After playing their first show in the Tri-State Area since 2008 on Sunday (Aug. 31), Oasis returned to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday (Sept. 1) to bring Labor Day Weekend (and summer) to a close for some 70,000 fans.
Bucket hats, soccer/football jerseys and beer pints were plentiful among the crowd at Oasis Live ‘25 — as was a feeling of camaraderie and cultural significance that reminded me of attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at the same venue two years prior. Yes, the Oasis crowd skews older and maler – a group of middle-aged guys aptly cheers’d their beers to “Broasis” before the show kicked off – but comparisons are apt. Like Swift’s dates at MetLife in 2023, inclusive, chatty tailgates began hours ahead of showtime; well over half of the attendees wore merch; and most of all, there was an inescapable sense that this was the Concert Event of the Year.
That’s not to say it’s necessarily the best concert of the year — though thousands of faithful walked away from MetLife on Monday night swearing exactly that – but that Oasis Live ’25 Tour, like Swift’s Eras Tour, feels like a shared cultural happening that goes beyond a musical concert. If the Eras Tour built community among the youngest generations, then Oasis Live ’25 is reawakening a sense of togetherness among Gen Xers and Millennials; after all, if the Gallagher brothers can reconcile and reunite after years of sniping, why can’t we bring back the rambunctious, good-times spirit of ‘90s Britpop for even just a few hours? (One notable difference: No one was flinging cups of beer – well, we hope it was beer — into the mosh pit at the Eras Tour.)
Of course, none of this would work if the tour felt like a cash-in or a swing-and-a-miss – but as plenty of others at Billboard have already said, the reunited Oasis is a supernova of energy, a vibrating, muscular and fluid band. If anything, time apart has reinvigorated Liam and Noel Gallagher, and the setlist is hard to beat. There’s soaring singalongs (“Don’t Look Back in Anger”), raw, Stooges-esque rock (“Bring It on Down”), top-tier musicianship (shout-out to Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, particularly on “The Masterplan”) and that distinctly Gallagher sense of humor throughout (on Monday, Liam anointed himself with the Sign of the Cross using a bottle of water prior to “Acquiesce”).
During Sunday night’s MetLife show, the band dedicated “Live Forever” to “the kiddies in Minneapolis,” referencing the tragic school shooting on Wednesday (Sept. 27) in Minneapolis where a shooter opened fire on a Catholic school during mass, killing two children and injuring 18 others. On Monday, the song dedications were less weighty, but more personal Gallaghers’ history. Liam saluted tennis legend/former partying pal John McEnroe (who was in the crowd and received plenty of adoration from Oasis fans) with Definitely Maybe opener “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.” He also dedicated “Fade Away” to attendees from the lads’ hometown: “This one is for the Mancunians,” he decreed, adding that it was specifically for “the very naughty” ones.
The only person who could reasonably walk away from Oasis Live ’25 disappointed is someone who showed up hoping for a fight between the previously estranged brothers. And based on the broad grins and warm hugs between Liam and Noel that bookended Monday night’s performance, those gossip-hungry observers will hopefully remain unfed for quite some time.