorse, Keo, Westside Cowboy, or maybe somebody none of us is talking about yet.

Make Knebworth Ridiculous

Knebworth is where I would stop pretending any of this needs to resemble a normal support bill.

Oasis are returning 31 years after concerts permanently attached to their mythology, and they have four nights to play with. Richard Ashcroft is already the constant, so everything else could change.

Give one night to Pulp. Bring The Chemical Brothers back for another. Let The Prodigy have their own return. If Arctic Monkeys are ready to appear again, make the phone call. If Sam Fender is willing to play beneath anybody, ask him to. And if Florence + the Machine, Paul Weller or even Blur somehow become possibilities, Knebworth is where you make room for them.

Then build something different underneath each of them. Wunderhorse could appear with Pulp. Wet Leg could share a day with The Chemical Brothers. Keo could walk onto the biggest stage of their lives on the same afternoon as Sam Fender. Jungle or Young Fathers could be the booking nobody predicted.

That is much more exciting than simply repeating the same package four times.
The point of looking back at Knebworth 1996 should not be to reproduce it exactly. 

What made that weekend interesting was the confidence to put Ocean Colour Scene, Manic Street Preachers, The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy around the same headliner.

Four nights gives Oasis the opportunity to find that same sense of possibility again.

Live ’27 Should Have Its Own Identity.

Live ’25 had one unavoidable purpose: Oasis were back. Nobody knew exactly how it would work, how Liam and Noel would look standing together again or whether the whole thing could make it through 41 shows. Every night carried sixteen years of waiting before the band had even played a note.

Live ’27 starts somewhere else. Oasis have already proved that the reunion works, which should give them more freedom with everything around it.

Richard Ashcroft provides continuity. Beyond him, the individual runs can have their own character. Manchester has Courteeners, Blossoms and Johnny Marr. Gerry Cinnamon feels made for Celtic Park, while Inhaler have an obvious connection to Slane. Knebworth can be the place where everything gets deliberately excessive.

The rest of the bill can be less predictable. Jungle, Young Fathers, Wolf Alice, Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party would all change the atmosphere in different ways, while Catfish, Wunderhorse and Jamie T have more than enough songs to handle audiences of this size.

I would still save some of the earliest slots for acts with much more to gain. Oasis do not need another famous name at three in the afternoon to help sell the ticket. That makes a Keo or Westside Cowboy appearance more interesting, because the opportunity itself could matter.

Looking back at famous support bills years later can make every name feel inevitable. We already know which bands became enormous and which records lasted. At the time, those stories were still unfinished.

Live ’27 should leave some room for that.

Live ’25 was about Oasis coming back. Live ’27 should show what they do now that they are here.