{"id":593578,"date":"2026-09-08T05:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593578\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T05:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:14:09","slug":"oasis-dont-look-back-in-anger-what-we-learned-from-the-years-biggest-rockumentary-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/593578\/","title":{"rendered":"Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger: what we learned from the year\u2019s biggest rockumentary | Oasis"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the reunion that many thought would never happen: Oasis re-forming for a series of sold-out live shows, their first since Noel and Liam Gallagher<\/a> split acrimoniously in 2009. For those who managed to get tickets last year, the performances were a celebration of one of Britpop\u2019s finest bands and a chance to live through a night of 90s nostalgia. For the millions who missed out, be it due to demand or budgetary restraints, the tour represented a generational Fomo moment.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern were embedded within team Oasis throughout the whole thing, alongside the Peaky Blinders creator, Steven Knight: the result is Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger<\/a>, a two-hour concert film that hits cinemas around the world this week. Whether you were on the front row at Manchester\u2019s Heaton Park, doing the Poznan in Seoul or stuck at home watching it all online, Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger captures the Oasis Live \u201925 Tour for posterity. Here\u2019s what we learned.<\/p>\n

The tension of the long-awaited first meeting<\/p>\n

Recorded by cameras hidden around the band\u2019s practice room, Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger opens with footage of Oasis<\/a> rehearsing together before their first show in Cardiff. Initially it is just Noel and the rest of the band running through the music, with Liam due to join them after a couple of weeks. The younger brother breaks the ice immediately upon arrival, telling Joey Waronker that part of his drum kit is \u201cgiving me the hump\u201d before stepping behind the mic and letting rip. The second he finishes his work for the day Liam walks straight out the door and heads home. His bandmates keep playing while laughing. With that, Oasis are back in business.<\/p>\n

Noel the softie?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s notable how at ease Noel appears in Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger. Perhaps it\u2019s age \u2013 he turns 60 next year \u2013 or just the achievement of reuniting a band whose absence shadowed him for more than a decade, but he is positively soppy at points. He admits to being nervous before opening night and in tears before a show in Ireland. The death of Stone Roses bassist, Mani<\/a>, has him questioning his own mortality. Seeing fathers and sons embracing in the crowd gets him, too. \u201cI had to turn my back on the audience a lot,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018It takes a lot of caring to not give a fuck\u2019 \u2026 Liam Gallagher on stage in a still from the filmLiam remains a singular presence \u2026<\/p>\n

Despite the nonchalant confidence, Liam seemingly went into the tour with a point to prove. Avoiding both cigarettes and alcohol, he is in athletic form while remaining quick-witted (a joke about Mick Jagger providing one of many laugh-out-loud moments) and vocally stronger than he has been in years. We learn that he turned up to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff 20 minutes before the band stepped on stage. As he puts it: \u201cIt takes a lot of caring to not give a fuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 but both are obviously on their best behaviour<\/p>\n

Noel and Liam appear throughout the film, first in separate on-camera interviews and later in a joint chat. Liam mentions letting music \u201cbe the superhero\u201d; the songs don\u2019t belong to them but to the fans. It\u2019s clearly true \u2013 the film pulls at an interesting thread about the new generation of Oasis fans who have emerged in the band\u2019s absence \u2013 but it also feels as though the documentary is avoiding the elephant in the room. For more than a decade these brothers were sworn enemies; Noel at one point says he \u201cnever forgives\u201d. And yet, by the end of the film, he claims that \u201call was forgiven without a word\u201d. The fact that money isn\u2019t mentioned once as a motivating factor for the tour, even in jest, doesn\u2019t feel true to a group who never previously shied away from the financial benefits of being the biggest band in the world.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect any mention of the ticket prices<\/p>\n

The joy and euphoria across the faces of every fan in Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger makes it clear people could have paid double and still got value for money watching Oasis \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean they should have been forced to pay through the nose. In one throwaway moment Liam refers to the people in the cheap seats, before adding: \u201cActually there are no cheap seats, sorry about that.\u201d Funny, but it would have been nice to hear someone justify Ticketmaster using \u201ctiered\u201d pricing that led to some tickets advertised at \u00a3148.50 ending up costing more than \u00a3350.<\/p>\n

\u2018Songs are bellowed by a choir of fans swaying on top of loved ones\u2019 shoulders\u2019Don\u2019t call Oasis rightwing<\/p>\n

The Gallagher brothers\u2019 political views have always been hard to pin down. Noel famously backed Tony Blair in 1997 and has previously stated that an \u201cinvisible force field\u201d would stop him from voting Tory. But, like many men in their late 50s, his views have become more reactionary over time. In 2018 he claimed that he would reform Oasis to stop \u201ccommunist\u201d Jeremy Corbyn from being elected prime minister then, a few years later, said an increasingly politicised Glastonbury was \u201cgetting a bit woke now\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Noel is not asked about his views in the film but he and Liam reject any notion that they stand for anything but unity between people. \u201cThe media never understood what Oasis are,\u201d he argues at one point. \u201cI know what it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s not a rightwing thing. All are welcome. It\u2019s we and us. \u2018We will find a brighter day.\u2019 [The songs] are about us.\u201d<\/p>\n

With imagery from a team of cinematographers including Lol Crawley, known for his Oscar-winning work on The Brutalist, plus seriously loud sound design by The Zone of Interest\u2019s Tarn Willers and James Mather, Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger is an impressive piece of work. Guitars ring out with a muscular heft and songs are bellowed by a choir of fans swaying on top of loved ones\u2019 shoulders. Anthemic songs are used as a thread between tour dates: Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll Star in Los Angeles, Wonderwall in Buenos Aires and Some Might Say back in Dublin.<\/p>\n

The tour was a true family affair<\/p>\n

Noel and Liam can\u2019t party like they did in the 90s \u2013 but their kids can. The fact that the siblings had not spoken in a decade and a half is underlined by a discussion about their four sons (aged 15, 18, 25 and 26) meeting for the first time during the tour. Donovan, Noel\u2019s oldest, is given the dubious honour of the story of his night getting \u201cabsolutely spangled\u201d and puking in a taxi being shared with millions. Thanks, Dad.<\/p>\n

The Gallagher brothers have a group chat<\/p>\n

Amazingly, it\u2019s also revealed that the brothers now text each other \u201clike fucking mates\u201d and are \u201cin touch way, way, way, way more\u201d than they used to be. Their texts largely consist of silly videos and opinions of people on TV. Maybe their Reels-based relationship is the strongest sign yet for fans hoping to see a fresh batch of dates announced for 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the reunion that many thought would never happen: Oasis re-forming for a series of sold-out live…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-593578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}