OASIS: DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
Out Now
Thursday 10th September 2026
Written by: Tom Wilson and Rashid AlKamraikhi
RECONCILIATION NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD
Tom’s Perspective:
They Asked Me To Review OASIS Without Making A Pun. I Said Maybe.
If you weren’t there, it’s hard to explain just how massive OASIS were in the late 90s. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? was one of those ubiquitous CDs that you could find in the rack of almost every home, kind of like Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill or the first album by the PRESIDENTS. But if you weren’t there, don’t worry, after 120 minutes of Don’t Look Back In Anger you’ll have a crystal-clear picture of just how much OASIS still means to people.
The success of this reunion was never guaranteed. We open with a montage of the band’s initial success and the chaos that followed, culminating in a backstage fight in Paris that led to the audience being told that “OASIS has ceased to exist”, and the brothers not speaking to each other for a long time. There are some awkward scenes of their first rehearsal where Liam appears to be walking off mid-song once he’s done his vocals, and even their comeback gig in Cardiff is a bit unsteady, with Noel revealing afterwards that for about forty minutes he was struggling to get through it. But they quickly find their stride, and as they travel the world we see their joy in the audience reactions, and the camera crew interview fans about what OASIS means to them. We meet a survivor of the Manchester terror attack, when a suicide bomber targeted an Ariana Grande concert, and see Don’t Look Back in Anger being sung by those gathered at the memorial. It’s powerful stuff. We meet a priest who is delivering a sermon on forgiveness using the Gallagher brothers, and even a free-diver who hums OASIS music while holding her breath.
Don’t Look Back in Anger is more documentary than concert film, but unsurprisingly, the sound is immaculate and played at a volume that had me patting my pockets to find my earplugs. It really feels like you’re there, riding the waves of guitar as Liam manages to balance a tambourine on his head without looking like a bellend. Hearing Noel talk so warmly about his brother is beautiful to see, and you’ll get a little misty seeing them walking out hand-in-hand. They’ve become a multi-generational juggernaut, and Noel mentions that seeing fathers with their sons at shows always gets him in the feels. As a film, it never drags, and the anticipation it builds towards the first show in Cardiff is palpable. By the time Fucking in the Bushes starts playing over the PA and the band take the stage, the excitement is infectious. There are two moments in this film that perfectly encapsulate the power of the band. The first is the police briefing for the concert, where the officer in charge describes the expected crowd as “like a football game”, and can’t resist putting in a bunch of OASIS puns. The second is when the camera zeroes in on a young man after a show, standing in the crowd with tears streaming down his face, covered in sweat, coming down from an absolutely massive endorphin rush and looking a bit fragile until a bystander pats him on the shoulder and checks on him. We’ve all been there, and if you’ve ever called yourself an OASIS fan, that’ll be how you’re feeling when the credits roll on Don’t Look Back in Anger. It’s absolutely stunning.
Rashid’s Perspective:
OASIS is one of those bands that, even if you’re not a fan, if someone puts the record on you might be surprised to find out that you know a lot more of the words and melodies than you realised, just from the osmosis of them being such a huge band. That said, while I don’t count myself as a fan, I have spent a little more time in the OASIS soup than many. My older sister was a huge fan of BritPop in the 90’s (and still is) and imported NME, a bastion of British pop culture, to get all the info on the bands she loved, such as MANIC STREET PREACHERS, SUEDE, and PULP. I remember when OASIS first showed up in NME gig reviews, to then going on to be on the cover after the release of Supersonic. They often reported on the exploits of the Gallagher brothers, and it became more of a monthly column in a digest than musical journalism per se. Infighting, cocaine on their cornflakes, extreme arrogance, and the massive hits to back it up. Even if I wasn’t personally taken by the music, their antics were certainly fun to read about.
I don’t think it was a surprise in the slightest when the band eventually imploded. The brothers’ huge and often conflicting personalities, along with their rapid rise to fame, and fondness for indulging in indulgables, was a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Every other founding member had already walked (or been booted) before it finally came to a head between the brothers, and this is where we start the film, with the announcement that they had just had a massive blow-up, were cancelling the show they were just about to play, and their entire European tour. OASIS was done. We then skip to 15 years later as the Gallagher brothers attempt to pick up the pieces after having been completely absent from eachothers’s lives to get the band, and more importantly, their relationship back together.
While this is the driving force of the documentary, we get to spend large portions of it seeing the fall and rebirth of OASIS through the eyes of their fans, and how important they were to them. Not only as individuals, but also as families, and communities, as the film takes a deeper dive into specific songs that impacted their lives, and that of those around them. It really is one huge celebration of love and reconciliation set to a soundtrack of boisterous rock and roll that often makes you feel like you’re there at the concert, rather than in a cinema, struggling not to sing along to Wonderwall, while crying, because you’re not a fan, goddamnit!