Oasis confirm first support act for the Britain and Ireland leg of their hotly-anticipated reunion tour

Oasis will be supported by The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft for their shows in Britain and Ireland next summer, the band confirmed on Monday.

It is a full circle moment for the Gallagher brothers, who supported The Verve in 1993 as one of their first national tours.

The news came after days of speculation over Ashcroft’s possible support position on the hotly-anticipated tour.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Oasis wrote: ‘Just Announced, @richardashcroft will be joining as a special guest for all UK and Ireland Oasis Live ’25 shows.’

Liam Gallagher has teased the news on X in recent weeks. On September 13, a fan asked: ‘Ashcroft supporting the UK shows?’ He replied: ‘That would be BIBLICAL.’

Oasis will be supported by The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft for their shows in Britain and Ireland next summer, the band confirmed on social media on Monday

Former The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft performs at Kew The Music 2024 on July 14

Ashcroft is a longtime friend of Liam and Noel, who supported The Verve in 1993. Noel also wrote the track ‘Cast No Shadow’ as a tribute to Ashcroft.

Richard Ashcroft said: ‘As a fan from day one I was buzzing for many reasons when the news of Oasis’s return was announced. 

‘I can say with no exaggeration that the songwriting talent of Noel and Liam’s pure spirit as a lead singer helped to inspire me to create some of my best work. It was the perfection of ‘Live Forever’ that forced me to try and write my own. 

‘They dared to be great, made the dreams we had real and I will always remember those days with joy. Now it’s time to create more memories and I’m ready to bring it. See you next summer. Music is power.’ 

One of Oasis’s first national tours was as support to The Verve back in 1993, often playing to just a few hundred people several months before their debut single Supersonic was released. 

They were due to be reunited the following year in Amsterdam but a drunken incident on a ferry resulted in most of the band being sent back to the UK, except for Noel Gallagher who went on to play a solo set instead. 

But they were back together again in 1995, with The Verve supporting Oasis at The Bataclan in Paris before featuring as special guests at the giant tent show at Scotland’s Irving Beach.  

The Verve broke up for a third time in 2009 and have not reformed since – although Ashcroft has enjoyed a successful solo career with six top ten albums.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Oasis wrote: ‘Just Announced, @richardashcroft will be joining as a special guest for all UK and Ireland Oasis Live ’25 shows’

The band Cast were formed in Liverpool in 1992 and supported Oasis at Knebworth in 1996

Indie rock band Cast are set tot take to the stage after Ashcroft ahead of the Gallagher brothers, a report in The Independent said.

As for Cast, they were formed in Liverpool in 1992 by John Power and Peter Wilkinson and had hit records in the Nineties with All Change and Magic Hour.

Cast – who supported Oasis at Knebworth in 1996 – split in 2001 before reforming in 2010. Their seventh album Love Is the Call was released in February.

Oasis are set to be supported on their North America shows by US rock band Cage the Elephant; while no support act for shows in Australia has yet been revealed. 

Oasis announced their long-awaited reunion on August 27 after many had thought they would never get back together.

It followed a long-standing feud between Liam and Noel after the band split in 2009 prompted by a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in France.

Noel and Liam will reunite for their first UK show since their split at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on July 4, 2025.

The last time the brothers performed together was on August 22 2009 at V Festival in Staffordshire.

Liam Gallagher before the Joshua v Dubois boxing match at Wembley on September 21

The Oasis line up before their famous Knebworth concerts in 1996 was (from left) Alan White, Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Liam Gallagher, Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan and Noel Gallagher

Oasis’s string of 19 UK and Ireland Oasis dates have all sold out, including two extra Wembley shows after a furore over ticket sales and inflated prices. 

The band said they were unaware that dynamic pricing, which led to tickets selling for more than double the original price from £148 to £355, was being used on Ticketmaster, and blamed the situation on ‘unprecedented demand’.

It also prompted the Government and the UK’s competition watchdog to say they would look at the use of dynamic pricing.

Ticketmaster has previously said it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the ‘event organiser’ who ‘has priced these tickets according to their market value’.

This year marks 30 years since the band released their debut studio album Definitely Maybe, which sailed to the top of the UK charts earlier in the month, bolstered by the release of a deluxe edition celebrating its anniversary.

Two weeks ago Oasis ruled out the use of dynamic pricing for the North America dates in the US, Canada and Mexico. Their first performance on the continent will be at Rogers Stadium in Toronto, Ontario on August 24.