The Oasis concerts are set to be an economic phenomenon. Could they revive the swagger of the Cool Britannia era?
- The Oasis concerts could add £1.1bn to the UK economy
- At a time when saving rates are high, it could galvanise consumer confidence
- Fund managers are shifting to more economically sensitive companies
We’ve had Swiftonomics – the phenomenon that saw every town where Taylor Swift played a concert experience a mini-economic boom – and Beyonceonomics, but are we about to get our own home-grown ‘onomics’ phenomenon? Oasis starts its tour on 4th July and it may trigger a boost in UK consumer spending.
Research from AJ Bell shows that every concert goer will spend over £800 on tickets, hotel rooms and travel, adding over £1bn to the UK economy. It is not quite Swiftonomics – Swift’s Eras tour generated $4.6 billion in consumer spending. However, it’s not to be sniffed at, particularly if it is followed – as expected – by a second tour in 2026.
This may sound trivial, but it could be important for the UK economy. One of the key problems has been a lack of confidence. The UK household savings ratio has been going up since the second quarter of 2022 and is now at its highest level in a decade, barring the Covid era. This comes against a backdrop of healthy wage growth. UK consumers have the capacity to spend far more than they have been, but have lacked the confidence to do so.
Whether the Oasis tour unleashes those animal spirits is open to debate, but it might. The potential for a consumer revival is another factor that tends to be overlooked in the rush to be gloomy about the UK’s prospects. A number of fund managers are adjusting their portfolios, believing this has been underpriced in the UK market.
For example, Simon Murphy, manager of the VT Tyndall UK Unconstrained Income fund, says his portfolio has a bias to domestic, economically-sensitive companies, including consumer names such as Dunelm. Richard Knight, manager on the Allianz UK Listed Opportunities fund, is also leaning into domestic UK companies, including companies such as Jet2.
Most of these managers do not believe the UK economy is back to the races. It is clear from the recent GDP figures that there are still plenty of headwinds to growth, and the UK’s finances remain precarious. However, the gloom has outweighed reality: there has been a tendency to focus on what could go wrong rather than what could go right.
Maybe the Oasis concerts could revive some of the optimism and hope that characterised the Cool Britannia era of the 1990s. If so, the UK market could see a long-awaited revival.
