The Dig Out Your Soul Tour was a concert tour by English rock band Oasis to support their album Dig Out Your Soul. The tour started in Seattle, Washington, at the WaMu Theater on 26 August 2008 and was planned to continue until 30 August 2009, when they were scheduled to play their final tour show at the I-Day Festival in Milan, Italy.
On 28 August 2009, after a fight backstage between the Gallaghers, their manager announced the cancellation of their concert at the Rock en Seine festival near Paris just minutes before it was set to begin. Noel Gallagher released a statement on the band's website two hours later that signalled the end of both the tour and the band: "It's with some sadness and a great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People would write and say what they liked, but I could not continue working with Liam for a day longer. Apologies to everyone who bought tickets for the Paris, Konstanz, and Milan shows."[1]
This tour would be Oasis's last until they announced their reunion tour in August 2024, almost 15 years to the day after the band split up.[2]
Background
Before the band embarked on the tour, songwriter/guitarist Noel Gallagher jokingly said he considered outplaying The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of all time, earning $558 million and lasting over two years. He fell back on minimising it to a year and a half, citing exhaustion as a reason.
The band played a special show for fans in their rehearsal studio on 14 August 2008. The setlist included some of their oldest tunes but surprisingly included a track from Be Here Now, "My Big Mouth.[3] The band rarely played any of the album's songs live, other than on special occasions and acoustic sessions. Several songs from the band, including "Gas Panic!", "Live Forever" and "The Turning" as well as new songs such as "Everybody's on the Run," "If I Had a Gun...", "Stop the Clocks," and "A Simple Game of Genius," all of which would later be recorded for Noel's solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, was played in soundchecks, but did not make any appearances at the band's actual concerts.
Midway through their "Morning Glory" performance in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the annual Virgin Festival, a man ran on stage and hit Noel on the back, knocking him to the ground. The band left the stage, but after five minutes, the show continued.[4] It is unknown how the man got past security, although he was seen coming from backstage. A 47-year-old Canadian was charged with assault.[5] The incident sparked many well-known media outlets worldwide, especially North America, to report on the story.
Due to the injuries Noel sustained in the incident at the Virgin Festival, four concerts were postponed, including the 9 September show in London, Ontario,[6] and the first three shows of the European leg.[7] In addition, the 12 September concert in New York City was cancelled.[8]
After the Toronto incident from early September, security for the rest of the 2008 shows cracked down to disposing personal belongings. After the start of the summer tour, it loosened up, noticeably at the Slane Castle shows where many thousands of people had passed security gates without being searched, urging many other people who had not paid to see the band attend as well.
The Wembley Arena, London (16 October) gig was broadcast live in the United Kingdom and Ireland on MTV One, and on 24 October, Oasis broke ticket sales for a single day in the UK, selling over 500,000 tickets in 7 hours.
On 2 February Oasis performed in Milan, Italy in front of a crowd of 12,000 for the first time in more than three years. The Italian leg of the tour also included Rome, Treviso, Bolzano, and Florence.
On 28 February, Oasis was informed by their Chinese promoters that the Chinese authorities that they had their performing licenses revoked and their gigs in Shanghai and Beijing canceled. According to the promoters, the Chinese government had recently discovered that Noel Gallagher had performed at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert in New York in 1997, and on their MySpace page, the band expressed disappointment and bewilderment at the decision.[9]
On 1 April, Oasis performed at SeoulOlympic Stadium, three years after their last gig in Korea in 2006. During the show, Noel commented it was "good to be back...you seem to have grown crazier." [citation needed]
On 30 April, Oasis played their first gig in Lima, Peru selling out Estadio Nacional, playing for more than 48,000 fans. During an interview in Chile before the show in Santiago, Andy Bell, alongside Gem Archer, said that the Lima gig was possibly his favourite gig and the best they have ever done, saying that it was "really incredible". [citation needed]
During interviews in early 2009, Noel stated that this may be the last tour they will ever embark on or at least for several years due to growing older. [citation needed]
On 4 June 2009, Oasis played the first of three concerts at Manchester's Heaton Park and, after having to leave the stage twice due to a generator failure, came on the third time to declare the gig was now a free concert.[10] The band later issued fans with cheques worth £45 each to refund the price of their tickets.[11]
On 23 August 2009, the band pulled out of their headlining slot at the V Festival in Chelmsford and were replaced by Snow Patrol. The official reason given was that Liam was suffering from laryngitis,[13] but rumours started speculating that a split was imminent.[14] This marks the V Festival slot at Weston Park, Stafford, on 22 August 2009, as the last Oasis gig. On 28 August 2009, Noel admitted he could no longer work with Liam and that the tour and the band were now finished.[1]
This set list is representative of the performance on 11 July 2009 in London, England. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.
