Oasis are still the best band in the UK

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Against all odds – and after years of Gallagher brothers fall-outs – Oasis have rekindled the old spirit at Principality Stadium, Cardiff

What a moment. After 5,791 days of bitter estrangement and social media trolling, of Beady Eye and the High Flying Birds, of accusations and recriminations, there they were: the Gallagher brothers, reunited on the same stage for the first time in 16 years, walking out hand in hand, arms aloft, to complete delirium.

Who cares how much of it was for show: after dispatching with on-the-nose opener “Hello” (“it’s good to be back”), they launched into raucous B-side and fan favourite “Acquiesce,” the only duet in their canon, with a clear message of fraternal bond.

“We believe in each other/we believe in one another” goes the Noel-sang chorus, an emotional firecracker that showed exactly what they miss apart: that electrifying brotherly chemistry, the yin-and-yang personalities, that harmonious connection. At Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, it ignited the flame of a special comeback gig that was triumphant beyond all expectations.

Oasis are back, but in many ways, they were never really gone. Since the infamous backstage fight in Paris in August 2009, the Gallaghers have continued to cast a long shadow over British music, with brilliant songs sewn into the fabric of our lives and the entertaining/childish/depressing (delete as appropriate) soap opera of their relationship a constant fixture.

It’s understandable: Oasis never started Britpop, but they quickly crushed the competition with huge songs that on the face of it said nothing but meant everything: working-class anthems that dreamed of escape and had the arrogance to make it happen. They strode across British life like a monobrowed, lager-swilling, coke-snorting, v-waving Godzilla – the Gallaghers were brats long before Brat – defining and dominating 90’s culture, reminding everyone that size matters. It wasn’t just about being the best but the biggest, and Oasis’ numbers remain gigantic: 14 million people braved the Ticketmaster queue and dynamic pricing fiasco, a grubby reputation-damaging underscore to the tour (“was it worth the £4,000 you paid for a ticket?” Liam asked cheekily) Over 1.4 million were successful in the UK alone.

Oasis was about more than the music; it was an attitude, a feeling, a way of life. It was tangible in Cardiff all day: bars were full by 2pm; the city centre was a cross-generational sea kitted out in Oasis clothing, football shirts and bucket hats, those nostalgic for the warm embrace of youth shoulder-to-shoulder with those not even born when Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory changed music. And it was just as long since Oasis sounded this alive, a chasm away from the post-peak noughties version trudging along often joylessly to increasingly aggro crowds (although even sat in the stands pints often rained down.)

The swelled six-piece band – original member Bonehead (“an uber” legend notes Noel), post-2000 members Gem Archer (guitar) and Andy Bell (bass) and intriguing new drummer Joey Waronker, formerly of REM and Beck – were hungry and punky, as if affronted by accusations of a cash-in. The first 30 minutes was a relentless barrage of great songs played with life-depends-on-it commitment, an immensely loud and full throttle opening: a faster and meatier “Some Might Say,” a scowling, claustrophobic “Morning Glory”, the glam rock “Cigarettes and Alcohol”, which Liam requested everyone do the Poznan; the surrealist call-to-arms of debut single “Supersonic” (“I need to be myself/I can’t be no-one else”).

After the barrage, Noel’s solo slot, arriving earlier than usual, slowed things with melancholy B-sides “Talk Tonight” and “Half the World Away,” sang along like a family favourite. Trippy and expensive visuals aside, there were no concessions to the modern stadium gig. It was all about the brothers: Liam, in great voice, stoic and snarling, was in his element in sleek black anorak; the bearded Noel, who quickly loosened up, often looked on increasingly happy like he was remembering what this was all like. It was a thrill to hear them in unison on a mammoth “Slide Away”, the great 1994 anthem.

But it was interesting to see how the passing of time has shifted how some songs feel. “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, even more so than “Wonderwall” (both played to mass singalongs in the encore) is an alternative national anthem after its use in the wake of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing (the visuals included the Manchester Bee.) Time has imbued “Live Forever,” as an arms-around-your-mates anthem as ever, with a sense of uncertainty to go with the defiance now everyone is 30 years older. A picture of Diogo Jota came on the big screen during the song’s climax.

“Nice one for putting up with us over the years, we’re hard work, I get it,” Liam said before “Champagne Supernova,” their epic masterpiece that provided an epic finale. “Where were you while we were getting high?”, once a routine question, is now a wistful reminisce about simpler, headier days. Oasis, somehow, against all odds, rekindled that old spirit.