Oasis: Most Profitable Run of Gigs in British History

It's been almost 16 years since Oasis last performed live, following the band's dramatic split in 2009 after a backstage bust-up.

Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis | Spotify

Fans are clearly delighted that the Manchester brothers - Liam and Noel Gallagher - have reunited and their tour kicks off tonight in Cardiff. It's the first stop on their highly anticipated comeback tour that's expected to be the most popular, and profitable, run of gigs in British history.

Research by Wonderwallets, part of the Barclays Consumer Spend report, estimates £1.06 billion will be spent by the 1.4 million fans attending the 17 UK tour dates. That's a whopping average of £766 ($1,045) per person - and includes accommodation, food, drink, outfits and merchandise. The £1.06 billion exceeds the estimate Barclays made for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour of £997 million, although Oasis are playing two more nights than the US singer’s UK tour last year.

After Cardiff, the band head back to their roots in Manchester for 5 nights, before they perform in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. After their 17 gigs in the UK, they fly to Toronto for the start of their 24 night international tour that wraps up on 23 November in São Paulo, Brazil.

Oasis are regarded as one of the defining and most globally successful groups of the Britpop genre. They signed to independent record label Creation Records in 1993 and released their record-setting debut studio album Definitely Maybe (1994), which topped the UK Albums Chart and quickly became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time. The following year, they released follow up album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) which spent ten weeks at number one on the British charts.

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? was also an international chart success and became one of the best-selling albums of all time, the fifth-best-selling album in the UK and the best-selling album in the UK of the 1990s.