My inbox is filling up with people asking this question. Oasis is selling out stadiums, how come I didn’t mention them?

Well, my list was not meant to be comprehensive, after all I didn’t mention Metallica, but really I didn’t mention Oasis because it’s a one-off. Or is it? Are we going to see endless Oasis shows just like with Guns N’ Roses? There’s not a soul alive who believes the Gallagher brothers aren’t doing it for the money. As for their continued harmony… If the Robinson brothers can make peace for this long, maybe the Gallagher brothers can too.

Actually, the last time I saw Oasis was when they opened for the Black Crowes at the Greek and played very loud to an indifferent crowd.

You see Britpop never really made it over here, it wasn’t really a thing. Good luck finding someone who can name a Blur song, they played Coachella recently to a tiny crowd despite being paid beaucoup bucks.

Now I can completely understand why Oasis sold out stadiums in the U.K. It’s not only the music, but the cultural element. Northern lower middle class boys giving the finger to London and those who think they’re better. There were hits, a whole movement. But in America?

They had one big hit on MTV, “Wonderwall.” And that single only climbed to #8 on the chart, its follow-up, the delicious “Champagne Supernova,” didn’t chart at all. Then again, which chart, and charts don’t tell the full story anyway.

The truth is Oasis got a good amount of MTV airplay in the mid-nineties with songs from their second LP, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” As a result that album sold 5,500,000 copies in the US, which is very impressive, but this was in an era where they had to invent the diamond award for albums that sold over 10 million!

But it’s nothing to sneer at.

As for the follow-up, 1997’s “Be Here Now,” that album sold 1,013,000 albums in the U.S. A sh*t ton by today’s standards, but not much more than respectable back then.

And then it was over. The next LP, 2000’s “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” sold 208,000 copies in the U.S. 2002’s “Heathen Chemistry” sold 154,000. 2005’s “Don’t Believe the Truth” sold 202,000. 2008’s “Dig Out Your Soul” sold 116,000. SO WHO IS BUYING ALL THE TICKETS???

Noel Gallagher is the number one quote in the music business. He’ll slag anybody and it’ll be funny. It keeps him in the news, because everybody else is afraid of their shadow and his High Flying Birds mean almost nothing over here. I’ve seen them. I don’t need to see them again. I can’t imagine anybody needing to see them again.

As for Liam… I’ve seen him too, in his anorak with his nasal voice and his sneer and it felt completely out of place, out of time, you almost wanted to tell the guy to grow up. As for the audience…he was opening and to say he got polite applause is being polite.

SO WHY IS OASIS SELLING OUT STADIUMS IN AMERICA?

Because by all metrics they should not.

I will say that the brouhaha, the sheer mania about the reunion crossed over from the U.K. to the U.S. People in America got excited and felt left out. Something was happening there, they wanted a piece of that.

A piece of exactly what? Four guys standing on stage singing songs you don’t know? It’s one thing to go to a gig in a smaller venue when you’re only familiar with one or two songs, but to pay for a stadium play?

And Oasis’s hits were THIRTY YEARS AGO! Meaning if you were alive and kicking back then and this music meant anything to you, you’re 50+, and the older generations abhor a crowd, they want to pay extra to be pampered or not go at all. So to go to the stadium to see Oasis?

I saw Oasis in a club. The Whisky. The brothers have gone on record that the show wasn’t good, but I will tell you, I’ve seen new bands, ones I was completely unfamiliar with, and was wowed. Let me see, I saw Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Tom Petty…the list goes on of people I saw at the Whisky, a veritable postage stamp of a club. Those were pinch me experiences. Oasis? The latest new thing from Britain that was going to be big over here. But they weren’t, not right away.

Now some acts put on a show, the record is the blueprint at most, you’ve got to see them. Well, I’ve seen these guys and you don’t get much more than the music. So?

It’s the Emperor’s New Clothes. There is something there, but not that much. Do I expect rabidity in the stadiums? No, because most people don’t know the songs. So why are they going? FOMO!

First and foremost you’re afraid you can’t get a ticket. So if you think you want to go, you’d better pony up right away. So you’re sitting in front of your computer for the on sale…

I won’t say it’s like Beanie Babies, but it’s close, a fad. This is not the Beatles reuniting, this it not much of anything at all. But it’s doing BOFFO AT THE B.O!

Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist. If you go and love it, more power to you. I love “Champagne Supernova” and played it plenty, but I feel no urgency re this gig. I mean if someone calls me…but otherwise I’m just fine sitting this one out.

