The Brothers Gallagher played their first show in the New York area since 2008 on Sunday (Aug. 31), and were clearly a little overwhelmed by the experience.
Oasis
Simon Emmett/Press
“Nobody has fans like this. Nobody.”
Whether or not it was technically true, Noel Gallagher’s pre-encore observation about the tens of thousands who packed into East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday night (Aug. 31) to see Oasis‘ first gig in the New York area (the entire East Coast, really) since 2008 couldn’t be considered much of an exaggeration. For two months now, Oasis fans new and old have been swarming major cities one at a time at a level rarely seen outside of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé tours, lining the streets with box-logo shirts and bucket hats and impromptu “Don’t Look Back in Anger” singalongs as the Brothers Gallagher ready their next triumphant mini-residency. If other bands have fans on the same level, they certainly aren’t showing out like this in 2025.
And now, Oasis have finally conquered the States, territory that proved at least somewhat resistant to the band upon its first invasion in the mid-’90s. Three decades later, the lads are packing MetLife Stadium with more fans and merch than the woeful Jets and Giants might be able to manage for many weeks in this upcoming NFL season. Given the context, it’s hardly shocking — though also somewhat touching — that even the historically unimpressed Gallaghers couldn’t help but be a little sentimental at the showing, as they were throughout Sunday night’s typically spectacular first of two gigs at the New Jersey venue.
Though surprises were few outside of the occasional mushiness — a well-oiled machine by now, Oasis stuck to the same 23-song setlist it’s played at every show so far on the Live ’25 Tour, albeit with new intro music this time in The Rolling Stones’ psych-era gem “We Love You” — there were plenty of highlights to be had on Sunday. Here were five of the biggest.
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Hate the Game, Not the Players
Early in the set, after a soaring “Some Might Say,” Liam put to bed the notion that, despite his band’s somewhat contentious relationship with America, that they lacked affection for the U.S. of A: “No, we like coming here,” he swore. What he didn’t like, he clarified, were the people who told him “You gotta play the game, kids” — presumably when it came to stateside media and radio and promo and such — “or else you’ll be chopped liver.” The brothers’ refusal to follow industry rules may have hurt their American prospects back in the late ’90s, but Sunday night’s sold-out crowd certainly validated their approach in the long term, as Liam testified: “I’m standing here in this beautiful stadium to tell you you don’t have to play the game.”
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Sing by Me
“Gonna need your help in the choruses,” Liam tasked the audience when gearing up for the Be Here Now power ballad “Stand By Me,” while also pre-emptively chiding anyone in the stands still worried about not looking cool: “No one’s keeping score here.” If they were, though, it would’ve been point: Liam, as the crowd lifted the singer across the song’s refrains like it was one of the band’s signature hits — somewhat ironic, since in the U.S., it was never even officially released as a single, and thus relatively unlikely as a particular stateside crowdpleaser. Nobody knows the way it’s gonna be, indeed.
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A Song for the Lovers
Liam introduced Definitely Maybe peak “Slide Away” as one “for the lovebirds,” before jokingly assuring the crowd that they were safe from any “Coldplay cameras.” Even if there were, couples in the crowd would have likely still been unable to resist getting a little PDA-ish in response to the heart-melting love song — which has become such a highlight of the band’s Live ’25 show that fans were already singing it (along with the climactic “Take me there!” chants) in the bathrooms ahead of the show.
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“Don’t Look Back in Anger,” I Heard 60-70,000 of You Say
After kicking off the band’s encore with fan-favorite B-side “The Masterplan,” Noel asked for a show of hands of who had never seen the band before. “You might’ve wondered what it might be like to sing this next song with 60, 70,000 of your fellow Oasis fans,” he teased for those with their hands up. “Well, you’re going to find out what that feeling is like.” Naturally, the band subsequently launched into “Don’t Look Back in Anger” — and there wasn’t a silent throat in the house as Noel let the crowd take both of the song’s first two choruses, ably demonstrating that even the first-timers knew the drill when it came to the lads’ preeminent singalong.
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A Fireworks Supernova in the Sky
As the band winded down its stupefyingly loaded encore — with a run of “Anger,” “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” that still feels almost unsportsmanlike for a show’s closing run — a dazzling display of fireworks lit up the East Rutherford sky. Launched from MetLife’s top level, the fireworks felt like an appropriately momentous capper to a stellar first New York-area stadium outing — one that proved that Oasis had won the game, whether or not they’d ever really played it.