On this day in 2008: CEFC joins Oasis for BBC Electric Proms finale

26 October 2026

On this day in 2008, Crouch End Festival Chorus joined Oasis on stage at London’s Roundhouse for the grand finale of the BBC Electric Proms. The collaboration saw the choir perform alongside one of Britain’s biggest rock bands, adding a powerful choral dimension to a specially conceived one-night concert.

A landmark collaboration

The 26 October 2008 performance brought together Oasis and the 50-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus for a set that reimagined songs from across the band’s catalogue. Rather than a standard rock show, the Electric Proms event was designed to give familiar material a broader, more cinematic treatment.

For CEFC, the date was a notable example of the choir’s versatility: moving from classical and contemporary choral repertoire into the heart of a major popular-music broadcast, in front of a national audience.

Six songs, one memorable sound

The choir featured on six songs during the Oasis set: “The Masterplan”, “I’m Outta Time”, “Wonderwall”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, “Champagne Supernova” and “I Am the Walrus”. Their voices helped transform Oasis’s anthems into sweeping, full-bodied arrangements.

Noel Gallagher praised the choir during rehearsals, describing it as “immense, celestial in fact”. The collaboration was particularly effective on “The Masterplan”, where CEFC’s harmonies gave Noel Gallagher’s much-loved 1995 B-side an added sense of scale and grandeur.

In 'I Am the Walrus', Noel wanted the choir to sing something totally random at the end of the song to represent the chaotic finale. Conductor David Temple suggested Beethoven's Ode to Joy - to which Noel gave a thumbs up!

A night at the Roundhouse

Oasis used the show to showcase material from their then-new album, *Dig Out Your Soul*, alongside classics including “Rock ’n’ Roll Star”, “Lyla”, “Cigarettes & Alcohol”, “Morning Glory” and “Supersonic”. The evening built towards a choir-backed finale featuring “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, “Champagne Supernova” and The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus”.

The concert was broadcast as part of the BBC Electric Proms and remains a striking record of CEFC’s ability to collaborate across musical worlds. You can revisit the original “On This Day in Oasis History” article and watch the “The Masterplan” video below.

Eighteen years on

Eighteen years later, the Roundhouse performance stands as a memorable chapter in Crouch End Festival Chorus’s history. It captured the choir at the centre of a major BBC music event, working with Oasis at the height of their late-2000s profile and helping create one of the most distinctive versions of “The Masterplan” in the band’s live history.