Why the Oasis documentary will make you cry (in a good way)

This is a CBC podcast. Am I allowed me to have the Mahmoud, and this is commotion, and look, if you've never been to an Oasis concert before, this right here might kind of crystallize exactly the thing that makes it so special. In theory, that's Oasis performing "Don't Look Back and Anger" at the Toronto Stop of Last Year's Tour, or I should say that's what you're hearing is maybe 50,000 Torrentonies being like, "We got this, we'll pick it up from here, thanks." It's not so much the thing that's happening on the stage. It really is that magic of the crowd, they're drinking, and they're singing, and they're hugging, and they're crying together. That magic is the focal point of this brand new documentary on Disney Plus. It's called "A Wases, Don't Look Back and Anger." More Dawson has seen it, Alex Spears have seen it, they've got a lot of thoughts on why it's so much more than just a typical rock documentary. Hello to both of you. Howdy. Hello. Nice to have you here. More I'm going to start with you. Look, the Oasis reunion tour was one of the biggest music stories from last year. You got Liam, you got Noel. They're back together after 15 years of not speaking to one another. What approach does a documentary take to telling the story of this reunion? Well, I really liked how it was structured because it kind of condenses Oasis's early history until the breakup in 2009, because there's a lot of history to tell, but you have to really just tell it fast until that moment when Noel announces that he's quitting the band. Then it fast-forward to the announcement in 2024 that they're reuniting. We see rehearsals, and there's this tension where it's like, "Is Liam going to show up?" I mean, he does, and it's great, right? It's great. Then they have the immediate lead up to the first gig, which is in "Card of Wales." The crowd is freaking out and singing in the streets. The way that they shot just the people streaming into the general admission area, it was so it maybe want to be in a general admission area, which I haven't wanted to be in one of those. Usually when I go to shows, arenas, I'm like, "Put me in a seat, please." Then there's a moment where backstage Noel walks out by himself, and then a couple other people walk out and you're like, "Oh, as Liam going to show up," and he does. They amp up this tension for the first 45 minutes of the movie, and then once it's done, it just focuses on the great songs and the people who love them of all generations from all over the world, and you get such a strong sense of place when they go to these particular places where Oasis is playing, Korea, Brazil, Dublin, and Manchester, of course, right? Manchester is their home, and in addition to footage from and around that show, it looks at how Oasis were, you know, central, even when they were broken up to the aftermath of the Manchester bombing at the Ariana Grande show in 2017, when Don't Look Back and Anger, which we just heard, was sort of embraced as a ceiling at them, and it also looks at how the Britpop community has maintained when the news that the former Stone Rose's bassist Gary Manning Moonfield died, and that was sort of a big emotional moment for the show, too. I mean, I thought it was just really well told, and then they integrated this joint interview with Liam and Noel where you're like, "What the heck?" And so, yeah, I loved it. I was so, I was like, "I have to listen to Oasis 24/7 now when I finish the movie." Which I have never said that before in my life, so, yeah. I had the same feeling on my drive in this morning. I was listening entirely to Oasis this morning, entirely because of that. I just want to play, I want to play you guys a little bit of the trailer for this documentary, at least just have a listen. Finally, after days of fevered speculation, they have confirmed they are reuniting for a series of concerts. Most thought it would never happen, and some still aren't convinced. The way it finished, unacceptable, it didn't sit right with me, mom. Alex, you're not a casual fan of Oasis. You play in an Oasis tribute band, you went to the show in Toronto, you've also seen this film. Talk to me with the experience of watching this documentary and the feelings that it brought up for you. The show in Toronto, first and foremost, I should say, was beautiful. The pouring rain on night one was something I'll never experience. I think just the number of folks I've talked to myself included who say it was the best show they've ever been to. The ability to capture that in a documentary and that heaviness and that weight and emotion was really remarkable. I went and saw the film with a friend of mine. You went in theaters, I just say. I went and saw it with a few friends of mine, but one in particular that stands out given the theme of reconciliation, I went to the merch pop up in Toronto and waited in line for six hours. Those lines were very long. Very, very long. While I was waiting in line, I ran into a friend who I had fallen out with in a pretty big way, sort of three, four years ago, and we had six hours to kill in line. We're in line. Stuck together. And I knew I had to apologize. I knew I had to own up to sort of, you know, the way I had behaved. We reconciled there in that line. Once we got into the shop, they had sold out of all the, all the Adidas stuff. So we said, all right, we're going to come back tomorrow morning at six a.m. and line up again. Come on. And she and I, you know, she ended up coming to my wedding. She and I went and saw the documentary together. So to the extent that this is about, you know, the spirit of reconciliation and, and, and the ability of music to, to bring people together and to sort of let bygones be bygones. It was a, it was a really, really beautiful thing. All right. First of all, I think the story that you just told is so devastating, beautiful. I just kind of captures the spirit of a, of a way says, but also, it also captures for me the experience of watching this documentary of, if you're from outside of the experience of a way says, you're like, that's, hey, that's a rock and roll band. If you're inside of it, you say, this is actually the vehicle for how these people connect to one another. And that's the, that's the thing that the documentary did so well is try to say this band is actually a bridge for a lot of people to get to know each other and then hold on to each other. And then there's something that's, that's a really hard thing to communicate in a documentary