She’s talking about her dog, named after the Oasis guitar-slinger. But still, you get the idea: Oasis have burrowed deep into people’s souls. For a group who trade in a sort of musical and lyrical zen simplicity, the Manchester rock band mean a lot of different things to a whole range of different people.
From South Korea to south Wales, Don’t Look Back in Anger is a vivid emotional ride, documenting the on and off-stage passions unleashed by the Burnage lads as they embarked on their 2025 world tour. From the Birmingham gangsters of Peaky Blinders to wild-man SAS pioneer Paddy Mayne, writer and director Steven Knight has rarely encountered a rough diamond that he didn’t want to make a film or TV series about. The Gallagher brothers arguably represent the apotheosis of his aesthetic: tight, volatile, deeply masculine but with Big Feelings on display too.
Tales of warring brothers are as old as storytelling itself. And, even if it’s played up for the cameras, this one is a modern classic. As we join Oasis, they’re in rehearsals.
It’s the calm before the storm: Noel is drilling the band like Pep Guardiola organising his midfield but they’re bracing for impact – Liam is due to show up any minute. When he eventually marches through the door, the temperature rises exponentially. He tells drummer Joey Waronker his kit is “giving him the f****** hump”, briefly snarls into the mic and then vanishes.
On the basis of the band’s reaction, it could have gone a lot worse. The film’s interpersonal intimacy is its greatest strength. Because when it finally collides with a stadium packed full of hysterically excited fans in Cardiff, the energy it generates is like atoms fusing.
The music itself pins you to your seat, triumphant and ferocious in the context of the reception it receives. And the audience footage is extraordinary throughout, thanks to Knight’s decision to have cameras roving widely through the crowds. After the Cardiff show, a young lad – surely no more than a twinkle in his dad’s eye the last time Oasis released a good record – wanders around, dazed and overwhelmed amid the shredded plastic pint pots and discarded bucket hats.
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