With Oasis fever sweeping the UK, there are plenty of other musical brands Brits dream of seeing make a comeback
Liam Gallagher of Oasis performs on stage during the opening night (Image: Gareth Cattermole, Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Queen has been voted the top dream musical comeback by Brits, following the storming success of Oasis’ reformation.
As Oasis mania sweeps the nation, a survey asked music fans to name the artists and bands they’d most love to see return to the stage, with Queen securing the top spot with 29% of the vote.
Music legends from various eras including The Beatles (28%), Fleetwood Mac (19%), Spice Girls (13%), Girls Aloud (10%) and Aretha Franklin (9%) also feature on the list of stars we’re itching to see live again.
Elvis (23%), Whitney Houston (20%) and R. E.M (13%) also made the cut, reports the Daily Star.
A whopping 70% of respondents are thrilled about Oasis’ return to the live music scene, with nearly half (47%) confessing they’d go to great lengths to see their favourite bands if they were to make a comeback.
It’s hardly surprising that a massive nine out of ten (90%) agree that experiencing live music is one of life’s greatest joys, with three quarters (73%) loving the atmosphere and two thirds (66%) savouring the experience.
Mercury died in 1991(Image: Getty Images)
Over half (59%) say there’s nothing quite like enjoying live music with their partner, while 53% love letting loose with their mates.
The 90s (45%) was crowned the best decade for music, followed by the 80s (40%), 2000s (30%) and 70s (20%), according to the 2,000 Brits polled by Marella Cruises, TUI’s UK ocean cruise line.
A whopping 92% of Brits use music to get them in the holiday mood, with 90s tunes (49%), classic holiday anthems (36%), 00s hits (23%) and lounge music (21%) all contributing to that holiday feeling.
Yet, despite our love for music, nearly half (48%) of us believe that listening to it on speakers or phones doesn’t compare to experiencing it live, which is why Brits are planning to attend an average of three live gigs and festivals this year.
A significant 64% are keen to attend more gigs this year than last, to make the most of who’s performing live (44%) and who’s making a comeback (43%).
Other factors that make live music unforgettable include creating lasting memories (52%), dancing the night away (40%), spending time with mates (37%), belting out the lyrics (37%) and feeling the rhythm in your bones (37%).
To cater to the nation’s craving for 90s music and their dream gig, Marella Cruises has launched its ‘Electric Sunsets 90s vs 00s’ themed cruise – a three-day adult-only event, which is reviving the 90s and 00s with headline acts like Kimberly Wyatt from the Pussycat Dolls and B*Witched.
Chris Hackney, Managing Director at Marella Cruises, commented: “The latest research highlights a growing trend among Brits embracing musical comebacks-especially from the 90s, which remains the nation’s most beloved music decade. That’s why we’re over the moon to announce the return of our Electric Sunsets themed cruise for its fifth year. This unique voyage offers a chance to sail the Mediterranean while enjoying unforgettable entertainment with a nostalgic twist, featuring acts like Kimberly Wyatt from the Pussycat Dolls, B*Witched, and Booty Luv. Passengers, whether new to cruising or seasoned cruisers, can relive iconic hits while enjoying a one-of-a-kind cruise holiday experience.”
Celebrities and the world’s toddlers adore the long-running Aussie children’s TV entertainers, but now in it’s third reincarnation, the punishing schedule has taken its toll on the kiddie supergroup
(Image: Getty Images)
Robert De Niro, Dolly Parton and Jessie J are fans, they’re worth millions and play sell-out concerts around the world. The Wiggles – aka The Beatles for toddlers – are a preschooler’s entertainment juggernaut that has taken over the world.
They’ve got a new country album out, Wiggle Up Giddy Up, featuring two songs with the rhinestone queen herself, Dolly Parton. And tickets to their current world tour are hotter than an Oasis reunion gig.
They have previously sold out Madison Square Garden in New York for 12 days in a row and, ahead of this week’s show in the US, Hollywood legend De Niro, 81, was granted a backstage pass with his two-year-old daughter, Gia, to meet her idol – founder member, Anthony Field (Blue Wiggle).
Like most people over the age of five, De Niro didn’t have a clue about this global phenomenon until he had Gia with professional martial artist girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45.
The Wiggles sang their classic banger Rock-A-Bye Your Bear for the veteran actor’s family, which drew a rare smile. And De Niro admitted: “I didn’t know of them until I started seeing them and my daughter loves to watch them… but they’re great!”
