Oasis is back, and the new documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger makes one thing clear: the fans are the real stars. The film, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace with a script from Steven Knight, covers the band’s massive “Oasis Live ’25” reunion tour. It is less a warts-and-all biography and more a love letter to the people who made the comeback a cultural event.
The movie leans heavily on the emotional connection audiences still have to the band’s songs. According to the review, the documentary spends a large chunk of its runtime on fans around the world rather than on the Gallagher brothers themselves. That choice is the film’s core strength.
Brothers Reunited, Finally
The centerpiece of the documentary is the first joint interview between Liam and Noel Gallagher in 20 years. The brothers, who spent years trading insults and breaking up the band in 2009, now speak warmly of each other. Liam, the famously unfiltered frontman, even offers a profanity-laced philosophy on caring: “you have to fucking care a lot to not give a fuck.”
For the reunion tour, Liam had to be on his best behavior. The review notes his quiet presence in the rehearsal room and his confession that he would not be smoking or drinking during the run. Noel, for his part, admits he was surprised by the youth of the crowds at the shows, especially compared to his solo work with the High Flying Birds, which drew more of a Gen-X nostalgia crowd.
The film does not dig too deep into the messy middle years. It notably skips the period from the 2009 breakup to the 2024-25 reunion, when both brothers toured Oasis material separately with their solo projects. That gap is a deliberate choice, and the film keeps its focus on the optimism of the return.
Fans Carry the Film
The documentary devotes significant screen time to fans whose lives have been shaped by Oasis music. These are the people the film says are the root of the story:
- A Brazilian fan who named her dog Bonehead after Oasis guitarist Paul Arthurs
- Two South Korean deep-sea divers who bonded over the themes of “Acquiesce”
- An emotional River Plate fan in Argentina who sees himself in the Gallaghers’ working-class image
- A survivor of the 2017 Manchester bombing who found new meaning in “Don’t Look Back in Anger”
These figures, more than the band members themselves, carry the film’s emotional weight. The review argues that the music has grown larger than the egos of the men who made it.
Concert Film, Not a Tell-All
The review makes a clear distinction: Don’t Look Back in Anger works better as a concert film than as a documentary. The revelations about the tour are not exactly revelatory. The brothers’ most emotional moment comes in a discussion of Mani, the late Stone Roses bassist who died shortly before one of Oasis’ shows in Brazil.
There is also a genuine new emphasis on family. Noel discusses how his children had never really spent time with Liam’s children, and for the first time, the Oasis dynamic includes a real focus on family bonds. The bitterness between the brothers seems to be fading, which the review calls a great thing, but it makes for less compelling documentary fodder than the raw energy of the live shows themselves.
Politics and the Need to Escape
The film makes a case for why the reunion feels urgent now, especially for younger audiences. A brief montage tracks Oasis’ fallow years through Trump, the January 6th insurrection, Elon Musk, and a revolving door of UK Prime Ministers. The voiceover, presumably Liam’s, flatly notes that “when Oasis broke up, everything went to shit.”
Noel is more direct about the cultural moment. He says people needed “an escape,” and that need is a big part of why the reunion became the event it was. The music itself was only part of the story; the collective experience of joy was the rest.
Powerful Shows, Powerful Crowds
The review, written by someone who attended “Oasis Live ’25” in New Jersey, describes the concerts as powerful and emotionally purgative. The songs are immaculately mixed, with the booming echo of the crowd behind them. The film is full of cathartic sequences showing people under 30 singing, laughing, and crying.
One of the film’s most sentimental shots captures a young fan standing bewildered and in tears at the show’s conclusion, taking in what he just experienced as a life-changing high. He is comforted by two men, presumably strangers, who seem to know exactly how precious that emotion is.
The Money Question
The review does not ignore the cynical side of the reunion. Liam reminds the audience during an onstage speech that “there are no cheap seats, sorry about that.” The tour grossed over $400 million, a figure the film does not linger on.
Given that the documentary will eventually land on Disney+ and that 2027 reunion tour dates are all but confirmed, the filmmakers keep things earnest. This is a film about forgiveness between the brothers, but more importantly, it is about the fans who made the reunion a phenomenon. Even with its Disney-shaped happy ending, the film makes its case for why that collective experience matters now.
The bitterness between Liam and Noel is waning.
The music, meanwhile, has been passed down from the Gallaghers’ generation to the next, taking on new meaning about living life to the fullest. The documentary argues that the fans carried the torch, and the film honors them for it.
It is a happy ending, shaped by the platform that will host it. But the emotion on screen is real, and the crowds prove it.
Source: consequence.net
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