Oasis at V Festival, Weston Park, August 22, 2009

About the artist

Oasis started out in Manchester in 1991, built around two brothers: singer Liam Gallagher and guitarist Noel Gallagher^[1][2]. Their debut album, Definitely Maybe, released in August 1994, went to No. 1 in the UK and was, at the time, the fastest-selling debut album in British history; it included the singles "Supersonic" and "Live Forever"^[3].

Fourteen months later, on October 2, 1995, came (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, the album of "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger"^[4]. It sold a record 345,000 copies in its first week in the UK and spent ten weeks at No. 1. In May 1996 their summer shows sold out in nine hours, and on August 10 and 11 that year about 250,000 people saw them over two nights at Knebworth^[5].

Why this was thought to be the end

By August 22, 2009, Oasis had been on the road for about a year with their seventh album, Dig Out Your Soul (2008), and had just four dates left^[6][7][8]. Alongside the brothers were guitarist Gem Archer, bassist Andy Bell and drummer Chris Sharrock, a touring member who had joined in mid-2008^[9][10].

Nothing billed the Weston Park show as a farewell. NME reported it as one of the last British dates of the tour, with exactly the same set the band had played at the Roundhouse in London the month before^[11]. Looking back in 2024, Rolling Stone noted that no one in the crowd could have known the band was about to fall apart^[6].

The next evening, Oasis were due to headline the festival's second site, in Chelmsford, Essex. That show was called off; the band said Liam had viral laryngitis, and Snow Patrol took the headline slot instead^[2]. On August 24, Liam apologized to fans on Twitter and dismissed tabloid talk that the band was about to split^[12].

On August 28, Oasis were due to play the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. Minutes before their set, the show was called off, and the festival's screens blamed an altercation within the band^[13][14][15]. That night Noel posted a statement on the band's website that began: "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight." He said he could not go on working with Liam for another day, and apologized to ticket holders for the remaining shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan^[14][16]. In October, Liam told The Times that Oasis was no more^[15]. The Weston Park show, six days before the split, was left standing as their last^[17].

Because Oasis reunited in 2025, this archive files the show under "Not the end after all." Our rule is that any act that later reunites or returns under the same name moves to this category.

What is known about the day

V Festival was held at two sites that weekend, and Oasis were booked to headline both: Staffordshire on Saturday, August 22, and Chelmsford on Sunday, August 23^[2]. Weston Park, the Staffordshire site, is a country house and its landscaped park on the county's border with Shropshire^[18][19]. This was the 14th V Festival, and the local paper, the Express & Star, reported that around 90,000 people were expected^[20].

The band walked on to a recording of "Fuckin' In The Bushes" and opened with "Rock 'n' Roll Star"^[21][11]. According to NME, they played only three songs from Dig Out Your Soul and filled the rest of the 90-minute set with hits^[11]. Ten of the 19 songs came from their first two albums, Definitely Maybe (1994) and (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)^[3][4]. Noel took lead vocals early on for "Waiting For The Rapture" and for "The Masterplan," a B-side of "Wonderwall." Much of the crowd knew every word of "Wonderwall," yet the loudest singing came during "Don't Look Back In Anger."^[11]

The main set closed with "Live Forever." The encore was an acoustic "Don't Look Back In Anger," then "Champagne Supernova," and finally "I Am The Walrus," the Beatles song from 1967^[21][22]. Rolling Stone notes that it had been part of Oasis's live set since their earliest days^[6]. Before it, Liam told the crowd this was the last song and that they had been "biblical"^[11]. In 2024, Rolling Stone said the only footage of that encore it could find was a rough audience video^[6].

What the show left behind

After the split, Liam carried on with Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock as Beady Eye, which MusicRadar describes as the Oasis-without-Noel line-up. They released albums in 2011 and 2013^[10][9], and Liam announced the end of the band in October 2014^[23]. Noel launched Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, announcing its first album in July 2011 for release that October^[24]. Liam's solo debut, As You Were, reached No. 1 in the UK in 2017^[25]. Sharrock later joined Noel's band as well, the only drummer to work with both brothers after Oasis^[10].

For years, the brothers' feud had been taken to rule out any reunion^[26]. Then, on August 27, 2024, Oasis announced that they were reuniting, with 14 dates in the UK and Ireland for the following summer^[27][26]. The first show, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on July 4, 2025, drew more than 70,000 people. Beside the brothers stood Gem Archer and Andy Bell, both of whom had played at Weston Park, along with founding guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and new drummer Joey Waronker^[28][9]. The walk-on tape was the same "Fuckin' In The Bushes," but neither the three Dig Out Your Soul songs from 2009 nor "I Am The Walrus" made the 23-song set^[29].

The tour eventually ran to 41 dates, adding the Americas, Australia, South Korea and Japan^[30]. Pollstar counted about 2.23 million tickets and more than $405 million in gross from 36 reported dates, placing it second on its worldwide tours chart for the year^[30]. Two nights at the Tokyo Dome on October 25 and 26 were their first shows in Japan since the Fuji Rock Festival in July 2009, and drew about 100,000 people^[31][7]. The tour ended in São Paulo on November 23, 2025, after which the band said they would take a break for a while^[32].

Once the reunion was announced, British media went back to the Weston Park setlist. Radio X and the Express & Star both revisited it as the band's last show before the split^[21][17]. One fan who had been there told the PA news agency that the band had seemed a little half-hearted that night, but that being able to say he was at their last gig had always felt special^[33].

For almost 16 years, Weston Park was the last Oasis show. Since the reunion, it reads as the night before a long pause.