Liam and Noel Gallagher Lock Arms at Venice Premiere of ‘Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger’
Today is gonna be the day — and maybe Liam and Noel Gallagher really are gonna live forever?
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Further cementing their place in the pop cultural firmament, Manchester’s most cocksure duo walked the Venice Film Festival’s historic red carpet Saturday night for the world premiere of Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger, Disney’s much-anticipated behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling last year’s wildly successful globe-spanning reunion tour.
Created by Peaky Blinders mastermind Steven Knight, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger combines concert film, backstage documentary and an unusually intimate portrait of the Gallagher brothers’ famously volatile relationship. The filmmakers followed Oasis across 12 concerts on three continents during the Live ’25 tour, capturing previously unseen rehearsals, backstage and onstage footage.
The premiere, appropriately, had more the feel of an Oasis stadium concert than a sombre festival premiere. There were chants of “Oasis! Oasis!” as the Gallaghers walked into the Sala Grande theater. Before the film, a fan in the balcony unveiled a banner with “Oasis Live 25 Buenos Aires” and chanted “Come on, Oasis!”
In response to a question yelled out from the gallery, Liam shouted out “Venice is a lovely place!” before sitting down with his brother to watch the film.
The Gallagher brothers skipped the morning press conference for the film, but their presence inside the Sala Grande undeniably delivered an extra charge of anticipation for the film — which includes their first joint interview in more than two decades.
As the lights came up after the doc’s two-hour runtime, the audience cheered and erupted with a lengthy 8 minute standing ovation. The crowd even sang along loudly to the band’s hit “Champagne Supernova” at the end. It wasn’t lost on the audience that the brother’s reconciliation paved the way for any of this to happen, so when they discussed it on screen, the audience applauded in those moments as well.
During the ovation, Liam Gallagher initially looked like he wanted to exit the venue — he signaled that he wanted to knock back a drink — until a member of the filmmaking team persuaded him to stay. He made the most of his time, too, by walking down the stairs from the upper level to come and sign autographs for adoring fans. After working the crowd for a bit, Liam grabbed Noel’s hand and they raised their arms together to huge cheers and applause.
The documentary was directed by British filmmakers Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, already acclaimed for their indie rock doc chops. Their previous music documentaries include the 2012 LCD Soundsystem film Shut Up and Play the Hits and Meet Me in the Bathroom from 2022, which revisited the early-2000s New York scene that generated the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem and others. They also previously collaborated on the Blur documentary No Distance Left to Run.
Following Venice, Disney will give Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger a limited theatrical run, with the film opening in select Imax and U.S. cinemas on Sept. 11. It will then stream later this year on Hulu in the U.S. and exclusively on Disney+ internationally.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival runs through Sept. 12, when the competition jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal will hand out the festival’s top prizes at the closing-night awards ceremony. But Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger is screening in Venice Open – Out of Competition and thus not in contention for the Golden Lion.
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