New Oasis song leaked

LONDON, UK (Radio 1) - The long awaited new single from UK rockers Oasis has been leaked onto the internet more than a month before it is officially released.

The Hindu Times, which comes out on 15 April and is the band's first release in two years, is available to download from a variety of message boards and websites. The recording is a bootleg tape of the song's world premi�re on a Norwegian radio station.

The track was unveiled at the band's tenth anniversary gigs late last year and was also given another airing at the band's recent shows in Watford and London's Royal Albert Hall. It is the first track taken from the band's as yet untitled fifth studio album which is lined up for a July release.

Tickets go on sale on Saturday for the band's two summer concerts in London's Finsbury Park.

The Manchester band will be supported by The Charlatans and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the shows on 5 and 6 July. They last played outdoor shows at Wembley Stadium in 2000.

Fall-outs

The band, fronted by Noel and Liam Gallagher, will be hoping to reclaim the glory they enjoyed in the mid-1990s. At the forefront of the Brit Pop era, Oasis sold more than 18 million albums and played to more than 250,000 people over two days at a concert at Knebworth in 1996.
But since then the band have struggled amid constant rumours of a split and the lives of the band members grab more attention than the music.

The newspapers were more interested in the Gallagher brothers' love lives - Noel's divorce from Meg Mathews and Liam's marriage and subsequent divorce from Patsy Kensit and his new relationship with All Saint Nicole Appleton.

A lot depends on whether the new single can recapture their former glory.