This was published 4 months ago
‘I might need to go to emergency’: Oasis superfans in race for tour tickets
By Martin Boulton and Frances Howe
Oasis fans Nathan Burman and Bianca Denny were both there in 1998, in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, when Oasis stormed into Australia for the first time, supported by local rock’n’rollers You Am I.
After hearing the news the band is reforming to play 14 dates in Ireland and the UK, Burman will be sticking close by his computer on Saturday, hoping to buy tickets to the next Oasis shows. Denny will have a more relaxing weekend, happy to savour her memories.
Burman, an Oasis superfan from Sydney, has seen the band on all three Australian tours and plans to book flights for the UK next summer, the moment he secures tickets to Oasis Live ’25.
“I’m getting my ducks in a row for when tickets go on sale Saturday,” he said. “I’m trying to get hospitality packages through different venues for myself, my wife and some friends ... so the angst is starting to kick in. It’s a familiar feeling.”
With no guarantee of an Australia tour (though the band strongly suggested they would play dates outside Europe), nabbing tickets to the northern hemisphere shows could be the only chance Australian fans have to see Oasis.
Burman camped out to buy Oasis tickets when they played in Newcastle in 1998. He has seen the band play a dozen times, including when You Am I supported them at Sydney Entertainment Centre, and is “rallying the troops” in a bid to be in the thick of the rock’n’roll action next year.
“For me, it will come down to where I can get tickets. I’d love to go to Cardiff for the first two nights, and Manchester would be pretty special as well. But wherever I can get tickets, I’ll go.
“There was something about the fashion, the hair, the attitude. To this day, I still take a picture of Noel Gallagher into the hairdresser, but more the age-appropriate latter Noel than the long-haired younger Noel.”
Jay Smith (centre) on stage with his Oasis cover band, Wonderwall.
Denny was still in high school, living in Geelong, when she and two friends travelled to Melbourne to see Oasis play in 1998.
“We got to the concert quite early because we wanted to get up close to the front,” she said. “One of my girlfriends reminded me this week that Noel Gallagher winked at us, which we thought was just divine. He was wearing a black parka and looked directly at us when he was singing I Am the Walrus.”
Jay Smith, 37, was at home in Maitland when he heard the latest Oasis news.
Jay Smith’s tattoo of Liam Gallagher. Credit: Jay Smith
“My heart was racing and I thought I might need to go to emergency – that’s how excited I was,” said the superfan, who has a tattoo of Liam Gallagher on his arm.
He will pause his part-time gig of pretending to be Liam Gallagher to see the real thing in Britain next year if he scores tickets. A member of Oasis tribute band Wonderwall, Smith has been a fan of the band since childhood. He said he didn’t want to risk missing out if the band didn’t add Australian tour dates.
You Am I’s bass player and manager Andy Kent said Oasis quickly bonded with his band, following a couple of shows at Japan’s famous Budokan to kick off the 1998 tour.
“They loved our records, but hadn’t seen us play, and we became like their weird little brothers who they just loved,” Kent said. “They’re really good dudes, and their songs just resonate.
“When we were flying to Perth, Liam ended up getting thrown off the flight after he kept singing our song Junk really loudly with his headphones on. He was told to stop, but he kept going.”
You Am I frontman Tim Rogers (second from left) with Liam Gallagher (left) and Noel Gallagher (far right) of Oasis, on tour together in 1998. Credit:
Almost 20 years after their last visit, does Kent see another Australian Oasis tour on the horizon?
“The whole thing is primed for everyone to be involved,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll do more shows, whether it be in America or somewhere else.
“I don’t know if it’s nostalgia, but there’s a craving for good bands. Who knows if they’ll come back to Australia … these things take a lot of time and effort to put together.”