Review: 'Oasis: Don't Look Back In Anger' Is A Big Britpop Hug

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Published September 9, 2026 by David James Young

“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”

It was with this brief, emphatic statement that Oasis announced to the world in November 2024 that they were getting back together after 15 years in exile. The ensuing Live ’25 tour – which once again made them familiar to millions in stadiums worldwide – was, indeed, not televised. It was, however, filmed and documented for Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger – a unique look at how the most unlikely reunion of the decade thus far played out, and the impact that it had on those both inside and out of the inner circle.

The first few minutes of the film fly by, essentially serving as a “previously, on Oasis” on the extremely off-chance that someone viewing the film was not aware of their meteoric mid-90s rise and late-2000s fall. Grainy footage from the night the band ended circa 2009 appears, but sadly neither of the band’s figureheads – brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher – offer any insight into exactly what went down that evening. Perhaps it’s not the point – look at the title, after all – but for those hoping to figure out what the straw that broke the camel’s back was, you’re not going to find any answers here.

With the tour announced, we enter the present day with the newly-assembled line-up in the throes of rehearsals – crucially, without Liam on the first day. These insights into bringing the songs back to life again are particularly interesting, especially watching Noel in full bandleader mode explaining exactly the sound he wants from each instrument. Even without a crowd screaming along, the songs already sound massive.

By that same token, it’s disappointing that we don’t hear from any of the band’s auxiliary players throughout this process – or at any point in the film, for that matter. Bonehead Arthurs is a founding member of the band after all, reuniting with the Gallaghers for the first time in 25 years, while both Andy Bell and Gem Archer have worked with the brothers for decades and drummer Joey Waronker was making his debut as part of the band. It’s a variety of perspectives and experiences, and no doubt the Live ’25 tour was just as big a deal for them as it was for the reunited brothers, so it’s a shame they don’t get a word in.

Liam’s arrival to the rehearsal room is one of the film’s finest bit of editing – a drum tech pounds on a snare, getting louder and louder until the sound of a door unlocking clutches it away. It’s akin to the saloon doors swinging open in a western, where the piano stops playing and everyone stops and stares.

The Gallaghers get to work, but it’s clear that directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace wanted to play with the lingering tension between them – multiple shots catch one eyeing off the other from afar, and the lingering on Noel as Liam packs his bags and leaves before ‘Champagne Supernova’ has finished feels decidedly pointed. Watching the trajectory of their relationship as the tour progresses is a considerable highlight, and it develops in the most unexpected of ways – you’ll simultaneously be touched and be belly-laughing over Noel’s admiration of Liam being able to balance a tambourine on his head, for instance.

As we head to Cardiff for the first night of the tour, the key strength of Don’t Look Back in Anger reveals itself: Its ability to simultaneously carry the micro and the macro of it all. Yes, this is a stadium event packed with over 70,000 people – and you well and truly feel it on the wide crowd shots.

Each one of those 70,000 people, however, has a story to tell. Southern and Lovelace know exactly when to zoom in and zoom out, and moreover to know when to use words (the Fred Perry-donning fan ready to “go hard”) and when to let it sit (the teary-eyed twentysomething staring up at an emptying stadium, having finally realised his dream).

We spent most of the rest of the film in this back and forth, finding individual fans from the world over that found themselves in the band’s music in-between the large-scale performances. Despite Liam’s insistence that “it’s just rock and roll”, and that the band are not doing anything particularly groundbreaking, the impact becomes so much more tangible when you look into the eyes of people who have found community, solace and spirit through loving Oasis.

A Catholic priest even gives a sermon on the brothers – giving literal cadence to their oft-spouted slang of “biblical” – where he notes that the pilgrimage to their shows is not just about seeing the music live, but about seeing the two brothers in a living, breathing and ongoing radical act of forgiveness. It’s rock and roll, sure, but Anger shows that everyone from a man of the lord to a Japanese diver can be a rock and roll star tonight.

To zoom out again, a massive tip of the bucket hat has to go to Southern and Lovelace for the way they capture each of these live performances from the band. Having honed their craft with the live footage in LCD Soundsytem’s iconic Shut Up and Play the Hits as well as – hilariously – Oasis’ main rivals Blur in 2010’s No Distance Left to Run, the pair hone in on the energy permeating from every corner of the live arena.

Of particular note is Liam introducing the crowd to the Poznań – a tribalistic football ritual adapted by his beloved Manchester City FC – and leading them in synchronised jumping to ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. This took place every single night of the tour, and yet the repeated sight of such a thing would surely never cease to amaze – not least of all in this blitz of this dazzling supercut.

Yes, Don’t Look Back in Anger has its structural issues, a repetitive back-half and effectively no new insights on the 15 years that kept Oasis apart. When it really comes down to it, however, nitpicking these things is essentially akin to asking what a wonderwall is. It doesn’t matter. It’s about what it makes you feel – and this is a film that will make you feel grateful for brotherhood, forgiveness, fandom, community and loud guitars.