There are any number of snarky, not-so-nice ways that Richard Ashcroft could have responded to the viral video of a fan caught Shazam-ing “Bittersweet Symphony” during the kick-off night of Oasis‘ reunion tour last weekend. But, being the gentleman that he is, the former Verve frontman whose upcoming solo album is titled Lovin’ You (Oct. 3) graciously chose the path of kindness and love in an Instagram post earlier this week.
In a video of the sold-out crowd at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales enthusiastically shouting the lyrics to the massive 1997 hit along with him, Ashcroft wrote, “Day 2 thanks to everyone who came down and gave such beautiful support for my set. If you don’t know it Shazam it, all new fans welcome! Love to LG for ‘Cast No Shadow,’ what a tune! We move on Manchester. Are you ready? Music is Power RA.”
In the now-infamous TikTok video of Friday’s (July 4) first reunion show that has nearly 640,000 likes to date, the camera slowly pans to a young woman hitting up Shazam to identify the iconic Rolling Stones-sampling, Grammy-nominated song that is Ashcroft’s calling card and one of the most beloved songs of the Britpop era. The on-screen comment read: “did they just Shazam the national anthem [crying laughing emoji].”
Ashcroft got props from one fan for his sweet response, which praised him for being a total gent about the incident. “Richard Ashcroft saw the video of the girl trying to identify one of the most recognizable songs on the planet–and didn’t shame her for it. What a king 👑,” they wrote.
Ashcroft will be back on stage with his pals Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis for the next run of their Live ’25 tour on Friday (July 11), when they kick off a five-night run in the siblings’ hometown of Manchester that will also have them playing shows on July 12, 16, 19 and 20 at Heaton Park.
