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In Their Second Act, Oasis Returns as Everything They Once Promised to Be
From Paste magazine. Published today, but about their final show in Edinburgh, August 12:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/oasis/in-their-second-act-oasis-returns-as-everything-they-once-promised-to-be
In Their Second Act, Oasis Returns as Everything They Once Promised to Be
The biggest band in the world is back and better than ever. Buckle up, America.
By Lacy Baugher Milas | August 18, 2025
“We’re not arrogant,” Oasis lead guitarist Noel Gallagher once famously said. “We just believe we’re the best band in the world.” Your mileage may vary on whether that statement was anything close to true back when he originally said it, but it feels… kind of like it might be now? And not (just) because of their music (which still rips, for those who are curious), but because it appears they’ve done the impossible. They got back together—for real.
-snip-
It almost goes without saying that the show itself is great: slick, propulsive, excellently paced, with some colorful background visuals and a fireworks display to close out the encore. But it’s mostly the same as it ever was: the Gallaghers on opposite sides of a relatively bare stage, with a confident reliance on the music itself to carry the day. (The most choreographed moment you’re likely to see is Liam balancing a tambourine on his head, which isn’t staged so much as inevitable.) The sound is immaculate throughout—gone is the vocal strain and struggle that was so often present throughout the band’s later years, and current bandmates Andy Bell, Gem Archer, and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs (!!), along with new addition Joey Waronker on drums, seem to have discovered the proper background alchemy that elevates without overpowering either brother.
Liam’s signature rasp and snarl powers effortlessly through tracks performed at double speed—Oasis has always sung live as though they’re running away from something, and that has most definitely not changed—but without ever sounding like he’s pushing for a note his register can no longer reach. (I suspect there’s a reason he’s not singing “Don’t Go Away” or “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” on this tour, much as it breaks my heart.) It’s a ferocious, fantastic performance, and it sounds like nothing so much as a man who’s been waiting the better part of two decades to grab hold of this moment with both hands.
Noel, for his part, has genuinely never sounded better vocally and is demonstrably reactive and even a bit emotional in a way that I can’t imagine any of us expected to see (or that his younger self would have ever approved of). He looks so pleasantly taken aback every time the crowd of some 70,000 people enthusiastically sings one of his choruses back to him, and though he’s less talkative than his brother, he still takes a moment to thank all the young fans who’ve shown up, despite most of them not having been around for the heyday of Oasis’s first run. He and Liam walk onstage holding hands and exit after hugging, and if you’d told me five years ago this was something that could ever happen again, I would have laughed until I passed out. Man, I’m really enjoying being wrong.
-snip-
The biggest band in the world is back and better than ever. Buckle up, America.
By Lacy Baugher Milas | August 18, 2025
“We’re not arrogant,” Oasis lead guitarist Noel Gallagher once famously said. “We just believe we’re the best band in the world.” Your mileage may vary on whether that statement was anything close to true back when he originally said it, but it feels… kind of like it might be now? And not (just) because of their music (which still rips, for those who are curious), but because it appears they’ve done the impossible. They got back together—for real.
-snip-
It almost goes without saying that the show itself is great: slick, propulsive, excellently paced, with some colorful background visuals and a fireworks display to close out the encore. But it’s mostly the same as it ever was: the Gallaghers on opposite sides of a relatively bare stage, with a confident reliance on the music itself to carry the day. (The most choreographed moment you’re likely to see is Liam balancing a tambourine on his head, which isn’t staged so much as inevitable.) The sound is immaculate throughout—gone is the vocal strain and struggle that was so often present throughout the band’s later years, and current bandmates Andy Bell, Gem Archer, and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs (!!), along with new addition Joey Waronker on drums, seem to have discovered the proper background alchemy that elevates without overpowering either brother.
Liam’s signature rasp and snarl powers effortlessly through tracks performed at double speed—Oasis has always sung live as though they’re running away from something, and that has most definitely not changed—but without ever sounding like he’s pushing for a note his register can no longer reach. (I suspect there’s a reason he’s not singing “Don’t Go Away” or “Stop Crying Your Heart Out” on this tour, much as it breaks my heart.) It’s a ferocious, fantastic performance, and it sounds like nothing so much as a man who’s been waiting the better part of two decades to grab hold of this moment with both hands.
Noel, for his part, has genuinely never sounded better vocally and is demonstrably reactive and even a bit emotional in a way that I can’t imagine any of us expected to see (or that his younger self would have ever approved of). He looks so pleasantly taken aback every time the crowd of some 70,000 people enthusiastically sings one of his choruses back to him, and though he’s less talkative than his brother, he still takes a moment to thank all the young fans who’ve shown up, despite most of them not having been around for the heyday of Oasis’s first run. He and Liam walk onstage holding hands and exit after hugging, and if you’d told me five years ago this was something that could ever happen again, I would have laughed until I passed out. Man, I’m really enjoying being wrong.
-snip-