00:00Music journalist John Robb is with us morning, so the news a lot of people were waiting for. How excited
00:05are you?
00:06Well, I think everyone's excited. You always get the haters as well, don't you?
00:10But generally most people are really excited because it's a great pop moment, isn't it?
00:15They are a great rock and roll band, and it's great that we've got pop music getting talked about, of
00:19this kind of type of pop music.
00:21Talked about mainstream tellies, it's great, isn't it?
00:23And there's a sort of nostalgia about it as well. I mean, 30 years since that debut album, 15 years
00:28since they split.
00:29It was a different time. Just looking at some of those videos, it looks ancient, doesn't it?
00:34You know, it kind of reminds us of a different period.
00:36I think that's the power of it. I mean, I think nostalgia is a big part of pop culture, and
00:41that's kind of okay as well, because pop culture is old, isn't it, as well?
00:45And I think because they're such a generational defining band, a lot of people I've been speaking to were a
00:49little younger than me.
00:50It's a big moment. This is a moment in their lives when everything felt possible.
00:55You know, the Oasis song, Live Forever, which is such a fantastic title, actually. It's quite, in two words, it's
01:00quite poetic.
01:01The power of pop music, the soundtrack emote in your life when you were completely free, that for 30, 40,
01:0750 years afterwards is always going to take you back to that moment, isn't it?
01:10And John, in that little piece we just played, we saw Noel Gallagher, two little clips of Noel Gallagher. That
01:16was an interview that you have just done in the last few days with him. Did you get any insight
01:22at that point?
01:23Well, the interview was done eight weeks ago, and it was posted last Thursday.
01:55Ah, right, okay.
01:56He didn't just walk in and go, yeah, we're going to reform the band, because that wasn't part of the
02:00conversation at that point in time.
02:02So, we've got the dates. We know where the gigs will be. We know tickets go on sale on Saturday,
02:10nine o'clock. Who will be buying those tickets?
02:13A lot of people, I think.
02:15So, will they be the die-hard fans of, you know, the 90s and the early noughties, or will there
02:21be a new generation?
02:22Because I was looking, they've got, you know, millions of fans on Spotify, people who've only ever streamed their songs,
02:28never bought a CD or an album.
02:31People who were not around when they were at the height of their fame. There's a new market here, isn't
02:36there?
02:37Oh, yeah. I think when you become a classic band, and very few bands get to that space, you just
02:41go through the generations.
02:43I think, at the end of the day, the songs are so good, and, I mean, obviously, melodically really good,
02:47but they have an emotional clout as well that makes sense to somebody, whether they're 12 or 70, you know.
02:52And they're one of the few bands that have done that, slipped through the generations. You go to the gigs,
02:57even to this day, like Noel or Liam's gigs, and there's a big teenage, a lot of teenagers go to
03:02them as well.
03:03I always say that's because Liam is a brilliant teenager, and his Twitter feed is a fantastic piece of, like,
03:08teenage pop chord, the way he replies to people with no filter, which I think is great as well.
03:13Because so many people in pop music are very careful about what they say. Both Noel and Liam have never
03:19been careful about what they say, which is part of the appeal, isn't it?
03:22John, I'm sure lots of people who are watching this this morning, they've got two big questions. One is, where
03:27are the gigs? Two is, how do we get to go?
03:30So, I mean, there's quite a lot to choose from so far, maybe more to come, but we've got Cardiff,
03:37Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Dublin.
03:41They are travelling about, aren't they? Or between the 4th of July up until the 17th of August currently.
03:48How on earth are people going to get their hands on these tickets?
03:52Well, I think on Saturday, when the tickets go up, it's just going to be basically a landslide. Everyone's just
03:57trying to get tickets all at once.
03:58But I'm sure there'll be other dates getting added on as this goes on.
04:02Do you think so? Glastonbury, maybe?
04:04Possibly. I think, well, Noel's at Glastonbury this year. I think Glastonbury would be great.
04:09But that's not a gig for the fans, is it? Glastonbury sells its own tickets to its own people.
04:13But the Saturday night at Glastonbury, the oasis headliner, would be a classic gig, wouldn't it?
04:17But there'll be other stuff. Now, I can imagine this would go out to a world tour, wouldn't it?
04:21One thing that really strikes me from the announcement that they've just made in the last 20 minutes or so
04:25is there's like a little poem in the middle of it where someone has written,
04:29the guns have fallen silent, the stars have aligned, the great wait is over, come see, and then key.
04:36It will not be televised.
04:38Oh, that's an interesting little quote.
04:40Well, what about Glastonbury?
04:41Yeah, Glastonbury's...
04:41Really?
04:42I'm not sure if that means exactly what it says, though, does it?
04:45Yeah.
04:45I thought you were going to read those out in a sort of a Liam kind of voice.
04:48You know, you could sort of create your own oasis song live on TV as you go along.
04:53I don't do a very good Liam impression, I don't think.
04:56They do talk, though, about, you know, the hype and the kind of the excitement being built by that absence.
05:01And that's true, isn't it?
05:02I mean, the fact that we've not seen them on stage for so long together, the moment that they come
05:07together on that stage for the first time,
05:09those first concerts in Cardiff, aren't they?
05:11That'll be quite electric.
05:12That's before they even get here to a home crowd in Manchester.
05:15Oh, yeah.
05:16It will be.
05:17Of course, it'll be electric.
05:18That's a given.
05:18But the gap also adds to it as well.
05:21And it's perfect timing in it as well.
05:23I think to me, like Noel Gallagher is a brilliant pop music.
05:27He understands how it works.
05:29You know, you have to do things at exactly the right time, yeah, in the right way.
05:33And that's what it is, isn't it?
05:34Doing it last year or the year before would be too early.
05:37Doing it next year would be too late.
05:38This is the moment, isn't it?
05:39The cash will probably help, though, right?
05:40The paper's suggesting 400 million quid at stake here.
05:43Yeah, it's a lot of money, isn't it?
05:45People do get paid a lot of money at the top, don't they?
05:47That's kind of how it works, isn't it?
05:49Yeah.
05:50Good on them.
05:51I mean, obviously, the money will be a factor in reforming, but I don't think it's purely for the money.
05:55I think if you've got something that's really magical and there's a chemical to it, you know, a chemistry to
06:00it, like those two brothers playing together in a room, it's a powerful thing.
06:03And for them as well, not just for people watching it, but for them to be back together with whatever
06:07the line-up of the band is and who's actually in the band, Noel and Liam playing together in a
06:12space would be really exciting.
06:14Just like they were all those years ago back at Manchester Boardwalk when they were rehearsing.
06:17It did sound pretty amazing even then.
06:19John, great to see you.
06:21Thank you so much.
06:22I'm sure we will talk again.
06:23There's also that little bit of jeopardy, isn't there, about whether or not they're going to get on.
06:27Yeah, because there's a long...
06:28Stay friends.
06:29There's a long wait until those first dates next year.
06:32Yes.
06:32The volatile nature of their relationship is partly exciting, isn't it?
06:36I wonder if we'll hear rumours of rehearsals and things like that before they kick off next week.
06:40I'm sure they'll rehearse at least once.
06:42I hope so.
06:42I've never done that before.
06:44John, thanks.
06:45Nice to see you.
06:46Yeah.
