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When, last year, Oasis announced a reunion tour after 15 years apart, the internet promptly combusted. But it wasn’t just Gen X’ers and millennials—those who actually lived through the Mancunian rock-mania of the ’90s—who lost their minds. Zillennials, many of whom were either still in diapers or not-yet-born when the band’s 1994 debut album, Definitely, Maybe, came out, were also elated at the prospect of finally seeing the world’s greatest rock band live.
This occurred to me while listening to the band’s legendary Live at Knebworth album from 1996, recorded just 10 days before I was born: Somehow, even more than a decade after their infamous (and, thankfully, temporary) breakup, the band’s lore and allure have remained firmly intact—and proven irresistible to 20-somethings.
“Oasis is so authentic, distinct, and abrasive—but that’s the appeal in an era where everything is super polished and of-the-masses,” explains the LA-based music journalist and Gen Z culture critic Reanna Cruz. In an era of TikTok song snippets and bubblegum pop manufactured by labels, Gen Z has been conditioned to consume music in a blur (pun somewhat intended)—a barrage of sound hurled at their For You Page with every swipe. The Gallagher brothers, Cruz suggests, offer something different. “You have these enormously talented brothers who have no filter. They’re historically always beefing with everybody, even each other. The band’s vocals have a grating edge, the guitar tones are a little jagged, as opposed to a lot of rock music that seems like it’s trying to be more palatable in 2025.”
They continue: “Over the past few years, there’s been a distinct lack of down-to-earth, no-frills rock bands in mainstream popular culture. Oasis coming back awakens that neuron in everybody’s brains—especially young fans who are of the mindset of, ‘finally, real music.’”
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The same generation has also turned cosplaying Liam and Noel’s distinctive aesthetic into social media currency. The enduring style impact of the band can be spotted from Brooklyn to east London, with 20-somethings shagging their crops and drowning in dark-wash denim, resurrecting Britpop streetwear. But here’s the catch: The brothers themselves would never be caught dead filming TikTok outfit checks (though Liam has been known for his hilarious trolling tweets). Their well-documented, no-fucks-given attitude isn’t something you can thrift—or algorithmically replicate.
On night two of their back-to-back sold-out shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Oasis more than delivered on decades of pent-up expectation. The crowd was notably multigenerational, with nearly everyone draped in Oasis merch. At precisely 8:45 p.m., the brothers emerged, hand-in-hand, before launching straight into “Hello,” a perfectly fitting opener, with Liam snarling the chorus—“It’s good to be back”—as if the past 15 years had merely been a smoke break. (When he later took a moment to announce, “As we stand here in this beautiful stadium in front of you beautiful people, there has been no game playing. Fuck the game,” the line felt like a bit of Gallagher gospel—and got right to the heart of the brothers’ no-fucks-given appeal.)
Then came the quintessential Liam antics that young fans would recognize from social media clips—the army green parka; the swaggering, arm-swinging walk; the trusty tambourine—while Noel ripped into riffs that many in the crowd would have only recognized from Spotify. But from “Cigarettes Alcohol” to “Roll With It,” 70,000 voices—of every age and accent—screamed the words back like scripture. That is, when we weren’t quietly sobbing, like during “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” (No concert had ever made me cry before.)
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At the end of the set, Liam returned, bucket hat on, to end the night with “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova.” Again, the crowd bellowed the choruses back, transforming into a kind of massive choir paying reverence to the ultimate Britpop legends. The explosion of fireworks to cap things off called to memory a line from Paolo Hewitt’s Oasis biography, Getting High: “Freedom is in short supply these days, but not at Oasis concerts.”