Jessie J and son Sky meet The Wiggles and Tree of Wisdom at their Bouncing Balls Tour in Croydon in May 2025(Image: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for T)
With the advent of YouTube and the arrival of their shows on Netflix, a new British audience is embracing The Wiggles.
When they came to the UK recently, Jessie J met them with her son Sky and was treated to some of the Tree of Wisdom’s viral TikTok dance moves.
They’re also part of a wave of Australian children’s TV, like Bluey, that is captivating British kids, giving them Aussie accents and pushing CBeebies off the map.
Borkowski PR’s Gregor Cubie expects his 19-month-old to join the fan club soon, and wonders if ‘Aussie-ness’ is the magic ingredient wooing international audiences.
“In the same way that Bluey is almost universally popular and accessible, The Wiggles’ sheer Aussie-ness might work in their favour when it comes to their reputation,” he says.
But, scratch the surface, according to Gregor, and you’ll find a long-running supergroup, dogged by controversy, ill health and accusations of “going woke”.
The Wiggles’ original line-up Jeff Fatt, Anthony Field, Greg Page and Murray Cook perform in Sydney in December 2012(Image: Getty Images)
One of Australia’s most successful exports, The Wiggles take it in turns with pop sensation Kylie Minogue and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe to top the Aussie rich list.
Majority owner Anthony is estimated to be worth £25m, on top of the £10 million a year the band rakes in from tours, TV shows, new releases, merchandise and sponsorships.
They have their own TV series Ready, Steady, Wiggle, have produced 62 studio albums, sold 40 million books, CDs and DVDS, and attracted more than 5 billion views on YouTube and 3 billion streams across various music services.
They’ve been making ear-worm sing-a-long pop since 1991, when kindergarten teaching students Anthony and Jeff Fatt, who were members of the R&B pop band the Cockroaches, and got together with two fellow students – Murray Cook and Greg Page – in Sydney, to make an album of simple, catchy songs for pre-schoolers
After Anthony’s infant niece tragically died from sudden infant death syndrome, the Cockroaches disbanded.
Founder Blue Wiggle Anthony performs at Falls Festival Melbourne in December 2022(Image: Getty Images)
One of the songs Anthony wrote, Get Ready to Wiggle, inspired the new band’s name because they thought “wiggling” describes how children dance.
“We met at university doing a course in early childhood – this connection with music and teaching is what became The Wiggles,” explains Anthony.
While The Wiggles has evolved since those early days, the four original members hold a special place in people’s hearts – Anthony and Jeff Fatt (Purple Wiggle), Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) and Greg Page (Yellow Wiggle). And their hits like Hot Potato and Fruit Salad, were toddler dance floor fillers for the next two decades.
While members have changed, the primary colours of red, yellow, blue and purple that they wear is no doubt the secret of the Wiggles’ success with the ankle biters.
In Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles 2023 documentary, Anthony says: “It doesn’t matter who wears the skivvies, as long as we reflect our audience and communicate with children.”
The Wriggles with stand-in Sam Moran after he replaced Yellow Wriggle Greg Page who had to leave the band due to illness in 2006(Image: Getty Images)
Like any band, they had to break America to go truly global – and when the Disney Channel played them four times a day to their 85 million subscribers, their success was meteoric. All of a sudden, they were playing 10,000 seater arenas.
PR, Gregor puts their success down to a “combination of their prolific output with its ceaseless ability to hypnotise toddlers”.
He adds: “Also, a less extreme version of the Royal Family’s ‘never complain, never explain’ approach. Instead of saying nothing, they say the bare minimum and carry on as if nothing happened.
“You rarely see naval-gazing and the consistency and popularity of their work keeps generations of kids coming back for more.”
While there aren’t many skeletons to rattle in The Wiggle cupboards, behind their happy faces and signature finger point, members have been dogged by setbacks.
Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Anthony Field attend the Hot Potato: The Story Of The Wiggles world premiere in Sydney in October 2023(Image: Getty Images for SXSW Sydney)
Controversies include the Hot Potato incident two years ago, when a council in Western Australia played their famous song on loop to deter anti-social behaviour at a homeless shelter.
The Wiggles complained, saying their music should only be used to “spread joy and happiness” but the damage was done.
But the fact De Niro was happy to be pictured with The Wiggles is a massive endorsement.
“Robert De Niro seems increasingly like the kind of guy who considers how his every public appearance and utterance might affect his legacy, so it’s a pretty major stamp of approval that he’s happy to be publicly associated with the Wiggles. Fundamentally they are free of reputation risk,” says Gregor.
