Oasis serve Sydney fans a near-perfect set in triumphant return

2 hours ago 3

MUSIC
Oasis
Accor Stadium, November 7
Reviewed by George Palathingal
★★★★★

You really had to be there.

Look, it probably didn’t hurt if you were English and old enough to have first encountered Oasis there in the mid-’90s. But the most likely reason the Manchester rock titans’ 2025 tour has been such a seismic cultural phenomenon everywhere is that, for the first time in nearly 30 years, it serves up the show every fan has long hoped for.

Oasis’ Liam and Noel Gallagher arriving on stage in Sydney hand-in-raised-hand.

(Yes, since more than a decade before their ignominious implosion in 2009. Has ever a band of such repute gone out with both a whimper – albums and tours of diminishing returns – and a bang: Noel Gallagher’s dramatic, final walkout after his latest fight with little brother Liam?)

Now, most importantly, the Gallaghers have done the once-unthinkable and kissed and made up – they triumphantly arrived on stage hand-in-raised-hand – and they’ve brought a near-perfect set with them.

It’s almost exclusively culled from that extraordinary period between 1994 and 1996 when Noel was effortlessly knocking out Oasis B-sides as spectacular as their epic singles, and we get plenty of these and more.

Liam Gallagher, all surly swagger with his zipped-up raincoat and tambourine.

Noel Gallagher played guitar and sung with the casual cool of someone who knows the power of his tunes.

Liam, all surly swagger with his zipped-up raincoat and tambourine, sings most of them and has, thankfully, been looking after his voice. He talks a lot of bollocks between songs, but that’s par for the course. Who cares anyway when they range from the irresistible riot of Cigarettes and Alcohol (which comes with the witty warning “Rock’n’roll may seriously damage your health”) to an achingly pretty Whatever or the blissful catharsis of Rock’n’Roll Star.

Talking of which, Noel is a different kind of hero, playing and singing with the casual cool of someone who knows the power of his tunes. He’s in fine voice too (Liam gives him an adorable little fist bump as he trots offstage to hand over the spotlight), and a better guitarist than he gives himself credit for, with his blistering opening riffs and soaring solos.

It’s impressive enough when Noel turns 2002’s Little by Little – this night’s only song written after 1997 – from bitter break-up rant into celebratory sing-along. But he reaches spectacular heights later when Don’t Look Back in Anger brings back the euphoric memory of an England Euro ’96 victory, only now we’re triumphantly belting it out with tens of thousands of new mates in a stadium, instead of a handful of our besties in a packed pub.

The rest of the band know their place; they unassumingly play their parts in the shadows – and play them well, taking their bows when given the chance – because this is very much the Gallagher show.

After everything the brothers have been through, there’s something especially lovely about them trading lines like “we need each other” (in Acquiesce) or “you and I, we’re gonna live forever” (er, Live Forever); there’s a lot of love in the house, and more than expected is on the stage.

And this is all before getting properly into the beyond-electric atmosphere come showtime and the intoxicating, near-indescribable communal feeling that seemingly no one can quite inspire like Oasis.

Yep, you really had to be there.

Oasis play the final show of their Australian tour at Accor Stadium on November 8.

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