10 Britpop-era indie bands we need to reform in 2025
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So, did anyone get an Oasis ticket? No? Thought not. At this point the discourse regarding the return of the (formerly) battling Gallagher brothers and the controversial, dynamic pricing shit show that came in its wake has been discussed to death.
But here’s the good news: if you missed out on obtaining tickets for Oasis' summer '25 stadium tour then presumably you’ve got ￡400+ burning a hole in your pocket to spend on live music. And if we could just persuade these Britpop-era indie bands to reform for shows next year, you could see all 10 of them for less than the price of a nosebleed seat at one of Oasis' Wembley gigs.
Cool Britannia: we need you now!
The Verve
If they didn't insist upon breaking up all the time, well, three times since their formation back in 1989, The Verve could have been global contenders. The good news is they usually get back together, eventually.
Richard Ashcroft's band last played together in 2009, the same year that Oasis split, and they’re one of the few bands that are held in the same high regard as fellow Britpop heroes Blur and Pulp, both of who have staged successful reunions since the Gallaghers last shared a stage. Ashcroft has been touring as a solo artist - he was booked to play with Pearl Jam this summer at their ill-fated London show - but to see him and guitarist Nick McCabe together onstage again in 2025, running through indie-psych classics from Urban Hymns and A Northern Soul, would unquestionably be the second biggest story in UK music.
The Longpigs
There are currently rumblings that the Sheffield alt-rock quartet may well return for the first time since their initial split in 2000. If you know one thing about them then it’s bound to be their perfect 1995 smash hit single She Said, which peaked at number 16 on the UK chart when it was re-released a year later. But their debut album The Sun is Often Out is a tremendous collection of emotionally raw, sometimes raucous, often gorgeous indie rock. We’d welcome them back with open arms.
Elastica
One of the biggest bands on this list that have never reformed since their original run, Elastica’s new wave/post-punk mash up made them one of the most talked-about British artists during the mid-'90s. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of their classic, self-titled debut album, and how great would it be to see Justine Frischmann onstage again with the original line up of Justin Welch, Donna Matthews and Annie Holland hammering out bangers like Stutter, Waking Up and Connection? The band broke up amicably in 2001, but Matthews, Holland and Welch got together in 2017 to help remaster a re-release of their debut: add Justine into the mix and you’d make a lot of Britpop fans very happy indeed.
The Auteurs
Existing between 1991 and 1999, The Auteurs were a band who were constantly thrown in with the Britpop movement, even though enigmatic frontman Luke Haines never hid how much he despised the term: truthfully, he’s probably going to be pissed off that his former band have been included here. Knowing the way Haines operates, it’s incredibly unlikely, in all honesty, that The Auteurs will ever reform, but for those of us that treasure their 1991 debut New Wave and 1996’s Steve Albini-engineered After Murder Park the desire to hear those songs live again still burns strong.
Super Furry Animals
Without question one of the most unique artists of the Britpop years, and a band that have developed a hardcore cult following over the years, the Super Furries' run 1993 to 2010 produced some of the best music to come out of the United Kingdom during that time. 1996 debut Fuzzy Logic was a glorious mess of glammy, art-rock with monster tunes, Radiator a year later was even better and... look, we could go on. After breaking up, the band reformed for a tour in 2015, which ended with dates playing those first two albums in full at the end of 2016. Frontman Gruff Rhys has busied himself with solo material, guest spots and his electro-synth project Neon Neon over the years, but we’d love him to find space to resurrect SFA one last time.
Gene
Forming in 1993, Gene had a fine run in the 90’s, with their first two albums both breaking into the UK album chart top 10. The Londoners split amicably when the Britpop party was well and truly over, playing their final show at the now defunct London Astoria on 16 December 2004. They have reformed for only one show since; playing five songs at London’s 100 Club in 2008. It’s 30 years since they released their much-loved debut Olympian in 2025, and since it looks like The Smiths (who Gene were constantly compared to) aren’t ever coming back, surely this would be the next best thing.
Curve
A bit of a, ahem, curveball here, for the lush, gothic-tinged electro-rock created by London-based duo of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia was a world away from the typical sound of Britpop. Their 1992 excellent debut Doppelganger sounds like a roughed-up Cocteau Twins, and looked like it would propel them to stardom, but sadly, it didn’t happen, and the band split in 2005. Given the renewed interest in both 90’s culture and shoegaze right now, with the likes of Slowdive and Ride enjoying successful comebacks, a Curve reformation would surely make them bigger than they ever were at their '90s 'peak'.
Lush
Mike Berenyi's brilliant 2022 autobiography Fingers Crossed offers a crystal-clear picture of why Lush no longer exist, but if the tensions between Liam and Noel Gallagher can be resolved, who's to say that Emma Anderson and Berenyi could yet find a way to share a stage again.
The quartet formed in London in 1987 and enjoyed a fair bit of success, with debut album Spooky reaching the top 10 in the UK in 1992. Unfortunately, when Britpop hit big, their brand of shoegaze was out of fashion, and 1996's straighter, indie-sounding third album Lovelife always sounded like something of a compromise, despite it featuring their most well-known song, Ladykillers. Burnt out and falling apart, Lush split after the tragic death of drummer Chris Acland, and it took until 2015 for the remaining members to feel like they could perform as Lush again, with ex-Elastica drummer Justin Welch filling Acland’s void. That reunion last only a year, but again, with shoegaze very much in vogue for Gen Z, one more tour would be greatly appreciated.
Mansun
When Mansun’s 1997 debut album, featuring the inescapable hit single Wide Open Space, topped the UK album chart, it seemed as though a new challenger for the Britpop crown had emerged. It all went to shit a year later though, when follow-up Six ditched glammy, instantaneous bangers for deliberately difficult and out of tune prog. They never recovered and split in 2003. Years down the line though, Six has now been re-evaluated as the masterpiece, lost classic that it is, and were Mansun to return, a lot of people would be keen to hear those songs played live.
Supergrass
Okay, Oxford’s spiky Britpop trio actually only split up in 2022, and Gaz Coombes seems happy with his solo career, so this might be coming too soon. But since their reformation in 2019 was massively interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of their brilliant debut album I Should Coco, it seems like a no-brainer for Supergrass to get in on the '90’s indie revival. They can definitely still do it, and a greatest hits set featuring Richard III, Caught by the Fuzz, Going Out, Alright, Pumping on the Stereo and the rest would be nothing short of glorious.
