I Watched Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger — My Honest Review

Hello everyone!

Last night I went to the Comoedia in Lyon to watch Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger and, for once, I did not wait three weeks before writing about it. I had been planning to go with Greg and a few friends for ages. Oasis is not a recent obsession prompted by the reunion. I have listened to them since I was little.

It all began with Stop Crying Your Heart Out in The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher. It was one of those films lying around at home that I was probably too young to watch, but my sister and I were bored. I have added the song here for you. Those who know will recognise it, and Liam is incredible in this live performance.

What I remember most is the song, the effect it had on me, and then everything that followed. I was about 8 or 9 years old when I discovered Oasis. Then there was Liam, Noel, the albums, the live shows, the interviews... and years later I'm still here, just as big a fan. To the point of hunting down their vinyls in London record shops whenever I come across one, which I happen to talk about in my favourite places in London.

So when I saw that a documentary about their reunion was coming to cinemas, the ticket was already booked in my head.

Watching the documentary at Comoedia in Lyon

The screening took place on 11 September at Comoedia cinema in Lyon, as part of a one-off screening. The atmosphere was really nice, naturally with quite a few people who came because they already love Oasis, but without that vibe where everyone tries to prove they know the band better than the person next to them.

It was nice being in a room with people who wanted to see the same film and laughing all together at Liam and Noel's jokes.

Before the film, Alban Jamin, teacher of Modern Literature and Cinema at the Auguste et Louis Lumière secondary school in Lyon and at the Lumière Lyon 2 University, presented the documentary to us and provided some context around the project.

He also regularly speaks at the Institut Lumière to present and analyse films, so you can immediately tell that he really knows his stuff, without it feeling like a university lecture.

I really liked this moment because it allowed us to get into the film in a different way. The project was conceived by Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, then directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace.

Suffice to say we were expecting something very well-crafted visually, and it shows. The footage is superb, but above all there is a real narrative. It doesn't feel like watching two hours of archives stuck together just to cash in on the return of Oasis.

From the 2009 split to the 2025 reunion

The film goes back to the band’s split in 2009, then brings us forward to the reunion and the 2025 tour. If you love Oasis, you already know the broad outline. Hearing Liam and Noel revisit it together, with time and everything that happened between them, feels completely different.

What I liked is that we aren't sold a picture-perfect reunion. Liam and Noel remain entirely themselves, with their personalities, their banter, their way of speaking to one another and everything that goes with it.

But you also feel that over the years they've gained some perspective and really realise what they've built together. And inevitably, that makes certain moments very touching.

There are plenty of moments when you see beyond the familiar characters from the interviews. Behind the arrogance, the jokes and the years of fighting, there are still two brothers who care, who are grateful for what Oasis gave them and who understand exactly what the band means to people.

The documentary changed how I see Noel

I'm going to be very predictable: I've always had a soft spot for Liam.

Liam remains Liam in the documentary, and thankfully so. He keeps his arrogance, his devil-may-care attitude, his humour, his parkas and his sunglasses, which I obviously try to spot every single time (yes, I'm a bit obsessive about that) and that way of being completely himself. That's also why we love him!

But I found Noel very touching, and my view of him has changed a bit all the same. He seems much more grounded, much more aware of everything going on around the band too. You can understand better why he was often the one who kept his feet on the ground while Liam went off in all directions.

I obviously didn't switch sides when leaving the cinema, but I found him much more endearing than the image I had of him before.

The concert footage genuinely moved me

The tour footage is incredible, and not simply because it looks beautiful on a cinema screen. What stayed with me most were the faces in the crowd and the sight of several generations singing the same songs together.

That is when you realise how easily Oasis crosses generations. Some people were there in the nineties, others discovered the band after the split, and many were not even born when Oasis ended in 2009. The songs still land. They reach people of different ages, backgrounds and relationships with rock music.

That's also what I've always loved about them. The songs can be very simple in what they recount, but they touch on things that everyone understands: wanting something else, wanting to move forward, feeling a bit out of place, being sad but carrying on anyway. And inevitably, when tens of thousands of people sing the same words together, it takes on another dimension.

Don’t Look Back in Anger and Manchester

The documentary’s title also moves me because of what the song has come to represent in Manchester. After the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, Don’t Look Back in Anger was sung spontaneously at public gatherings and became even more closely tied to the city and its people.

I think that says a lot about the place Oasis has taken in people’s lives over time. Certain songs become attached to a period, a city, a person or even a shared event. At that point, they no longer belong only to the band. That is also why the reunion means so much to so many people.

And Live Forever is still Live Forever

I could pretend to hesitate and rank the songs that work best in the film, but I will not. Live Forever is still the best. I am not changing my mind.

All of their songs do something in a cinema, especially with the concert footage, but this one has always had a special place for me. There's something both melancholic and completely self-assured in it, and I find it's Oasis summed up in a few minutes.

And she has had a huge influence on my life. There are times when I listen to her and I cry as I sing, and others when I realise that, this time, I didn't cry and that things are getting better. It's hard to explain, but there are certain songs that truly stay with us depending on the periods of our lives.

What I loved most about the Oasis documentary

I honestly struggled to find a major fault. It is beautiful, interesting and exceptionally well shot, yet it never becomes too solemn. There is plenty of emotion, but it is always balanced by the British humour I love. They can be discussing something deeply moving and, two minutes later, make a remark that completely punctures the seriousness. That is exactly what I adore.

That is also what made me want to write this article. I left the cinema with the impression of having seen a documentary made by people who understand very well what Oasis represent without trying to turn the band into an untouchable monument. We find the two brothers just as they are, with their history, their flaws, their years of separation and everything that makes us keep listening to them despite it all.

If you like Oasis, go and see it if you have the chance. Even if you mainly know the biggest songs, the film still works. It is about Oasis, of course, but also two brothers, the passing of time, what remains after years apart and the space music can occupy in a life.

I left loving them a little more, with a different view of Noel, exactly the same affection for Liam and an overwhelming urge to play every album when I got home. And when the 2027 tour comes around, I will have my ticket. No compromises.

If this article is your first visit to the blog, you might also enjoy my favourite places in London — Oasis inevitably appears between the record shops and vinyl finds. And if you would like to understand a little more about everything I write about here, from design and tattooing to London, I have also written a proper introduction to who I am.

And yes, Live Foreveris still number one.