The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised. – Oasis
I was a different person when Oasis broke up. 2009 was a different world. I was a young, unfettered man with a lot of shitty vibes and bland sensibilities, but I was churned up by this. Noel Gallagher had packed his cape and gone to pastures greener. Few things have truly cut me like this, at least when it comes to icons. I wouldn’t experience another until the death of David Lynch, and the reasons were significantly different. Oasis had been a staple for me since I first heard “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” at the end of the very awful film The Butterfly Effect (it’s also in Made of Honor, a superior film). A buddy in high school had purchased “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” and I listened to it over and over, eventually finding their early work and catching up to eventually rock out to “Dig Out Your Soul.” I read that they had broken up on Myspace. Life was different, kids. Tom was everyone’s friend and social media wasn’t yet just an avenue for the worst people on your life to attempt to feel less shitty for being aggressively bigoted.
Fast forward to late 2024. I am sitting in my apartment at 5am. The love of my life is soundly sleeping in the bedroom, I’m drinking cheap black coffee while listening to “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and life isn’t too bad. Twitter, a declining hellscape, is still sort of a place where good things can happen. I’m not ashamed of the squeal of glee I let out when the most egotistical tweet imagineable pops up, informing me that not only are Oasis back together but apparently Liam and Noel Gallagher have reconciled.
It was a goddamned miracle and I was both elated at the possibilities and terrified that it wouldn’t even make it through rehearsals.
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger covers this period and that initial stream of tour dates. Steven Knight, one of three co-creators of the television show Who Wants to be a Millionaire and regular writer/director for Peaky Blinders (proper telly, innit?), hasn’t delivered anything that we don’t already know. It’s a light, emotional documentary that features concert footage and small hints at what occurred between the contentious brothers over fifteen years ago. Good thing that doesn’t mean a thing, as this is less informative and more a celebration of the absolute definitive music event of my lifetime.
While I came to Oasis in my teen years, missing their 90s heyday and the absolute beast the band became after small Manchester beginnings, they clung to my heart like a symbiotic parasite and that leech won’t let go. I knew I was emotionally compromised five minutes in, as the band gathers together to begin getting ready for a reunion tour that is already questionable.Constant cuts to Liam’s empty mic while the rest of the band rocks out only serve to set the stage for the inevitable triumph that’s carved in stone at this point. We know the facts: the Gallaghers have buried the hatchet, met back up with the crew (hell yeah to the return of Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs), and the tour was a massive success. Remains of the former band have been successfully resurrected, and we can look forward to years of Oasis to come. None of that compares to the story itself, which is more about the unyeilding love these two have developed for one another. Noel and Liam are front and center, serving as the main narrators and bullshitters. Sure, they’re still calling each other names and talking about each other’s opinions like they don’t matter, but instead of cruel vitriol there’s love and true brotherly admiration now. It’s a treacly look at what once felt like gargling razors, but it walks between real emotion from fans along with the familiar reunion that causes fireworks for viewers.
Fans that couldn’t make it to the tour are going to be well-serviced here, with gusto and enthusiasm along with tears. “Some friends and songs are there when you fall,” says one Korean fan, “and they reach to pull you up straight away. Oasis falls down with you, and when you’re ready you stand back up together.” I’m not made of stone, and when it comes to a band that might be the best solely on their own say-so sentiments like these are less a tug at the hearstrings and more loving abuse with a plastic pic. From their UK debut to their American tour, the outpouring of generational love in the face of brotherly love is beyond inspiring. Hell, it’s downright cheap to play some of the notes Knight strums, but it can’t help but raise audiences from their seats to cry and sing and feel hope for the first time in years.
Sure, we could quibble about the doc being a bit long. At two hours and four minutes it’s hefty, but it’s full of moments of love from people that live and breathe this kind of shit. All are welcomed, at the Gallaghers’ own behest, to add their full-throated voice to the crowds. It’s hard not to get caught up when even Noel has to turn away from fans mid-song, moist tears in his eyes. His irritation with Liam has gone from outright hatred to awe, citing something as stupid as balancing a tambourine on the man’s head as something that would be stupid anywhere else but in the hands of his brother it’s magic. Liam doesn’t shy away from loving his brother either, citing him often as maybe the most important songwriter of his generation and declaring that the real love is well-deserved.
I’m the target audience for this. Nothing wrong with being honest, and if I’m to be so I’d say this is a good time but won’t assault your emotions like it did mine. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to take a look. I’d say it’s especially so if you’re only sort of familiar with the band and the chaos that consumed them for so long. Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger isn’t interested in shoving half-assed sentiment down your throat while advertising further tour dates. Sometimes the beast awakens, sometimes it simply stands there shocked that you still care about it all these years later. I spent most of the runtime in tears, feeling the joy and celebration of something that meant a lot to me. One woman stated that hearing them live again made her feel seventeen again, reminding her of a time when life could be anything you wanted and that you had endless possibilities. And maybe that’s the true win here. No one thought this could happen, and I mean NO ONE. If these two can bury the hatchet and get through decades of rage, emotional and physical abuse, and sheer chaos only to come together and love again maybe everyone can. That’s what this represents, and I think it might surprise you if you give it a chance.
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger is in limited release and will stream on Hulu/Disney+ in Q4 2026.
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