NJ Music Festivals

We thought they’d never be back.

After years apart, as petty as two brothers can get, Liam and Noel Gallagher reunited as Oasis for two nights at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium.

The Manchester lads announced the “Oasis Live ’25” tour last year, sparking more demand than possibly anyone thought possible. Each night of the tour sold out, some in minutes, and the band was quickly on top of the world again, just like they were in the mid ’90s.

On Sunday night, the band hit the stage at MetLife Stadium for their first show in the Garden State in 17 years, walking on stage to “We Love You” by The Rolling Stones.

“Oasis vibes in the area,” frontman Liam Gallagher said, rocking his famous raincoat and sunglasses. “New Jersey vibes in the area.”

The band went right into “Hello,” off their sophomore record “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” — After Noel Gallagher’s gaffe (he started to play “Acquiesce” instead), the band started the perfect tune for their reunion tour.

“Hello, hello, it’s good to be back,” Liam repeated in the refrain.

Not only was it good to be back in the Garden State for locals on the east coast, the diversity of cultures in the crowd was more than you’ll see at any other show. With there being only three cities represented in the United States on this tour, people flew in from across the country. People also flew in from across the globe: Brits could be heard soaking in their favorite band overseas, and people who weren’t getting local shows could be seen getting in on the action.

A few songs in, after ripping through hits, the band asked everyone to turn around during “Cigarettes & Alcohol” to do their famed “poznan” dance. Turn around, put your arms around the people next to you, and jump up and down. To the surprise of some, nearly everyone was doing it. Even up in the 300s section, where the grandstands were shaking.

At this point in the show is where you should realize that every single person is singing every single song, jumping, moshing in the pit, and having a great time, without the overuse of cellphones, without the use of pyro or crazy lasers, without the use of a huge catwalk to go into the crowd – just music and the occasional cool graphic on screen.

Liam is not one to do a lot of banter on stage, but he certainly did more on night one than night two. He dedicated ‘D’You Know What I Mean?” to the Warriors, “Slide Away” to “the lovebirds,” and “Live Forever” to the “kiddies in Minneapolis” following the shooting at a youth mass just days prior.

After concluding the set with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” the band came back for a 20-minute encore: “The Masterplan” into “Don’t Look Back in Anger” into “Wonderwall” into “Champagne Supernova,” followed by fireworks.

With the addition of Cage the Elephant, who played a phenomenal opening set of straight hits the entire time, plus Cast, a Britpop group who performed their first show in the United States in 28 years, it was a perfect night of music.

The long-awaited return proved to live up to the hype, with many yearning for another tour as soon as possible.