Battle of the Britpop bands

Reliving the heady summer of 1995, when Britpop heavyweights Blur and Oasis went head-to-head in a great headline-grabbing chart contest, The Battle arrives on UK tour next year at Manchester Opera House (March 17-21, 2026), followed by northern visits to Sheffield Lyceum (May 5-9); York Grand Opera House (June 9-13); Newcastle Theatre Royal (July 7-11) and Chester Storyhouse (July 28-August 1).

We are in London, in 1995: two of the country’s biggest bands release singles on the same day, starting the battle of Britpop. On one side there's clean-cut, art-school intellectuals from the South. On the other: raw and unapologetic lads from the North. Rivalries flare, friendships fracture and at the centre of it all there's a mania that will define an era – are you Blur, or Oasis?

Written by screenwriter and Sunday Times best-selling novelist John Niven (O’Brother, Kill Your Friends, How To Build A Girl), The Battle is directed by Oldham-born Matthew Dunster (2:22 A Ghost Story, The Pillowman).

John Niven said: “1995 was a time long before music splintered into a billion different Tik Tok feeds; when music was so central to the culture that two pop groups could dominate the entire summer, the evening news and the front page of every newspaper. We're going to take you back there."

Matthew added: "I remember the battle of the bands. I remember the charts that week. Music mattered. I remember being in my twenties in 1995 and it was a wild time. It was full of energy, naughtiness and hilarity, just like John’s play.”

Producer Simon Friend said: “Throughout my sister’s teenage years, she had an enormous poster of Damon Albarn on her wall and I remember her falling out with friends over which band they loved more. This story has been in the back of my mind ever since, so I was delighted John Niven agreed to write it, and that Matthew Dunster will direct it. We have a fearless team recreating the sweaty mid-‘90s carnage of the battle of Britpop.”

More info and tickets here