Oasis
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Friday, October 31st
In the 16 years since Oasis broke up, their legend has only grown. The anticipation around their reunion tour – the most buzzed-about series of concerts since the Eras Tour – comes as no surprise.
And yet, in 2005, the last time both Gallagher brothers touched down in Australia, they were playing theatres. Caught between the irreplicable success of their first two albums, a generational shift in rock music, and their seemingly endless bickering, contemporary reviews weren’t kind. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, “Liam Gallagher was on such terrible form on this night that soon after his microphone started working you were praying it would pack up again.”
How times have changed. You could fit about 14 Festival Halls into one Marvel Stadium, where about 70,000 attendees are expected on each of their three Melbourne dates. Bucket hats and Adidas tracksuits are plentiful – even the bootleggers outside are making a killing.
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Brisbane’s Ball Park Music, personally picked by Liam Gallagher, make for a fine opener. Playing in an actual ball park for the first time, frontman Sam Cromack calls Oasis “the greatest band in the world” – these humble Australians are not about to try and upstage them.
As the crowd saunters in – the average punter about 45-55, male, several beers in hand – the intro tape starts, right on time. In front of countless headlines hailing their return, Noel and Liam walk hand in hand onto the stage – they’ve won just by being there. They launch into a rollicking version of “Hello”, but “Acquiesce” gets an even bigger response, as the two trade verses and choruses: “Because we need each other / We believe in one another / And I know we’re going to uncover / What’s sleepin’ in our soul”. The Gallaghers are back where they belong.
The good news is, Oasis in 2025 sound amazing. Noel’s guitar might be the best a Gibson Les Paul has ever sounded – a beautiful, warm, organic crunch. They’re touring with three guitarists for the first time – Mike Moore filling in for original guitarist Bonehead, who’s undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, and 2000s band mainstays Gem Archer, and Andy Bell on bass. Joey Waronker, the band’s first American member, is an accomplished session musician who understands that to drum in Oasis, you have to be a bit shit. He plays with a touch of finesse on the ballads, but adds no groove or swing to the rock songs – giving them their signature plodding, almost drone-y heaviness.
Meanwhile, Liam’s at the top of his game. He doesn’t go for every high note in “Some Might Say” or “Slide Away”, but he somehow sounds better than he did 20 years ago. He’s always been the band’s most undefinable quality – the rockstar who barely moves onstage, sings with a flat affect, and somehow draws out even more emotion from the crowd as a result. At one point, he gives a near-incomprehensible anecdote about smoking pot and a talking kangaroo. When the band takes over, he puts his signature tambourine in his mouth, and pounds his hand on his heart. You can feel the love.
Oasis at Marvel Stadium, 31st October 2025
The band opens with nine rockers in a row. “Morning Glory” and “Some Might Say” soar, while “Bring It on Down”, “Cigarettes & Alcohol” and “Supersonic” still have that Definitely Maybe grit and dirt, even in a stadium. But it wouldn’t be an Oasis gig without their softer side, and when they pull back into “Talk Tonight”, “Half the World Away” and “Little by Little”, Noel finally gets his moment to shine. His voice is truly ageless – as lovely as it was 30 years ago.
“D’You Know What I Mean?” and “Stand by Me” make for a brief detour into Be Here Now, sounding great without the hype and bloated production of 1998. As they near the final stretch, they pull out the songs that people have truly been dreaming of hearing for years. “Cast No Shadow” and “Live Forever” are magnificent, and finally sound complete again with both Gallaghers’ voices intertwined. Before “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”, Liam jokes about going to bed and finishing the set early.
Of course, no one seriously believes that they won’t play an encore. “The Masterplan”, perhaps their most gorgeous ballad, gives us a moment to breathe. But the trio of “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” are truly surreal. It makes you wonder – when you pictured seeing Oasis in your mind, was it like this? With 70,000 people singing arm in arm, the brothers delighted to be in each other’s presence, chintzy pop-art overlays on the LED screens, Liam berating a fan for letting off a flare during “Champagne Supernova”?
Of the many iterations of Oasis we’ve carried in our heads over the years, this one feels like it will come to be the canonical version. They play a half-dozen beloved B-sides, but no songs recorded after 2002 (for better or worse), no obvious clunkers or bathroom break songs, no solo tracks or covers (except a foray into “Octopus’ Garden” at the end of “Whatever”). There are certainly no onstage fights or pissups – in fact, they’re better behaved than some of the crowd.
The truth is, by reuniting, Oasis’ future feels less predetermined. They’ve finally put to rest the questions that would follow each Noel or Liam solo release, that were amplified with each passing anniversary. Liam’s already teased a new album, but there’s every chance that it could go from a joke to a real possibility.
The Oasis we see tonight isn’t the band of Knebworth 1996, when they were creating their legend – and their notoriety – in real-time. If you couldn’t be there, perhaps the next best thing is to be here now, amongst the generations who’ve kept their music alive. “While we’re living / The dreams we have as children fade away”, they sing – but not tonight.
