Forgive us, but think of Oasis as a bunch of scotch eggs — extremely popular in Britain but not as popular as hot dogs in the US. That was the perception 20 years ago. All that has changed. The band is finally getting the attention it deserves in America. And, they have struck a chord among Gen Zers.

In July, the Gallagher brothers kicked off their reunion tour in Cardiff. Immediately, Instagram was packed with the fortysomething jumping as if gravity had begun to fluctuate wherever Liam and Noel Gallagher had a concert date. In Britain, the band is nothing less than a rock-and-roll institution, complete with bickering brothers who are ageing like a timeless bestseller. In America, the group achieved popularity but nothing to the extent of, say, Nirvana.

When the band originally announced a global tour, some 15 years after a very public breakup, all five stadium gigs in the US were sold out, that is, around half a million tickets were purchased to see a band that never had a number one single or album in the US.

Wonderwall, which peaked at number eight on the US charts in 1996, was its only US top-10 hit. You read that right: Not Cigarettes & Alcohol, Don’t Look Back in Anger or Champagne Supernova. Their albums sold modestly well, with Be Here Now reaching number two.

But here we are — an opportunity for the music magazine Rolling Stone to declare that Oasis “finally conquers America”. If that wasn’t enough, the magazine’s review of the band’s gig in Chicago attracted praise for Liam Gallagher. The reviewer said “no frontman in rock ’n’ roll conveys so much by doing so little”.

The Chicago Sun-Times, in its review, said that such was the anticipation among fans, it “wouldn’t be hyperbolic to call this tour on par with a Beatles or Led Zeppelin moment”.

Perhaps the best review was from The Hollywood Reporter, which attended the group’s performance in New Jersey. It said: “This was a deeply human experience at a time, with its seething algorithmic outrage and a dawning AI, when we seem in danger of losing that humanity.”

For Gen X, the group simply offered an opportunity to get sloshed to the music of the group, listening to classic bangers. For Gen Z, Instagram and TikTok had a role to play as Oasis has become the background music to Reels. Spotify saw a substantial rise in Oasis’ streaming numbers the first weekend of the band’s reunion tour. It reported that half of the 16.6 million new Oasis listeners are members of Gen Z.

Oasis has always enjoyed the big time in the UK. Definitely Maybe, their 1994 debut album, reached the top spot and was at one point the fastest-selling debut record in history. The Gallaghers became tabloid fixtures throughout the 1990s in the UK while they were fodder for the music press in the US.

Hey, these boys are rock-and-roll royalty. Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit became the defining song of the 1990s in the US, while the opening track of Oasis’ first album was called Rock ’N’ Roll Star, a tribute to the glory of the rock-and-roll life for those in the UK. In a world where dark clouds conjured up by US President Donald Trump hang low, people from both sides of the pool finally have an opportunity to celebrate together by singing aloud “tonight, I’m a rock ’n’ roll star”.

The reason why people loved Oasis then and why we love them still remains the same — the group craved success unapologetically, ensuring their music was the stuff for the masses. It taught us there is no alternative to dreaming big: “Open up your eyes, get a grip on yourself inside."