Oasis have announced Richard Ashcroft will be joining them as a special guest on their UK and Ireland tour.
The former frontman of The Verve will join Liam and Noel Gallagher for Oasis’s long-awaited reunion shows in Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dublin next year.
In a statement on social media, Ashcroft said: “As a fan from day one, I was buzzing for many reasons when the news of Oasis’s return was announced.
“I can say with no exaggeration that the songwriting talent of Noel, and Liam’s pure spirit as a lead singer helped to inspire me to create some of my best work.
“Now it’s time to create more memories and I’m ready to bring it. See you next summer. Music is power.”
Ashcroft, the songwriter behind classic tracks Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work and Lucky Man, said it was Oasis’s hit Live Forever that forced him to “try and write my own”, adding that the band “dared to be great”.
The announcement on Monday was accompanied by a short video montage of Ashcroft with Noel and Liam Gallagher over the years, as The Verve track Sonnet played over the top.
Respect between the artists has been shared over the years, with Noel dedicating Cast No Shadow from 1995 album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? to Wigan-born Ashcroft.
The Oasis reunion tour will start in Cardiff next July. Pic: Oasis/X
Oasis fans had been pleading for the group to reform since they disbanded in 2009, prompted by a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in France.
Tickets for the UK and Ireland shows were met with huge demand, selling out on the same day after going on sale back in September.
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Some fans were left outraged after ticket prices more than doubled for shows during the sale, prompting the government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge they would look at the use of dynamic pricing.
Ticketmaster has previously said it does not set concert prices and its website states this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.
The first UK Oasis show will take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July.