August 25, Little John’s Farm: last time they were here, they were rumoured to split. Now they’re on the brink of something special, with indie sleaze turned up to 11 Eight Heaton Parks and 10 Wembley Stadiums – those are the shows rumoured for Oasis’ mega reunion tour next year. The combined capacity is more than the population of some countries, and yet it still doesn’t seem enough to meet the demand.
Catfish And The Bottlemen , meanwhile – who co-headline Reading 2024 tonight ahead of the Liam Gallagher show said to break the news we thought we’d never hear – have more modest yet still wildly ambitious shows on their horizon. When the Welsh indie stars recently announced plans for their first stadium gigs at Cardiff Principality and the Spurs ground, many took online to express doubt that they had the following and momentum to pull it off and fill ’em up. The last time Catfish topped the bill here was on a run of 2021 shows many believed to be their last.
Twitter and tabloids spoke of their demise as the Welsh rock machine seemed to power down before a few years of silence. With no new music and no rise in profile, is a stadium run really the wisest move? Well, as Jim Morrison said in Wayne’s World 2 , “If you book it, they will come”. Do you believe in manifesting the big stuff? Catfish sure bloody do.
Their opening song carries that spirit: “ One of our longshots paid off” . The band didn’t split the other year, but now frontman Van McCann a.