and you know, did it really well through that really specific kind of storytelling. I like to be able to tear up with the story and that's a, that's, I mean, me too a little bit. But that's a, that's a really beautiful moment. Mora, I, I don't think I knew that about a way says, I think I like, I don't think I knew the ways that the Oasis fandom sort of connect over this specific thing. What was the most illuminating aspect for you as you were watching the documentary? Um, I think it was like really how the fandom has, has grown even with the band way and how the fans that have been cultivated over the last like 15 years or so are just as passionate as the ones who were, you know, in reading Melody Maker and select back in the day. And I, you know, I, I've had students who have written about Oasis for sure, um, which is great. You know, and a lot of times they're like, yeah, my dad turned me on to it and I'm like, I'm your dad's age. Great. You know, I've also been thinking about like why Oasis? And like when you see the documentary, like, you know, a lot of the people who are, um, who are talking to the documentarians are like, they appreciate the, you know, this sort of striver aspect Oasis and the fact that they want to be just regular guys and, you know, obviously there's the belief in oneself and the hope for better tomorrow. And I feel like, you know, that's been kind of lacking in like the, the rock music that's in the main, like, you know, it's, and pop music too, where it's like, you know, right now in Boston, we have, we're going to have this show called the Jingle Ball, which is like the series of concerts around the States where different people headline and like, it's like somberist headlining and it's like, oh, yeah, your dad put it together. Gal is from Madonna, and Ellen John, I can't believe how you succeeded in the music business. And like, so that's, so that's the, I mean, lefty is also on the bill. Yeah. And, you know, she's a billionaire's daughter and her songwriting skills are questionable. And then like the other biggest acts are like Hillary, Duff and Nickelback. And it's like, you know, you really kind of see just how this, you know, the, the environment of 30 years ago really cultivated this like, you know, large subset of bands. You like, weren't necessarily trained and primed before being part of, you know, the, the billionaire class or whatever. Well, that also makes me think more about the idea that like, I think we've sort of lost touch a little bit with the grand offer of rock music, which is like, rock, grand offer of rock music at that scale because rock has kind of been decentralized in culture. So when you watch this documentary, you're like, oh, no, wait a minute. That's the thing that it gave us. That's the thing that gave us that has not since been replaced, I don't think. Yeah. I think I think that some country artists have it. Like I've, like Zach Bryan is one who, when I've seen him live, he has just these shows that are just complete barn burners. And you know, you'd like air church too. But I think that, you know, like the, the way that all rock kind of splintered in the early 2000s when like you had this sort of critically acclaimed side with strokes and the white stripes and then the stuff that was getting played on like mainstream merch radio here in the States, which was like, puddle of mud and it just. and you know, skill it, and he knew, well, he knew across over, but yeah, like, sort of like that, you know, and I think that that was also a really big, it took a toll on like the main, like the grand rock, you know, fandom. And I think that country tried to rush in and fill that bill and they didn't, most artists didn't, Zach Brian, I think did. I think I was watching this and I, and I, what I so appreciated about it is that just the very presence of this band was the spectacle Alex, right? Like it was like, oh, they're on stage and that is the spectacle. And I was thinking, please don't put your life in the hand of a rock and roll band as per the instructions of the rock and roll band themselves. But what are the moments when the movie that are really sticking out for you? So, a lot of them, Laura has already actually alluded to the first, the first one that really just brought so much joy was when, so for context, the, you hear interviews with each of them throughout the film. And then you see close-up shots of their head, maybe about a third of the way through. And then about halfway through, you get a panned out shot and you realize that they've been together this whole time. They've been in the same room the whole time. They've been in the same room and, and just watching Liam crack jokes about how, you know, they don't have to do, you know, jump and jack flash kicks like David Lee Roth and Mick Jagger. And watching it make Noel laugh was just, watching Liam make Noel laugh was genuinely a movie. It warmed my heart more than I can possibly describe it. But, you know, on a more somber note, I mean, the, the loss of the Stone Rose's bassist, Mani Moundfield was a, you know, friendships and relationships get built around music. I have lost one of my best friends who, where our friendship was so heavily built around this band. And the tour, the reunion, the movie, every single moment on this arc has been underscored by that loss. And for them to sort of so openly highlight what that experience was like for them, it just tugged on the heartstrings in a way that like it was just indescribable. What, what he meant to them, what he means to the broader scene and fandom and that sort of thing. Yeah. But just what it is like to sort of lose someone that you have built a relationship with around this music. I'm sensitive to that because I think one of the through lines of this, this film or was watching these brothers sort of get the idea of like, what am I going to do lose my brother? And I, I don't think I appreciated how mercurial a figure Liam was until I saw all the ways that other people are adjusting all the time to accommodate for Liam's nature, right? Like, you see the first couple days in rehearsal and they're all like, what's it going to be like when Liam gets here? And like, Liam gets there and he does the singing and then he's out. He's like, I'm not, he's not interested in hanging around. There's a lot of compensating, right? There's a lot of compensating for that. But then underneath that, there's also just the work of the tenderness of the work of the tenders between these two people were like, I think I think my