Oasis reunion is more than just music… gigs have reaffirmed community spirit, fun and united the UK, says Dominic Mohan

THEY came. They swore. They conquered. This storming Oasis triumph of a comeback has been more than a reunion, it is a resurrection.

A resurrection not only of the greatest British band of the past 50 years, but also the reawakening of a huge swathe of our ­society which has felt forgotten, marginalised and overlooked.

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In a Britain where the air feels thicker with political tension than it ever did in the halcyon days of the glorious Nineties, Oasis have rampaged back into our consciousness, representing and celebrating our everyman and everywoman — the ­normal, hard-working folk who pay their taxes on time and want the streets to be safe for their children.

And, as the group’s British dates for 2025 edge to a close, save for a couple of Wembley victory laps next month, it is clear the Gallagher brothers have come back at the right moment, with a not-so-Great Britain never needing them more.

Cavernous fields and arenas stuffed full of optimists and seekers, ordinary people that are like you and me, who perhaps feel a burgeoning sense of unfairness and injustice beginning to seep into British society, where hard workers are penalised while others laugh and exploit our failing systems.

People who know what is right, who believe in law and order and decency, who are fun-loving yet respectful and tolerant — but feel little need for pronouns or wokery.

Pure, unbridled elation

This collective outpouring of mass joy was a potent reminder that there are a hell of a lot of us — 14million applied for 1.4million tickets for the 17 shows across Britain and Ireland.

Just common people who are no longer certain whether it’s safe to pull out their mobile phone in public or wear a decent watch or jewellery on the streets.

Oasis are that timely reminder of an epoch when the country still had a sense of swagger, confidence and bloody-minded resilience.

But also of safety and security, where it wasn’t afraid of its own shadow and before it marched to the beat of political correctness.

I saw not a single ­Palestinian flag or shirt, nor any type of political protest or sexual ­orientation garb, at any of the three concerts I witnessed alongside 250,000 fun-lovers over the past month.

Just effervescent stadia in Cardiff and London, packed full of jubilant people with smiles plastered on their faces who still know how to have a damned good time.

We met new friends of all ages, sexes and colour. We thronged and bounced up and down together like maniacs until our legs turned to jelly.

We told our nearest and dearest how much we love them and spilt beer over one another, carefree.

Oh, and how we laughed and cried tears of joy as our choir sang those choruses side-by-side.

This was pure, unbridled elation and I think some had forgotten how that had felt.

These raucous assemblies were populated by the sort of people who want the best bits of the Nineties back, soundtracked by a group, still burning bright, and encapsulating the working-class spirit of Britain — loud, defiant and irreverent.

There wasn’t any political posturing, no vile calls for murder from the stage nor balaclavas.

Oasis are giving fresh hope and inspiration to generations young and old who feel increasingly ignored and isolated.

This was pure, unbridled elation and I think some had forgotten how that had felt

Dominic Mohan

This Oasis tour has been a reassertion of British values, of fun, community, spirit, mass celebration and imbibement, of throwing your arms around strangers and chanting ­blissfully into each other’s faces.

It is a reminder of what, at its heart, this country is still about — something that may have been buried and lost in a world of X, AI, TikTok, perpetual wars and a repetitive cycle of post-pandemic horror and misery, served to us 24/7 in our pockets.

This summer has been two powerful, Gallagher-propelled fingers up to the party poopers who want to stifle and silence us and ruin our lives.

Our nation is enduring an identity crisis and feels demoralised by a ­faltering economy, left weary by ­violence, crime, and small boat crossings, alongside simmering tensions outside taxpayer-funded migrant hotels. A country on the edge, a powder keg with the potential to blow.

The tough-talking Gallaghers and their forthright opinions could not be further from our Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a squeaky, risk-averse lawyer being roughed up on the world stage.

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I’ve had more than 30 years of the Gallagher live experience, run-ins, interviews, japes and scrapes around the world as a journalist and broadcaster.

The band played a part in my success, but this is certainly a more refined and modern Oasis for the 21st Century. There’s definitely a little less laddishness around this time, no maybe about it.

In 2000, when I saw the band perform at Wembley, the brothers encouraged women to expose their breasts for the big screens and leered at them.

