We Were Oasis Fans

And now they belong to Wonderwall Warriors as much as the Diehards

‘Definitely Maybe' was released in 1994, when I was 10. I'd love to say I was a fan back then, but I think it came a few years later.

My memory snaps into gear in 1997, when I was at my grandparents house, on hold with an arena in Manchester or maybe Birmingham, desperately trying to get tickets like my life depended on it.

When you're 13, at least back in those days, music means everything. I was one of those kids who had the albums but also knew all the b-sides. I'd love to pretend I was unique, some special fan, but as the hype this week is showing us, Oasis were truly generational. They meant something to everyone, especially to those who hated them.

I didn't get tickets in '97 but I was at Wembley in 2000. If memory serves correctly, they played two nights and I was at the night that WASN'T filmed for the DVD, 'Familiar to Millions'. But now, the filmmaker in me wonders if the release is a hybrid of the two nights.

Anyway, they played 'Step Out', a song I didn't expect to hear, and that was enough for me.

I checked in with my brother yesterday to ask who else we attended the gig with, and he named two guys I haven't thought about in twenty years. It brought back memories - not of those two guys - but of being 16, of loving music.

Soon after, my music tastes moved in another direction. Bruce Springsteen became my guy, Counting Crows my band. I'm pretty sure the Gallagher brothers would laugh at my taste in music now but the fact is, if we go for the music that we're meant to love rather than what moves us at any given time, then we're not truly being ourselves.

I was, for a time, an Oasis superfan. The first two albums are undoubted masterpieces. As good a one-two as Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction, or Manhattan/Annie Hall. The third album, 'Be Here Now' started to lose a lot of people, but I loved it. I've probably listened to that album more than their others and I'll stand by 'The Girl in a Dirty Shirt' until the day I die.

'Standing on the Shoulders of Giants' was decent, and it coincided with my Oasis gig going era, seeing them at Wembley Stadium, the Royal Albert Hall, and Finsbury Park.

That last time was in 2002, when they'd released a new album that I forget the name of. I loved 'Little by Little' but I couldn't name another track.

They had two or three more albums but it seems I'd checked out by then. And their solo output bored me to tears.

But prime Oasis. Wow. It was everything.

Funny how the years change things. I grew up thinking Noel Gallagher was a genius. I'd dream of Liam missing a gig, meaning we'd get a solo Noel show.

But now, it's Liam who draws me in. And weirdly, I've never been tempted to see Noel as a solo act (despite my years of youthful adoration).

I recently watched a lot of concert footage of Liam doing songs from 'Definitely Maybe'. I loved the energy. The urgency. When he's in the mood, when he's on form, it seems important somehow.

That's when live music is at its best, when it feels important. Bigger than the moment it exists in.

That's what the return of Oasis is - a moment beyond music. It's a thing of the past that still lives in us today. It's a memory of the guys you knew, the places you grew up in.

There's a backlash online, millions of people who just don't get it, but that's fine.

The backlash that does bother me is the fans who are concerned about the 20 year olds who are going to snap up tickets because they want to hear 'Wonderwall'.

The Wonderwall Warriors are fine as far as I'm concerned. Maybe if you saw Oasis back in the day, you were surrounded by diehards, but that's not who the band are now. They're a phenomenon that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

The bands I grew up loving, I got to them secondhand, years after their peaks. I saw Springsteen at Wembley Arena, the Sex Pistols at Crystal Palace, I even saw Diana Ross at Hyde Park! I had every right to see them, even though their biggest fans were born decades before me. These legends of music become part of the culture and belong to us all.

If you only want to hear 'Wonderwall', that's fine, it's one of the greatest songs of all time.

But don't be surprised if the rest of us are craving some near forgotten b-side.

I'd mostly forgotten about Oasis. My Spotify barely knows I'm a fan.

But in my youth, they were everything. They've been in my ears for days now, I'm fully on the hype train, and I'm not ashamed of it.