And then there are those going to multiple shows! This is not the Grateful Dead or Phish, not even the Dave Matthews Band. This isn’t about a different set every night, extended jams, this is essentially the same songs every evening.

And you know the reviews will be positive. Because the American writers don’t want to be left out, the British press raved. As for the attendees, it’s very hard to find someone who paid for a show, maybe the last appearance in your town ever, and say meh…

So what have we learned here?

Oasis is a good band. And they’ve got attitude. But they never sold a ton of tickets over here and as solo artists they’re close to meaningless. Proving that you’ve got to go out under the moniker of the band, to some degree it doesn’t even matter if the originals are in the act. One plus one equals three.

Then there’s a yearning for how it used to be. Although a boomer believes the nineties were lightweight, the ‘Times” just did a whole story about Gen Z’s nineties nostalgia. So this is a way to get in on it, a peek at what once was. The fact that the heyday is so far in the past works for Oasis…I mean who is around who actually saw the band?

So what other bands can do this?

Well, the formula is clear. You’ve got to have been gone a long time, certainly in excess of a decade, although the longer the better. The reunion must appear to be impossible… Hell, how much ink has been dripped about the tour not even finishing? All those stories saying the band doesn’t get paid until it’s over? It’s almost like a wreck on the freeway, you want to slow down and see it!

And then you’ve got to have a media frenzy. Taylor Swift’s previous tour didn’t go clean everywhere. But once you couldn’t get a ticket for Eras you felt completely left out, you were dying to get in.

This Oasis tour is more akin to Charlie Sheen’s. Remember when he was blowing up, shooting himself in the foot? They booked a tour with no essential content, Sheen had not done live gigs like this before, but tickets sold. And now? Charlie Sheen can’t get arrested.

There are so many people who played “Appetite for Destruction” to death, music that was even more real and angry than that of Oasis. And there were three albums, the first and the two “Illusion”s. And Axl Rose is certifiably nuts. So it’s like hell froze over when they got back together, especially after so much time. But why are people continuing to go?

I guess it’s kind of like Styx and Def Leppard and the rest of the bands out every summer, these acts represent a time in your life, and there were hits. But Styx arguably had more success than Oasis in America and they don’t sell out stadiums. Then again, as I just said, they’re out every year.

Is there demand for Journey with Steve Perry? I thought at some point it would be too late, but now I’m wondering… People would be so afraid this would be the last time that they’d go, never mind Led Zeppelin.

And scarcity… Felice’s car got totaled in the fall of 2022 and Hyundai wanted to sell her an electronic Ioniq 5 for ten grand over sticker, 60k. Needless to say she said no. But now you can lease the same car for a little over a hundred bucks a month.

Not everything is forever.

So is Oasis selling out stadiums this summer? Absolutely. But don’t compare the band with the other acts who sell out venues this large year after year. This is more of a freak show than music.

And if you’re pissed off by everything I’ve said I hope you never cross Noel Gallagher. I mean, HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT YOURSELF!

There have been guaranteed stadium sellouts all summer long.

Some examples:

Beyoncé

Coldplay

Shakira

Ed Sheeran

Robbie Williams

Dua Lipa

The Weeknd

Never mind Guns N’ Roses who go nearly clean despite touring almost every year with no new material.

And Zach Bryan can play stadiums and sell out whenever he wants.

Then there’s Kenny Chesney and Chris Stapleton…

But what is even more interesting is the acts whose profile is not as high as those above who are also selling out stadiums. This number of successful stadium shows has been heretofore unknown.

Having said that, these acts are not those who dominate today’s Spotify Top 50 so much as having paid their dues and broken through in a much less cluttered world wherein the old methods of carpet bomb promotion/publicity still worked. Will there be new stadium acts created? Yes. But it appears it’s less about a recent hit than a number of successful songs over a period of time.

What accounts for this? A unique experience that is unavailable elsewhere. We’ve all got the same smartphones, access to Netflix, but once in lifetime experiences that everybody can’t attend? Those are rare. Other than travel and in some cases food, music owns the sphere.

Never forget that there are 50% more people in America than there were in the last heyday of stadium shows in the seventies.

But you don’t have to be known by all, you don’t have to be plastered all over the news to sell out a stadium today. Either people know you’re doing a show and have to go or they couldn’t care less or the news is ignored or never even flies on their radar screen.

Note: Many of the acts below have more stadium sellouts this summer beyond the ones listed.

STRAY KIDS

Strade de France – 2 shows -117,382 – $16,951,814

Tottehnam Hotspur Stadium – 2 shows – 89,225 – $15,991,035

As well as sellouts here:

2 at SoFi

2 at CitiField

2 at Globe Life Field

CHRIS BROWN

MetLife Stadium – 2 shows – 107,256 – $15,001,827

Ford Field – 2 shows – 90,437 – $14,619,415

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

Dodger Stadium – 2 shows – 87,431 – $14,965,124

MetLife Stadium – 45,511 – $9,334,216

Globe Life Field – 38,246 – $8,267,228

ULTIMO

Not a sellout, 94%

Studio Olimpico – 3 shows – 174,544 – $13,134,558

IMAGINE DRAGONS

Stadion Letzigrund – 47,071 – $9,708,963

IRON MAIDEN

London Stadium – 69,419 – $8,920,154

Paris La Défense Arena – 2 shows – 75,483-$7,660,857

LANA DEL REY

Aviva Stadium – 51,445 – $8,417,738

MAX PEZZALI

Not a sellout, 97% business

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari-82,446 – $6,624,840

RUFUS DU SOUL

Sports Illustrated Stadium – 2 shows – 48,226 – $5,895,519

STEREOPHONICS

Principality Stadium – 57,175 – $5,784,354

LUMINEERS

Empower Field at Mile High – 54,247 – $5,102,102

NOAH KAHAN

Marlay Park – 39,967 – $4,990,161

SAM FENDER

(98%, not sellouts)

St. James Park – 2 shows-  50,377 – $9,821,458

You’ve got to decide which track you’re on, whether you truly have a mass cause or something that is inherently narrow and promote accordingly.

In entertainment nothing is for everyone. We got the last hurrah of the power of overwhelming publicity with Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which all media believed was a phenomenon and convinced the public of same. However, now there are multiple acts playing stadiums. In  multiple genres. Some of which you don’t like, if not all of them. So the publicity slides right off of you or alienates you or BOTH!

Now if you’re in the narrowcasting business, the niches, which is almost everybody, truth and credibility are key, your goal is to create a solid bond with an audience that will never leave you.

If you’re going broad, it’s about frequency and bombast, the truth is irrelevant.

This is the new world. Almost no one can help you but yourself.

Yesterday’s “New York Times” article on Lola Young says this:

“A few years ago, Shymansky brought on Lily West, a friend of his younger sister, to make honing Young’s visual persona fun, instead of a chore dictated by her label. They tried for years to ‘crack it,’ West said, making amateur montages of couples in public, jumping on forced trends, filming bad dances.

“Eventually, they happened upon a gimmick that worked, bringing attention to Young’s textured voice by putting her behind a huge professional microphone in unlikely locations (a swing, a canoe, a beach) and allowing her to sing live.”

http://bit.ly/45CnUda

You break yourself, on social media, and to do that you have to uncover a strategy that works, and feed the monster CONSTANTLY!

Never mind all the no-talents doing the same thing trying to gain traction. You’re competing against the greatest hits of all time, all of them available on streaming services, and the great unwashed who believe they deserve attention, who’ve got a lot more drive than talent.

So think small. Everybody in the music business should think small. It’s all about knowing who your fanbase is and superserving them. Only they can grow you. The rest of the public has too much going on to pay attention to you. And chances are if they check you out as a result of hype they won’t like you. Your only hope is that your superfans spread the word.

If someone hears positive things from superfans multiple times, they might give you a listen. Otherwise…

You can bug gatekeepers, but in truth they’ve lost their power. Radio goes on records AFTER they’ve been broken and are climbing the chart on Spotify.

You are responsible for your own success. And the music is not enough, it must be available.

Now on TikTok you have an opportunity to make fans, because the algorithm is in control, feeding viewers stuff that they probably wouldn’t pull. So is your video so arresting that people will want to see more of you? If not, give up.

Now if you’ve established a career the old way in the old days, you can muddle along. But if you’re just starting out, trying to break, this is the game you must play.

Forget the labels, they can’t do anything for you other than write a check and give you a bad royalty rate. You have to do it for yourself.

Everybody is cottage industry these days. Even Trump. That’s what makes his social media posts so arresting… They come directly from him, outrage and misspellings galore! You may not like it, but those who support him love it! It’s almost punk. Even though he went to Penn, he’s showing his fans that all the decorum and erudition of the elite is irrelevant to him, he’s down and dirty, a veritable metal band.

And the Democrats are flummoxed.

We live in the era of the individual. The corporations have made the tools…then again, we can’t stop hearing about Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg…they’re all out there making pronouncements willy-nilly, whereas the majordomos of old school enterprises are quiet. Hell, Lucian Grainge should be all over social media, drawing attention to Universal Music (then again, he’s so overpaid the blowback might be fierce). Daniel Ek is smart, he knows he’s a target, so he stays quiet. But if you’ve got something to sell, you must be in the game constantly.

Ticketmaster, like Ek, shuts up, because it knows nothing it can say can sway the public’s perception of them. And like Netanyahu, THEY DON’T CARE! We were made to believe that news and public opinion swayed the minds of those in power. No more! Beat up on Trump all you want, so far it hasn’t made a difference, all you can do is steal attention from him. That’s how you win in today’s game, with attention. And the underlying message is not enough. The beast, the public needs to be fed 24/7.

Railing against the system is doing you no good. Which is why all the anti-tech screeds in elite publications are a joke. The smartphone and social media are here to stay. Do you think the people scrolling TikTok care what the “New York Times” has to say about it? That’s like convincing people not to see superhero movies because they’re lowbrow. We no longer live in a cohesive society, everybody is on their own path, and the sooner you realize the better.

“So Far Gone”: http://bit.ly/45xCfr7

“Among Friends”: http://bit.ly/4lMM09V

We’re watching the second season of “The Ex-Wife” and it too is very intense.

To tell you the truth, we forgot most of the plot of the first season when we started the second, it’s been three years, and the catch-up at the beginning of the first episode of the new season was not comprehensive enough, but having watched two episodes we went back and watched it again and understood more.

This was after we tried “Outrageous,” which had a tone problem despite the positive reviews, and slogging through “Hostage,” this week’s hot new Netflix show. Suranne Jones is always good, and as seemingly only a French actress can do, Julie Delpy has not fought the aging process and this combined with her acting chops makes her very believable. HOWEVER, despite great casting and performances, the plot is so unbelievable and predictable to the point where you want your money back. I really wouldn’t recommend it. Having said that, “The Ex-Wife” is a total winner, but in the U.S. you’ve got to have BritBox…then again, my inbox is full of raves for “Code of Silence.”

And after turning off the TV I went back to “So Far Gone,” which I read in two days, I stayed up late to finish it.

“So Far Gone” is an easy read. It wraps up seemingly all the issues of the day without the reader feeling that they’ve been forced upon them.

You’ve got the hermit of a father, who finds his grandkids at his front door, and from there a caper ensues.

What have we got here?

Christian nationalism.

Dedication to a losing musical career.

EDM/hippies.

Multiple marriages.

“So Far Gone” is a novel of today. The more I’m thinking about it, the more I don’t want to tell you any more about the plot. But I will say, “So Far Gone” is not a chore, it’s not so highbrow that you feel you’re being talked down to, it’s funny and truthful and I haven’t seen it hyped everywhere, I see the usual best sellers on the lists and this is not there, so I want to hip you to it. No one is going to read “So Far Gone” and want their time or money back. Will you think it’s the greatest book you’ve ever read? Doubtful, but somewhere in there you’ll see yourself or your life. And you’ll laugh.

As for “Among Friends,” it IS highbrow. So if you’re looking for literary fiction, the kind of stuff that is not hyped by Jenna or GMA or Reese…this is for you. “Among Friends” does not cut like butter, you may find yourself rereading sections to fully understand what they’re saying, but what is being said…

What you’ve got here is two fiftysomething men who’ve been friends since college. They come from very different backgrounds, but the college experience bonds them, they remain best friends, they integrate their families as life unfolds.

And then…

“Among Friends” has got a ton of interior dialogue, especially in the first half. You know, the stuff you think in your head that you never say out loud. The unfiltered words. Your anger at other people, your anger at life, your hopes and dreams… We all have this tape going in our brains. They say you can never really know another person, this is why. So I loved the first half.

The second half is the same characters, but something happens. Whereas the first half is not based on a plot point. It’s just people living their lives, their choices, their petty feelings.

And even if you end up a big swinging dick, can you truly escape your upbringing? Will those born to a higher status accept you? And can you accept that you’ve moved on?

A lot of questions are asked in “Among Friends,” questions we all consider, but unlike “So Far Gone,” “Among Friends” is not for everyone. If you can handle more description than necessary, occasional words you might not understand, not that much action…have I lost you yet? Funny how a book is a solo experience of a populated world, but since reading is an effort which many people find too heavy a lift, it’s not like you can run into someone who’s read the same book.

Unless you’re talking about best sellers that are too often about plot and not much more.

So I know most of my audience doesn’t care about books, and would rather I don’t write about them, but the above two are fulfilling, and for those who e-mail me thanking me for my recommendations, here are two more.