Culture
Review: Oasis reunion tour offers ‘Supersonic’ tonic to polarization age
By: Ian Saint
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CHICAGO, Illinois (WOUB) – When I reviewed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 2023 Council Skies tour, an Oasis reunion felt unnecessary and improbable. Noel enjoyed Council Skies’ critical acclaim while Liam ribbed him online and toured Definitely Maybe’s 30th anniversary without his brother.
It was shocking, then, when Oasis announced a reunion tour last autumn. Equally stunning was Oasis playing stadiums in the USA for the first time, given 1995’s Wonderwall is their sole Gold-certified single Stateside — compared to 20 Platinum-certified singles in Britain.
Nevertheless, all five U.S. stadium shows quickly sold out, and WOUB attended the first of them on August 28 at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The Gallaghers gave no preview of the setlist and no explanation for reuniting — unusually restrained for a band known for bluntness. That silence only heightened the intrigue.
As it turned out, the setlist for the reunion show came almost entirely from their two biggest albums, Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, along with five B-sides later compiled on 1998’s The Masterplan.
This likely reflected the return of original member Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, who left Oasis in 1999. It was profound to watch the guitarist — hailed by Noel as “the spirit of Oasis” — play alongside his replacement, Gem Archer (who continued with Noel’s High Flying Birds).
Their performance of 2002’s Little By Little, released after Bonehead’s departure, was compelling. Its theme of searching for perfection in an imperfect world echoed the reunion’s own gaps, with some original members, like bassist Paul McGuigan (who abruptly retired from music in 1999), absent.
With Council Skies reflecting on childhood in Manchester council estates — “daydreaming, looking up at the sky and wondering what life could be” — reconciling with his brother and revisiting the early albums felt like a natural step in Noel’s artistic journey.
Definitely Maybe became the fastest-selling debut in British history, an extraordinary triumph for the sons of a single Irish mum on indie label Creation Records. Their follow-up, Morning Glory, brought further validation with Noel’s first turn as lead vocalist on Don’t Look Back in Anger, recorded at Rockfield Studios, where Queen famously recorded Bohemian Rhapsody.
Reuniting Oasis after Council Skies gave these blockbuster songs new resonance — far more than a trip down memory lane. That was clear from the opener, Hello, whose refrain of “it’s good to be back” echoed with added weight 16 years to the day after Oasis imploded.
They followed with Acquiesce, where Liam and Noel traded lead vocals. Liam delivered lines like “I hope that I can say the things I wish I’d said,” while Noel answered with “Because we need each other, we believe in one another,” a moment that epitomized the reunion’s emotional might.
The 52,000-strong crowd was as vital to the experience as the band itself.
During Half the World Away, Noel stood back and let his first American stadium audience roar the chorus — a remarkable feat for a B-side tracked during his first U.S. recording session, soon after he briefly deserted Oasis on their ill-fated inaugural American tour. The arrangement, fleshed out with brass, was beautiful.
For Cigarettes & Alcohol, Liam challenged the crowd to try “The Poznań,” a soccer ritual where fans turn away from the field, link shoulders, and jump in unison. He admitted the custom was foreign to Americans, but the audience improvised marvelously.
In the stands, Nashville fan Jenn Ross exchanged Oasis-themed friendship bracelets with a preteen girl, ones she had made with leftover materials from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
The camaraderie stretched far beyond the stadium. At O’Hare International Airport, I sensed that Oasis’ Near South Side concert was part of a larger wave sweeping through Chicago. The band opened a weeklong pop-up store in Wicker Park. In Old Town, Burton Place hosted the “ultimate fan collection,” displaying relics like the picture frame from the Wonderwall cover and the couch from Definitely Maybe’s artwork. On the eve of the show, drones lit the skyline with a rotating Oasis logo above Soldier Field.
Chicago resident Janet Helm marveled at how friendly and outgoing the city felt with so many visitors. The Gallaghers themselves wandered Chicago, pausing for photos with fans. Janet attended the concert with her 22-year-old daughter — the bigger Oasis devotee between them — and the experience sparked a new bond.
For me, the Irish brothers’ reunion carried personal weight: it inspired me to reconnect with my Irish-American cousin in Chicago, Kris McDermott, whom I hadn’t seen in years. After the concert, we visited Ma O’Brien’s, a Jefferson Park pub owned by Aine O’Brien of County Limerick. That return to family roots was an unexpected and special gift of the Gallaghers’ reunion.
The night reached its peak with Champagne Supernova. Once described by The Guardian as “the perfect epitaph for swaggering mid-90s hedonism,” the song hit differently in this context. Lines like “How many special people change?” no longer came from scrappy young men in a Manchester club but from brothers who had set aside decades of division to share the stage again.
Before fireworks lit the Chicago skyline, video screens flashed Paris — the city where Oasis split in 2009. Liam and Noel stood on opposite sides of a setting sun, playing together once more. The moment brought me to tears.
The camaraderie Oasis inspired was striking given the political climate. At Soldier Field, joy and connection stood in stark contrast to President Trump’s televised remarks calling for a military takeover of Chicago. On the ground, the city pulsed with music — Oasis opening the first of five consecutive shows at the stadium (including My Chemical Romance, a show reviewed by WOUB’s Nicholas Kobe).
The concert became a transformational experience, a timely infusion of optimism.
As the enormous crowd streamed through Grant Park, an impromptu a cappella reprise of Don’t Look Back in Anger erupted. For a country built on declaring independence from Britain, it was remarkable to witness two British brothers mending their own feud and, in doing so, offering an unforgettable antidote to our own divisions.
