Record shop owner who inspired Oasis responds to reunion: “They took us all by surprise”

nme.com:

Oasis song has responded to news of the band’s reunion this week.The Britpop band announced a huge UK and Ireland headline tour earlier this week (August 27), dubbed Oasis Live ’25.

Set to take place in July and August, the trek will see Liam and Noel Gallagher perform on stage together for the first time in 16 years.The highly anticipated tour is currently made up of multiple gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, London’s Wembley Stadium, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Dublin’s Croke Park, and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium – and three more dates were added this morning due to “unprecedented demand”.

Plans for concerts outside of Europe are currently underway too.Now, Peter Howard, who owns Sifters Records in Manchester, has responded to news of the reunion.

Howard, 76, was referenced in Oasis’ song ‘Shakermaker’ as Mr Sifter via the lyric: “Mr Sifter sold me songs when I was just 16/ Now he stops at traffic lights but only when they’re green.”Fans have been gathering all week outside the record shop since news of the reunion arrived.Speaking about the reunion to Sky News, Howard said he thought demand for the tickets would be “chaos… because they’re going to be millions of millions [wanting tickets] – they reckon demand is going to be more than Taylor wotsit”, in reference to Taylor Swift’s ongoing ‘Eras Tour’.When asked how he felt when news of the reunion arrived, he said: “Oh excitement – because we’ve been denying it for, well years.