Caroline Frost: 'Oasis is more than the sum of its parts'

Mick Hucknall, no less, explained it to me once: “Everyone dreams of being in a band because they want to be like the Beatles, but even the Beatles weren’t always that happy.” The Simply Red frontman could have added that, for every band that makes it, there’s always at least one member who is desperate to leave and then spends the following years desperate to return.

We’ve seen this played out over and over again: Robbie and Take That, Geri and the Spice Girls, Nigel Tufnel and Spinal Tap. The Eagles promised to reunite when “hell freezes over” – which then became the title of their reunion album after a 14-year hiatus.

Noel and Liam Gallagher seemed equally committed to the mutual froideur that followed Oasis’s 2009 split after an almighty fracas backstage in Paris. Not coincidentally, we’ve never seen rapturous clamour like that which greeted the brothers’ tour announcement 15 years later: of the estimated 14 million who applied for tickets, the lucky few (2.89 million) took to stadiums across the world, many in a fan’s uniform of parka jacket and bucket hat, tears running down faces long before Noel had played a chord or Liam had swung a maraca.

Does the actual music merit such fanfare? Yes, and no. With Noel’s tunes, Liam’s swagger and 22 consecutive Top 10 hits between 1994 and 2008, including Don’t Look Back in Anger, they can lay claim to providing the soundtrack of a generation who, 30 years later, have both nostalgia for simpler times and enough surplus cash to withstand even tiered pricing.

It’s worth noting that those same tunes have been available to anyone buying a ticket for either of the Gallaghers’ post-Oasis outings over the last decade and a half, when neither brother was shy of digging into their previous canon to rev up any concert crowd they feared losing to the bar with their lesser-known solo efforts. By the time of the Paris implosion, their (morning) glory days were well behind them; without it, they’d no doubt still be chugging along, and you’d easily bag a ticket with a few thousand others at, say, the Hammersmith Apollo.

Like all the best groups, Oasis is more than the sum of its parts

But that’s all reckoning without the Garbo factor – that the longer you leave it, the more anticipation you create. Silent-movie star Greta Garbo kept the public waiting for years to hear her speaking voice, leading to a global frenzy of desire to hear her.

The most thrilling part of the new documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger occurs in the rehearsal room, as Noel – with everyone else – waits anxiously to see if/when Liam will turn up. With the camera trained on the microphone, we and the band pinch ourselves that this is happening. Then, suddenly, there he is. His charisma is enduring but, as ever, it relies strongly on the context of the disapproving, chuckling older brother. Like all the best groups in music and beyond, Oasis is more than the sum of its parts.

In terms of generating excitement of cultish proportions, they couldn’t have played it better if they’d long planned it, and their mum Peggy is a rare figure who would surely have opted for a decade of family harmony over this present-day hype. The film has Noel explaining, “It was all forgiven without saying a word,” which reveals two things – namely that their two-decade sulk was properly pointless, and that they really are like every other family.

Ultimately, what we cling to beyond the music and the marketing mayhem is a remarkable demonstration of how even the most committed of foes can simply decide not to look back in anger. That, and the fact that, while we’re singing a 30-year-old anthem while wearing a bucket hat, we too have a hope of holding back the years.