Tonight, Oasis bring the first leg of their Wembley Stadium residency to a close. It has been a triumphant run – after re-introducing themselves in astounding fashion in first Cardiff and then Manchester, the Wembley Stadium shows have sealed the deal. The Gallagher brothers have played the venue before, both in its old twin towers form and in its arch iteration back when it was spangly and new, but they never sounded like this. By then, they’d lost some of that original spark, songs that should’ve been coming at you like a robotic bull felt ploddy and on a leash. The 2025 version of Oasis sounds better than ever, so it seems a bit churlish to point out ways that they could possibly mix it up. But we’re now 11 dates into Live ’25, so maybe it’s time for a good mid-tour appraisal. Oasis have played exactly the same set every night – and consistently knocked it out of the park (or stadium) at that – but it has had me thinking – does that mean there are some Oasis classics not featured in the setlist that we’ll never hear live again? I interviewed the band’s co-manager Alec McKinlay back in May to preview the tour and he strongly suggested this was the final outing for Oasis. “This is very much the last time around,” he said. “It’s a chance for fans who haven’t seen the band to see them, or at least for some of them to.”
I mean, that sounds pretty final. But maybe the gargantuan success of these shows will prompt a rethink – next summer is the 30th anniversary of Knebworth, after all. If they do decide to mix up the setlist, then here’s 10 Oasis cuts that deserve to be celebrated with a Live ’25 airing…
Columbia
This is a huge one. I was sure Oasis were going to play this – it seemed a shoo-in when I wrote this mostly-right but also a bit wrong feature trying to predict the setlist back in May. Columbia is one of their most swaggering, rock’n’roll tunes, dripping in attitude and a belief that they’re going to be massive at the point they definitely were not massive. Imagine how big it would at these shows. Come on lads, play it!
Shakermaker
A similarly crucial early cut, this would be great for those moments in the first quarter of the set where everyone needs a slight breather but is still happy to holler along – yes, I’m looking at you Some Might Say.
All Around The World
OK yeah, All Around The World is a bit of an emblem of Be Here Now-era Oasis jumping the shark, bombastic and overblown and quite pleased with itself. But for the same reasons, the song, which pre-dates Definitely Maybe, was made to be played on the grandest scale. I reckon it would go down a storm as the second pick in the encore.
Don’t Go Away
This is an underrated cut from Be Here Now and, with its sweeping strings, minor chord acoustic strums and yearning vocals, as close as Oasis ever got to Urban Hymns territory. It would be a proper mid-gig lighter/phone light-waving tearjerker, but maybe lost out for Stand By Me fulfilling that role.
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
But hold on, this could easily take on that role too. Imagine all the dads at the bar, handing over their £42.50 for two ciders, and frantically racing back to singalong when they hear the plaintive piano chords to this start, spilling their pints, spilling their emotions, grabbing their kids and ruining their lives by telling them this is the song they played the first time they slept with their mum.
Lyla
OK, yeah, maybe Lyla is a bit throwaway. But life is throwaway, what are you gonna do? This could easily nestle into where Little By Little is, a pleasing stomp and also maybe a good one you’re happy to singalong with whilst quickly nipping to the loo. There’s a lot of weak bladders in the house.
Go Let It Out
The grabbing surge of F****n’ In The Bushes in the walk-on aside, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants is pretty unrepresented in the set, which is mainly cos it’s not very good. But it does have a couple of ace tunes – especially this, which took the woozy psychedelic grooves of The Beta Band and transplanted it on a mainstream indie-rock epic.
Up In The Sky
Imagine if songs had feelings, and then imagine being a song on Definitely Maybe or Morning Glory that had been overlooked on a setlist pulling heavily from Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory. A tough one to take, no doubt about it, especially when you’re an aggy little number like Up In The Sky and you can see exactly where you’d fit. “Hey, how comes Bring It On Down is in there and not me,” it’d probably say, except it wouldn't, because it’s a song, and songs don’t really have feelings, that was just a silly idea I made up for the purposes of this paragraph.
Headshrinker
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the Live ’25 setlists has been the space for B-side Fade Away, a rollicking little tune but hardly a vital song in the Oasis canon. With that in mind, the punkier and more up’n’at’em Headshrinker should be worthy of a go now and then in its place.
Rockin’ Chair
Admittedly, it’s tricky to see where this could fit in, or what they expense of. The song this Roll With It B-side is closest to in terms of vibe is probably Cast No Shadow but I can’t be putting Cast No Shadow on the bench, it’s too good, people would write letters. But maybe, every now and then, it could feature somewhere – perhaps Noel could sing it and it could be swapped out occasionally for Talk Tonight. Hey, I love Talk Tonight too, I said no writing letters!
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