(Credits: Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Sun 25 January 2026 11:44, UK
In decades to come, when people look back at 2025 in the history books, the musical story that defined the year will be Oasis‘ fairytale comeback.
The reunion tour, which took them from Cardiff to Sâo Paolo with pitstops in Seoul, Sydney and everywhere in between, gave millions a night they will remember for the rest of their lives. It was also a gig that every artist under the sun would have dropped their commitments to be a part of.
Many would have frozen under the pressure of playing to 90,000 people in Wembley Stadium, who were primarily there to see the most highly anticipated musical reunion in decades, but not Richard Ashcroft. The Verve frontman proved to be the perfect choice for the monumental task, while reminding the masses of his vast talent and the classic songs that came from his pen.
Following the tour, Ashcroft opened up about how the opportunity came back, revealing it was the Gallagher brothers who requested his services and that they viewed him as “the perfect act to leave it to them to slam dunk”.
Thanks to the comeback tour, he’s now enjoying a well-deserved career renaissance, and few people will be more delighted to watch it than Liam Gallagher, who has been admiring Ashcroft’s talent for more than 30 years.
The Verve in their iconic video for ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. (Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Before either had achieved a modicum of fame, the Gallagher brothers built up a friendship with The Verve and grew particularly close with Ashcroft. Later, on their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Noel Gallagher wrote the track ‘Cast No Shadow’ for Ashcroft. During an interview with Select magazine, Noel explained: “I always felt he was born at the wrong time and in the wrong place, and he was always trying to say the right things, but they came out wrong.”
The singer-songwriter continued: “I played him the song, and he nearly started crying. I was like, ‘Come on, hold yourself together, son! Easy now.’”
Even when Oasis were split up, Ashcroft remained associated with Liam, including performing a huge show together at London’s Finsbury Park in 2018, which, at that point, was Liam’s biggest headline show as a solo artist. The Britpop duo also collaborated in 2022 as part of Ashcroft’s single, ‘C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)’.
From the very first time that Liam saw The Verve in the early 1990s, he knew they were a special band that would define a generation. Speaking to NME Gold (via Oasis Mania) in 2017, Liam recalled: “They were fucking heavy in the early days. I loved touring with them with Oasis. Whereas we were a bit more punky, they were out there: more a jam thing.”
Ashcroft particularly caught Liam’s attention, adding, “I just remember Ashcroft having his socks and shoes off and all that. I saw Richard recently, we were both doing a gig in Finland: he was on fire. His voice has got really gnarly, and he was on his hands and knees, good energy about him”.
Liam proceeded to praise how The Verve changed their sound on Urban Hymns, noting “there’s some amazing songs on that”.
He also revealed that the hype surrounding The Verve gave Oasis a necessary motivation to not rest on their laurels, adding, “I remember when it was kicking off for them, we were in America and hearing about it. It was like. ‘What’s going on with this? better get back to England and sort this shit out.’”
The Oasis vocalist concluded by offering up a compliment of the highest order, stating, “But I loved them, I really did. They don’t make them like that anymore.”
Little did he know it then, but the first impression that Ashcroft and his bandmates left all those years ago on sticky-floored venues in Manchester sowed the seed for a 2025 that cemented his legacy as a British musical icon.
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