In 2024, Noel and Liam Gallagher shocked the world when they announced that Oasis would be reuniting, 15 years after their nuclear public falling out.
Their resulting world tour – an olive branch of sorts between the mercurial brothers – is the focus of “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” (in theaters Sept. 11), a rousing new concert film that doubles as a tribute to the fans.
In between performances, much of the documentary consists of testimonials from music lovers who emotionally recount what Oasis means to them: a young Brazilian woman who credits the band with helping her overcome depression, and a Welsh mother who bonds with her nonverbal autistic son over their 1995 B-side “Talk Tonight.”
reunion tour
If you were hoping for them to hash things out onscreen, you won't find any such therapy session. Although the film gives a glimpse at Noel and Liam’s fraught first rehearsals back together, most of their new interviews with directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern are only heard in voiceover. As a result, the movie is light on revelations about their years-long rift and what exactly went down behind the scenes for them to reconnect at this particular moment.
Even still, they speak about wanting to make amends. “The way it finished, unacceptable,” Liam, 53, says of their contentious split. “It didn’t sit right with me, man.”
The "Wonderwall" rockers severed ties after a violent backstage altercation between the two of them before a 2009 Oasis show in Paris. Somewhat amusingly, Liam downplays the incident in retrospect: “It was no big deal. He’s making it out as if I’ve stabbed one of his cats – we had a little argument.”
Noel, 59, says there were words exchanged that no one can take back: “I was born with one fatal flaw in my character, which is I will not forgive people. I can't do it. There's something in me that just I haven't got any forgiveness at all.”
Armed with strings of profanity and his thick Mancunian brogue, Liam admits that being back in front of an audience does, in fact, mean a lot to him. “It takes a lot of caring to not give a f---,” he says wryly.
Noel also appears visibly anxious waiting for his brother to show up for rehearsals after more than a decade of not speaking.
“I have butterflies thinking about it, ‘cause it’s scary. You’ve gotta live up to the hype, you know?” Noel says of the looming, highly publicized tour. “I cannot visualize it. I just don't see myself onstage with Liam in a stadium. The experience that I had in 2009 was not enjoyable to me. I don’t really want to be going back with the tension. Will it fall apart again?”
In his own gruffly sweet way, Noel recalls how Liam showed up to their first concert back completely relaxed: asking about catering and grabbing his brother’s hand, before waltzing onstage in a windbreaker.
“Off he goes and he sounded 30 years young,” Noel says. “I was like, ‘Wow, what the f---?’ ”
The guitarist acknowledges that he could barely keep it together for the first 40 minutes of their tour opener in Cardiff, Wales, just witnessing the sheer excitement of the crowd. (The extremely wholesome reaction of one young man, awestruck and misty-eyed after the show, earned “awws” and laughter from the audience at a recent screening.)
“I certainly wasn't prepared for the intense outpouring of joy and tears,” Noel says. “The gravity hit me of what it meant to people, and it took me by surprise. It actually knocked me back. The songs now seem to mean more to a new generation than it meant to our generation.”
As for the brothers? Liam and Noel now say that they text often, which they had never done before. And there is already intense speculation that a 2027 Oasis tour could be in the cards.
Regardless of whether that unfolds, Noel says he hopes their reunion will help “fix the narrative” of the band: “Now it’s about forgiveness.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Noel Gallagher reveals why Oasis reunion with Liam was so 'scary'
