While the gigs’ history-making reputation is overstated, the unchecked euphoria of fans and Gallagher brothers alike is captured perfectly by this 90s nostalgia fest
Pre-internet, end-of-history nostalgia reaches a psychedelic peak in this enjoyable documentary about Oasis’s pair of 1996 gigs at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.
As the band and reminiscing punters assert here rather too often and too strenuously, with 125,000 people on each night, these were the biggest ever outdoor concerts in the
UK (except 1970’s Isle of Wight festival was considerably bigger) and they could never happen again (except when Robbie Williams outdid Oasis with three nights at Knebworth in 2003). If the event’s uniqueness is slightly overstated, its significance is even more so: the tenor of the collected voiceovers suggests that this was the peak of
British culture and all live
music went downhill afterwards. It’s a lie every generation tells itself.