This is a more polished and less shambolic Oasis of those times, and it is poignant to see the group’s bewitched offspring in the audience each night, led by Noel’s daughter Anais, whose love and pride for her father is beautiful to witness.

She has taken some ownership of this revival, tenderly documenting her exhilaration online.

She also hosted the Lionesses at Wembley after their Euros triumph, which typified contemporary Oasis, who even dedicated Roll With It to them.

The concept of an England women’s football team being invited to one of their anarchic gigs in the Nineties would have been unthink- able.

This is also a band at the most professional they have ever been, well-drilled and slick, with breath- taking lighting, firework displays and pop art visuals.

The other four — Andy Bell, Gem Archer, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and new recruit, drummer Joey Waronker — are a jaw-droppingly tight and well-rehearsed unit, combining to produce that ear-splittingly powerful, hallmark wall of sound which has left Oasis ringing in my ears for the past three decades.

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Forget your woes

The three closing tunes — Don’t Look Back In Anger, Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova — ­combine to produce one of the most majestic and exalted trilogies composed by any individual in contemporary music, and I’m not certain this euphoric holy trinity can ever be eclipsed.

The chemistry between band and fan is like no other. But this is no box-ticking legacy act.

The 2025 Oasis experience serves to remind us all of a simpler Nineties era, where life felt more colourful, less oppressive and ­liberated, more of a laugh and light-hearted

Dominic Mohan

This is a celebration of the pre-eminent British songwriting canon of the past five decades, two hours where you can forget your woes and your mortgage, an experience that is the antithesis of Glastonbury in many ways and representative of a monumental constituency of this country, reflecting its true nature and soul.

Ultimately, nobody cared how much they paid for their ticket. The atmosphere inside and outside of these sonic cathedrals was like that of a World Cup Final but all 90,000 of us supported the same team.

Packed into Tube trains afterwards, we laughed, linked arms and sang together all the way home, banging on the carriage doors and ceilings, most knowing every word of the same thunderous council house hymns we had been assaulted with just hours before.

This rebirth is certainly the ­biggest British rock reunion of all time. No question.

The technological, media and musical terrain has ­shattered so significantly since the band split that I cannot envision any other act hereafter surfacing with such cultural and societal impact or significance, capturing the zeitgeist and stimulating a nation and its people in the same way.

The Irish-blooded brothers’ surprise peace deal has held firm so far, like the Good Friday Agreement, itself cast in the Nineties when Oasis reached their pinnacle — sending alternative culture ­mainstream.

And, unlike some of their shows in the past, this set is expertly paced for maximum joy and communion. There is barely a moment for pause or reflection, with one audio juggernaut after another crushing your consciousness.

I expect this incendiary tour to roll into next year to mark the 30th anniversaries of the mythical Maine Road and Knebworth shows of 1996, thus reuniting the true face of Britain once again, for that collective outpouring of bottled-up and ­suppressed emotion.

It sometimes feels as if it might not be worth going to see any other act live in the meantime, because they will never measure up to this.

The 2025 Oasis experience serves to remind us all of a simpler Nineties era, where life felt more colourful, less oppressive and ­liberated, more of a laugh and light-hearted.

But, alongside that, was a political hope, a thriving economy and a capital city abuzz with some of the world’s leading wealth creators, restaurateur and clubs, top fashion designers and unparalleled artistic geniuses.

That’s what’s missing this time around, but we must harness our newly reclaimed power and voice, and strive to restore the country we love, sparking a revolution in political thinking and attitude, bringing back the sense of fairness and ­justice that has slipped from our democratic grasp.

Oasis have helped put a spring back in the nation’s faltering step. The planet is looking on in envy as the reworked version of Britpop- mania thrives on our shores and we can again proudly boast that our modest nation has spawned the greatest rock and roll band of ­modern times.

We must build on that spirit, endeavour and influence as the Gallaghers spread the word around the globe, with their intercontinental tour detonating worldwide.

The brothers played a significant role in shaping Nineties British media and politics, assisting the ushering in of Tony Blair as Labour Prime Minister in 1997.

And these Oasis paeans are Noel’s glorious manifesto for a brighter Britain and fairer society, strangely resonating now more than ever, it would seem.

But what is beyond doubt is that, if Oasis were a political party itself, it would represent the real Britain and retain power for years — its rivals caught beneath a landslide.