Last Saturday, I was in Marylebone, seeing a friend, and popped into The Volunteer on Baker Street for a pit stop. I pulled the door open to be met by a packed room filled with happy, smiling faces, all wearing the same gear, top to toe.
And when I say top to toe, I really mean it: bucket hats, three-stripe shirts, three-stripe trackies and three-stripe trainers. Absolutely everybody was wearing Oasis with their pint. I paused at the entrance in a scratch-record silence moment, then made my way through the crowd. As I was the only one not wearing the Oa-kit, it was clear who did not have a golden Gallagher ticket for that night’s opening Wembley gig.
Still, I was caught up in the anticipatory mood and couldn’t help but smile back at all these excited faces. In the loos, I met two Scottish girls and we had a chat by the mirrors. As I left, I told them to have a great time. “Oh, don’t you worry, we will!” they replied, in a self-confident manner like that of the singer they were going to see.
You don’t have to know the dates to know that Oasis are playing Wembley. It’s clear from the sky-blue sea of 90,000 fans that light up London’s pubs, streets, and tube carriages with their singing, animated chatting and wardrobes worn with pride – one guy still had the tag on his T-shirt – for a miracle reunion they thought they would never witness. With a multitude of tribute bands cleaning up all over the city, and pre- and post-gig parties stretching along the Jubilee line from Wembley to Waterloo, London is having a significant cultural “were you there?/be here now!” moment.
Last Wednesday, there was another Wembley date and in the midst of the triple-stripers, I managed to chat to two visiting Americans, one from Boston, one from New York, who were elated to share why, of all the tour locations, they wanted to come to London.
“The city I’m from, Boston, is very sports-based,” said Evan, 43. “But the energy when the Boston Celtics win a championship is still so selective. In London the energy is everywhere, it’s universal. I can’t think of another place that rallies round a creative group the way London does. It has something so artistic and badass. This, plus, I really can’t think of another music group that has that legion. It feels like the whole city has an energy around Oasis right now. Even getting into Heathrow, straight away we were seeing people wearing Oasis merchandise, and it’s wild.”
“When I landed in Heathrow, it was generations of fans: mums, dads, teens, and little kids in their full Oasis kits,” said Eddie, 51. “It’s families, and I have never seen that before. The only other time I’ve seen the family thing is when I went to Liverpool to visit the Beatles sites. They were wearing Beatles T-shirts, but not on this scale. I feel like everyone is loud and proud about the fact they’re here to see Oasis with zero f***s given. It’s like, ‘I’m gonna wear my bucket hat and my shirt and I don’t care!’ I think it’s the boastful pride that the band has in themselves. This is who we are and we don’t care if you don’t like it — we like it! I feel like their attitude has translated into the fan culture, and it’s spreading through the city.”
I was curious to know why they didn’t get tickets for one of the American gigs, where Oasis are also touring, and instead chose to fly to London for the experience.
“There’s a reservedness when you go to see a show in New York,” said Eddie. “For the first four songs people will have their arms folded – like, prove to me that you’re worthy of adulation; I’m sceptical about you until I see whether you’re worthy of me going crazy. Whereas in London there’s no reservedness. There’s no pretension, no worrying about who’s gonna judge me if I start singing early… I’m just here for this. Plus, there is something iconic about saying you’ve been to Wembley!”
After our chat I headed to Bond Street. The tube was packed with fans. Everyone was caught up in Gallagher brother fever, except for one man – the busker. At the exit, I noticed that he had, in addition to a tip hat, TWO card machines on display.
He had chosen to sing some Crowded House tracks, which, in the midst of this hot London Oasism, I didn’t understand. He could have definitely (maybe) cleaned up with a singalong set of hits and his handy hand-height card tipping machines would have been a beeping frenzy.
Instead he sang Weather With You, and thus may look back in anger as hoards of fans passed by on their way to visit to the Oxford Street Adidas, no beeps given.
Top photo from Chazza_Charlotte X/Twitter feed. Middle pic by Julie Hamill. Julie writes novels, appears on Times Radio and does lots more. Follow her on Instagram. Oasis play Wembley again today and tomorrow, and twice more in September.
OnLondon.co.uk provides unique coverage of the capital’s politics, development and culture with no paywall and no ads. The vast majority of its income comes from individual supporters, who pay £5 a month or £50 a year. Details HERE.