“The irony is that the Wiggles have had a few controversies which are fairly stereotypical of long-running bands – walkouts, inter-band marriages and divorces; allegations that a song is racially insensitive, accusations of going ‘woke.’ They’ve been ruthlessly parodied on 30 Rock and, of course, the Hot Potato incident was unpleasant.”
Robert De Niro meets Captain Feathersword aka Paul Paddick of The Wiggles on June 28, 2025 in New York City(Image: Getty Images)
For members of The Wiggles, the squeaky clean expectations can be tricky.
“During my time in The Wiggles, I was out at a gig one night and I was having a drink, and the next day a newspaper reported: ‘The Wiggles member caught having a beer’, and that was a shock. I am an adult!” says Murray.
And doing 400 to 500 shows a year – cramming up to three gigs into a single day – took its toll on the original members, with Jeff, Murray and Greg retiring for health reasons in 2012.
A mystery illness forced Greg to leave in 2006. He was replaced by Sam Morans, but came back in 2012. Then he suffered a heart attack on stage during a 2020 reunion show. That same year, Murray had open heart surgery.
Revealing his own struggles, Anthony released a memoir Out Of The Blue last year, detailing the years of mental and physical health problems he’s suffered, including depression, undiagnosed ADHD and chronic pain.
The second Wiggles line-up, left to right, Simon Pryce, Emma Watkins, Lachlan Gillespie and Anthony in New York in 2015(Image: Getty Images)
Yet Field created a second generation of Wiggles with Simon Pryce (Red Wiggle), Lachlan Gillespie (Purple Wiggle) and the first female, Emma Watkins (Yellow Wiggle).
“We might be responsible for their first experience of music,” says Emma, speaking about their responsibility to their tiny fans
Sadly, trouble soon upended their paradise, as shortly after Yellow Wiggle Emma married Purple Wiggle Lachie, they divorced and she left the group not long after.
Another shake-up in 2021 saw 15-year-old Tsehay Hawkins becoming Yellow Wiggle.
Now 62, Anthony is the only remaining original Wiggle, in a group of eight performers – Tsehay, Lachlan, and Simon, as well as Caterina Mete, Lucia Field, Simon Pryce, Evie Ferris, John Pearce – who are as gender-diverse and racially-diverse as their millions of fans.
The new extended Wiggles crew at Croydon meeting Jessie J in Croydon in May 2025(Image: Mike Marsland/Getty Images for T)
Costumed characters, played by the more junior Wiggles, include Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog, and Captain Feathersword.
While some of the newer members say their estimated £72,000 earnings are a fraction of the big bucks of the original members, they have given the group a bigger presence on social media, where the Tree of Wisdom (played by Anthony’s nephew, Dominic Field) regularly goes viral on TikTok, with his exuberant dance moves.
And, in recent years, they’ve been noticing something new – a generational crossover, as kids grow up, but remain fans.
Dorothy the Dinosaur is also now a DJ, who remixes the original Wiggles classics for the older audience. And they’ve been getting down with the cool kids – covering songs by Fatboy Slim, White Stripes and Tame Impala’s Elephant.
“We’re bringing back happy memories,” says Anthony. “And it’s a real privilege to do that.”
Altogether now, kids, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!
Classic kids TV groups down the years:
The Monkees, 1960s – Four cute surfer boys Davy Jones, Mickey Donlenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith running around in zany plots to brilliant pop tracks, in a sitcom that captured the spirit of the era.
The Banana Splits, 1970s – Four costumed animal characters who’d perform songs and comedy skits in a psychedelic world, was just as weird and fun as it sounds. The makers had clearly been on the wacky baccy.
The Teletubbies on their 25th anniversary in 2022(Image: PA)
Rainbow, 1980s – Presenter Geoffrey and his camp puppets Zippy, George and Bungle and hippy singers Rod, Jane and Freddy took us “Up above the streets and houses, Rainbow climbing high” every week. I still miss them.
Teletubbies, 1990s – Some called it the most disturbing children’s show on TV – but even now millions of babies are glued to repeats of these four tubby aliens, Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-laa, and Po, with coat hangers on their heads living on a mini golf course.
Zingzillas, 2000s – Puppet monkey band Zak, Tang, Panzee and Drum lived on a tropical island and made real music together and introduced tots to rock, soul, jazz and samba styles – along with some dodgy titles like Do You Didgeridoo?
