Oasis reunion tour documentary rocks Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy (AP) — The Gallagher brothers brought some rock star energy to a sleepy, and sweaty, Venice Film Festival Saturday, where the documentary about their reunion tour made its world premiere. And like true rock stars, after giving a few waves for photographers on the Lido docks, they skipped the whole “news conference” bit.

“Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” is part concert film and part exploration of the contentious relationship between Noel and Liam Gallagher, whose long-held feud led to Oasis disbanding in 2009 in spectacularly theatrical fashion after a backstage altercation moments before they were due on stage in Paris.

Noel infamously said his brother is “the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.”

Liam told the Guardian in 2018 that his brother “did me out, mate, he threw me under the (expletive) bus, and I won’t forget that. He split the band up and it meant the world to me. Just to further his career.”

The band was founded in working-class Manchester, England, in 1991, and became one of the most popular British acts of the 1990s, hitting No. 1 with their debut album “Definitely Maybe” in 1994. Their 1995 follow up, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” became one of the U.K.’s bestselling albums of all time.

The film looks at the phenomenon of Oasis and the prickly personalities behind the hit songs, most of which were written by the elder Gallagher brother, Noel, from “Wonderwall” to “Live Forever.” It includes never-before-seen rehearsals (where everyone tenses as Liam walks in) and what was, then at least, their first joint interview in 25 years.

In 2025, the brothers ended a 16-year hiatus with a reunion tour that kicked off in Cardiff, Wales to an ecstatic, all-ages crowd of more than 60,000. Many worried that like in Paris in 2009, it might not actually happen. But the show went on, with former Oasis members Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Gem Archer on guitar, bassist Andy Bell and drummer Joey Waronker.

The Associated Press wrote at the time that songs like “Supersonic” and “Roll With It,” “sounded as thunderous as ever and sparked mass sing-alongs.”

Steven Knight, who is credited as the writer of the documentary, said he and Noel wanted to explore the question of why the music endured, not just with fans who experienced it in the 90s but with the next generation as well that culminated in such intense demand for reunion tour tickets.

Filmmakers Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace spoke to the brothers separately before the rehearsals had started, and then together while the tour was in full swing, to reflect the true progression of the relationship.

“We set out to make a film about the reconciliation of two brothers, infamous for their volatile relationship, but we also wanted to make a film about the power of music and the way Oasis’ songs have continued to have a life of their own, as the band lay dormant for 15 years,” the filmmakers said in their directors’ statement. “The documentary, like the reunion and the tour, took on a life of its own.”

The filmmakers said their goal was to make their cameras and presence invisible to the band during rehearsals. At the concerts, they wanted to make the audience feel like they were there as well. The film also focuses on various fans from around the world.

“Sometimes you might just bump into someone with a dog called Bonehead and that becomes part of the story,” Southern said.

“Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” will be in theaters shortly after the festival. Disney is giving “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” an IMAX release on Sept. 11, and it’s expected to arrive on the Disney+ streaming service later this year.

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For coverage of the 2026 Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival