“THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” beams the message over the big screens before a montage of all the headline rumours, hearsay and eventual confirmation of this – the moment we thought would never happen. That opening badass riff of ‘Fuckin’ In The Bushes’ suggests war, but we’re told again: “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over.”
Ever since Noel Gallagher stormed out of that Paris dressing room in 2009, the idea of Liam hollering “OASIS IN THE AREA” on a pissed-up Friday night in Cardiff seemed a fantasy – let alone seeing the brothers arriving arm-in-arm. Not that we didn’t love the to and fro and the drama, though. “It’s gonna happen very fucking soon,” Liam told NME back in 2020. Sure. “There’s never really been a serious offer about ‘The Big O’ getting back together,” Noel would reveal to us in 2023. Alright then!
Digging up and reanimating John Lennon and George Harrison seemed a more likely reunion. Then this: “Hello, hello, it’s good to be back”. All that toxic wibling rivalry, the years apart, the ‘potato’ barbs, and those cursed, piss-boiling words “dynamic ticket pricing” are all lost to all that Oasis fans have ever really wanted: another chance for a proper fucking party.
Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, live in Cardiff. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Made in the cauldron of the era of acid house, Spike Island and Madchester, it’s said Oasis always followed that lineage of the crowd being as much a part of the band. That throbbing throng at Knebworth made it the event, and you can’t have The People’s Band without The People. That’s why we’re here tonight – for the Gallaghers to give ‘90s survivors a trip back in time but mainly something for the younger generations that are yet to have a reason to feel like they could live forever.
At Liam’s solo gigs especially, you’d have spotted scores of bucket-hatted Gen Z-ers. He is the eternal teenager. The make-up of the deafening Principality Stadium crowd proves Oasis have transcended time and are part of the fabric of life – for the football terraces, the wedding disco, pouring one out at a funeral, the last hug at an all-nighter. “Because we need each other, we believe in one another,” Noel sings back to Liam on ‘Acquiesce’ – an anthem of unity and optimism that means something once again.
After a ‘90s heyday and an often maligned post-millennium era, this is Oasis redesigned for the 21st Century. Playing before a pop-art-meets-psychedelia visual spectacular that never distracts but will look sick on a phone, they seem the quintessential stadium band playing the greatest hits of greatest hits. Come come, now: ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Some Might Say’, ‘Bring It On Down’, ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, ‘Fade Away’, ‘Supersonic’ – all in succession at the top of the night? It just never relents.
Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, live in Cardiff. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
“Beautiful people, I want you to do us a favour,” pleads Liam. “I don’t ask for much,” before asking everyone to throw their arms around the person closest to them. “It doesn’t take fucking GCSEs, man”. It’s a love-in. Not just of nostalgia where “the dreams we had as children fade away,” but one very much in this moment.
This is all you ever would have wanted from Oasis in 2025: they look cool, sound fucking amazing, and they want to be here. The truth is Liam’s voice hasn’t sounded this good in 20-odd years – three-dimensional between the punky bile of that skyward “TAKE ME THERE” in ‘Slide Away’ and the heartfelt call for brotherhood in ‘Stand By Me’. Noel’s lead moments spotlight him as the songwriter’s songwriter and still The Chief – with ‘Little By Little’ and ‘Half The World Away’ having the same impact without the R’N’R sledgehammer as the other jukebox bangers – and then we need to talk about the other lads on stage.
“Thank you very much to Gem Archer on the guitar, Andy Bell on bass guitar, our 14th drummer Mr Joey Waronker, and this fucking uber legend here,” ends a humbled Noel, with the camera panning to Saint Bonehead. This latest iteration of the best rock’n’roll band of all time just fucking pumps, and it needs to. “This song is for all the people in their twenties who have never seen us before and kept this shit going for 20 years,” shares Noel, introducing the opening encore track ‘The Masterplan”.
It’s breezy and drama-free, complete with a classy tribute to the late Diogo Jota. Noel has a cheeky mention of the dynamic pricing fiasco, and later Liam asks: “Is it worth the £40,000 you paid for the ticket?” As the flares light up for ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ into the spoils of colossal closers ‘Wonderwall’ and an everlasting ‘Champagne Supernova’, the sweet escape comes to an end. Lord knows we needed a taste of that halcyon ‘90s hope and abandon in 2025 – especially for the raving and craving Gen-Zers. The world is a rotting shitty bin-fire and tomorrow never knows, but tonight, you’re a rock’n’roll star.
Oasis live in Cardiff. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
Oasis’ Cardiff setlist was:
‘Hello’
‘Acquiesce’
‘Morning Glory’
‘Some Might Say’
‘Bring It On Down’
‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’
‘Fade Away’
‘Supersonic’
‘Roll With It’
‘Talk Tonight’
‘Half The World Away’
‘Little By Little’
‘D’You Know What I Mean?’
‘Stand By Me’
‘Cast No Shadow’
‘Slide Away’
‘Whatever’
‘Live Forever’
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’
‘The Masterplan’
‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’
‘Wonderwall’
‘Champagne Supernova’
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