{"id":192287,"date":"2025-09-01T20:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T20:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192287\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T20:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T20:04:11","slug":"gallaghers-rock-new-york-at-metlife-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/192287\/","title":{"rendered":"Gallaghers Rock New York at MetLife Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSomewhere along my journey from Brooklyn to New Jersey, the subway platforms and train cars became swarmed by people clad in Adidas tracksuits, soccer kits, bucket hats and round sunglasses. We weren\u2019t flocking to a Britpop Halloween party. No, the next best thing: the resurrection of Oasis<\/a> at MetLife Stadium \u2014 the first time the Gallagher brothers appeared together anywhere near New York in 17 years.<\/p>\n

\n\tOasis announced their reunion more than a year ago, and they had already played 20 shows as part of the Live \u201925 tour. (I know this because I\u2019ve been pleasantly inundated with clips from those concerts for the last eight weeks.) But on Sunday night, when Liam and Noel Gallagher strode onstage together, holding hands in triumph, there was a part of me that still couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. The brothers turned rivals spent a decade and a half launching verbal rockets at each other \u2014 \u201cidiot,\u201d \u201cknobhead,\u201d \u201cpotato\u201d and, quite often, a four-letter word that begins with C. For years, an Oasis reunion seemed impossible. So, the sight of Liam and Noel united, literally, was inspiring.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut before I could get too sappy, the Gallaghers took their places and immediately blasted into \u201cHello,\u201d Liam leaning forward in a parka, hands behind his back, and Noel strumming a Les Paul, straight-faced. Fans launched their half-drunken pints into the sky, beer spraying all over the pit. In any other setting, getting drenched in someone else\u2019s lager might have been a night-ruiner. Instead, people collapsed into each other, sticky Yankees shouting in Manchester accents, \u201cAnd it\u2019s never gonna be the same \/ \u2019Cause the years are falling by like the rain!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHarriet T K Bols \/ Big Brother Recordings<\/p>\n

\n\tThe crowd bounced to the driving bass line of \u201cBring It on Down.\u201d Hands shot in the air for a \u201cSupersonic\u201d played faster than usual. And a guy shook his soft pretzel like a tambourine during \u201cSome Might Say.\u201d An early highlight of the setlist was \u201cAcquiesce,\u201d the fan-favorite B-side on which the brothers trade verse and chorus. While Noel has denied the song is about his relationship with Liam, the context of this joyous armistice makes it hard to read the duet any other way: \u201cBecause we need each other \/ We believe in one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMaybe it\u2019s because they are literally brothers, but Oasis seems to evoke the spirit of bromance more than any contemporary band. The crowd was teeming with male friend groups, arms locked around each other\u2019s necks. Guys hugging and jumping, and hugging while jumping. Grown men mounted on other grown men\u2019s backs. Girls, too, got in on the fun, forming their own mini mosh pit and waving the British flag. One woman who was repeatedly featured on the jumbotron held a sign that read: \u201cWE\u2019VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe energy in the stadium peaked with the blazing blues rock of \u201cCigarettes & Alcohol,\u201d which kicked off with a \u201cPozna\u0144,\u201d a Manchester City soccer tradition in which the fans face away from the game (in this case, the stage), link arms and jump in unison. \u201cThey said you wouldn\u2019t do it, America, and you did it,\u201d Liam said, like a proud football coach. \u201cCongratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fairness, there were also plenty of Brits in the house, some of which had presumably traveled across the pond for their second, third or fourth Oasis reunion show. (One English gentleman in front of me at the food stand asked a stadium cashier for tartar sauce, to which she replied, \u201cThose are chicken tenders you\u2019re holding, sir.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOasis fans do the Pozna\u0144 in Chicago.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLewis Evans<\/p>\n

\n\tThis has been noted in nearly every Oasis review in 2025, but it bears repeating that the band sounds as good as ever. Noel commanded the stage with a couple of beautifully sung acoustic numbers, and Liam\u2019s grainy snarl was scathing and perfectly pitched, whether he\u2019s spitting out \u201cStand by me!\u201d or stretching \u201csunshine\u201d into a three-syllable word. The concert felt less like a rehash of the greatest hits of the 1990s, more like witnessing a band still at the peak of its powers.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, if I have one complaint, the setlist suffered a bit of a lull toward the middle of the concert \u2014 I might scrap the forgettable \u201cCast No Shadow,\u201d and I could probably do without \u201cWhatever,\u201d save for Liam\u2019s cheeky interpolation of \u201cOctopus\u2019s Garden.\u201d But once the band launched into \u201cLive Forever,\u201d dedicating it to \u201cthe kiddies in Minneapolis,\u201d the concert became a medley of some of the greatest arena-rock songs ever written.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHarriet T K Bols \/ Big Brother Recordings<\/p>\n

\n\tOasis closed with the scorching \u201cRock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Star\u201d before returning to the stage for \u201cThe Masterplan\u201d and then its three biggest hits. Teasing \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back in Anger,\u201d Noel told the audience that they\u2019ve probably wondered what it\u2019s like to sing this next song with 60,000 people. \u201cNow you\u2019ll know what that feeling is like,\u201d he said, before those opening piano chords summoned a wave of warm applause. Sandwiched between \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back in Anger\u201d and the final song of the night, \u201cWonderwall\u201d felt slightly rushed. Introduced with an amusing casualness (\u201cAnyway, here\u2019s \u2018Wonderwall\u2019\u201d), the karaoke behemoth might have been better placed toward the beginning of the setlist.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd finally there was \u201cChampagne Supernova,\u201d in which Liam\u2019s nasally vocal crescendo bathed in swirling electric guitar fuzz. The seven-minute song climaxed with a firework show above MetLife Stadium as Liam stood still, balancing a tambourine on his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show was over, but another encore of sorts occurred on the 30-minute commute back to New York City, as train cars buzzed with Oasis fans belting out the choruses to \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back in Anger,\u201d \u201cWonderwall\u201d and \u201cLive Forever\u201d a capella. There were older couples who had traveled from overseas, fans in their 20s and 30s who never thought they\u2019d see Oasis live, and children wearing \u201cLive Forever\u201d shirts that were born after the band broke up in 2009.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt reminded me of that \u201cWE\u2019VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU\u201d sign that kept appearing on-screen at the concert. Oasis may have broken up, but their fans stayed together. They existed during the band\u2019s 16-year hiatus, and, while it\u2019s sure nice to have Liam and Noel back together, the fans will remain after the brothers inevitably decide to part ways again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter this tour ends, Oasis\u2019 future is unclear. The band insists there is no new music on the way, and their manager has called the tour \u201cthe last time around.\u201d Still, if there\u2019s one piece of advice the Gallaghers should take from their music, it\u2019s this: Don\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHarriet T K Bols \/ Big Brother Recordings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Somewhere along my journey from Brooklyn to New Jersey, the subway platforms and train cars became swarmed by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,31285,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-192287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-oasis","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115130837649990321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}