life is tied up with this person. I think I have to sort of figure out how to keep my life tied up with this person. And that I think is actually like a really moving thing, but I don't think I appreciated about a way since until I watched this documentary. Was there something like that for you in terms of like, oh, I didn't really understand this about this band until this documentary? Yeah, I think that was a big part of it. I mean, speaking to what Alex talked about too with like that gradual reveal of the joint interview, I was just, you really get struck by how much, you know, everybody has grown up. And obviously, you know, 30 years, everybody's going to grow up. But it really seems like, you know, I mean, there was that one point where I think Liam was like, yeah, we're just texting each other links, you know, like regular blocs. And it was like, that's a sign, right? Like, that's something that you just do with like your friends and your, you know, your group chats and whatever. So, I mean, money is obviously a part of it, you know, but I think that, you know, they don't, I mean, I was like, well, they don't seem like we're going to kill each other. So that's like a step in that direction. But, you know, I also think that like, you know, they realize, and I think that them realizing just how many people have connected with what they've done, even if they didn't realize, you know, in the initial that it was, that this was going to, like, songs like, don't look back and anger. We're going to be, you know, these touchstones. And like, when Noelle says, you know, like, there's so much despair and putting up boundaries and everybody's welcome here. Like that was, I think also so mature and welcoming. And it also, you know, let's the fans be themselves. I mean, you know, you had people crying. You had, you know, men leaning into the emotional catharsis and not cracking jokes, which is like really healthy masculinity. And like, you know, it's just, I think that the ways in which they've grown up and realized their legacy, the way because it sort of was like the, the aftermath of their like, not the aftermath, but the meaning of their legacy was sort of like, shot at them in real time. Every time they went out to these, these huge crowds for the first time in 15 years, I think that really was sort of something that made them think about, you know, their place and their, yeah, yeah. I was, I was really moved by that. I was really moved by, I mean, there's a moment where, where Noelle sort of talks about the idea of like, after that first show, he was like 20 minutes into it. I just wanted five minutes in the green room by myself, just to take in the enormity of like the response of all this. And I will say the like, the first thing I did this morning after watching this doc last night was like, text a friend that I'd kind of been ducking their texts a little bit for like a little while. Because I watched this film and I was like, oh, everyone has a Liam in their life. Everyone has a, everyone has like a person in their life where you're like, it's just a little bit easier if you go, I'm not going to do the work of entangling my life with you. However, it's also worthwhile. It's worthwhile to do that. And you actually can't ignore that your life, your lives are kind of like entangled in one another. So I think like, you know, there is a racist, the band and the size of the songs, but then there's also like the emotional context that I think that I got out of this movie that's like, oh, this makes it so worth watching, even if you were not at all engaged in the music. So Alex, I'll put that question to you. Like, even if you're someone who goes, I don't think I got it in me to hear Wonderwall one more time. What's the thing that makes this movie worth watching? Well, first I'd say I can always hear Wonderwall any day of the week. I'm a, I'm a Wonderwall apology through and there with you. But so over Thanksgiving weekend, I wanted to show in part because I knew I was coming on the show, but and I kind of wanted to test how this lands for non fans. So I showed it to my parents and my grandmother. Now for context, the last time I showed them a movie in this. They know you're in a racist government. They know. They know that they and they listen about as much as a sort of supportive parent who doesn't really care about the music listens. So and for context, the last time I showed them a movie, it was Nirvana the Band to show the movie and they walked out after 20 minutes. And which is and I adore that movie. It's not to disparage the movie. It's just to say that my parents aren't exactly shy when it comes to communicating their feelings that they don't like it. And and they adored it. Like they really, really adored it. And I think that there's something in it for them in that they're actually not very musically inclined people period. Yeah. And for them, it was almost a case study in what music can mean to people. Whether it's Oasis or not, the the fan vignette scattered throughout that just speak to what power this music has over people was I think deeply, deeply touching for them. So fan or not music fan or not. It has something. Listen, how many special people change you're like, let's let's we keep sort of returning to the themes that Oasis gave us in part because they were not shy about doing the universal thing about saying we're going to make songs about the biggest themes in the world and the songs will be gigantic. And then you'll come to the show and you will feel it. And it's really nice. It's a really nice opportunity to watch this documentary and feel all those things. I want to say thank you to both of you for coming on the show today. This has been a true delight. Thanks so much again. Thank you. Thank you. Of course, Alex Spears is the drummer for Toronto's most sarcastic Oasis cover band Parklife. Yes, that is an Oasis tribute band named after a blursong because you can't say he doesn't have a sense of humor. Alex is with me right here in our Toronto studio. And also, by the way, if you're in Toronto, you can go watch Parklife. You should go do that. You're playing at the Rivoli, a thing that Navon of the band. It turns out it's not that hard. Don't tell that to Matt Johnson. And more Johnson is a freelance music journalist in Boston. You can. And you really should watch Oasis. Don't look back and anger right now on Disney+. My name is Elimine Abdul-Mahmoud. This show is called commotion. See you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca/podcasts.