A full twenty-five years on from the events it depicts, Jake Scott’s music doc-cum-concert movie couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Arguably, Noel and brother Liam Gallagher are as big as they ever were -albeit separately; the England football team as at its best since Euro ‘96, and the filmgoing public love nothing more than a nostalgia trip. Oasis Knebworth 1996 does exactly what it says on the tin – an absolute must for fans of the band and a time machine back to an era when life was a little more simplistic – when there was no social media and when rock and roll was very much king.
Here, Scott has managed to inject a brilliant mix of concert footage from two of the most iconic dates in modern rock history with wonderful and detailed fan accounts of the build up to the massive event itself. In fact, the film takes around 30 minutes of its two hour-ish running time building up to the event, many attendees detailing the lead up in heart-warming, totally immersive fashion, transporting the viewer back two and half decades to a time when £22.50 could buy you a ticket to see not only Oasis, but also The Charlatans, Kula Shaker, Manic Street Preachers, The Bootleg Beatles, The Chemical Brothers, Ocean Colour Scene and The Prodigy.
Clearly playing to fans of the group and those pining for a reforming of arguably the greatest band of a generation, Oasis Knebworth 1996 is also a groundbreaking feat of technical achievement, too, blending archive video with fan-shot amateur footage as well, all graded seamlessly to seem as one.
Scott also chooses to re-enact those fan accounts, again with archive news material and newly shot pieces, all used to transport us back to that eventful, unforgettable summer when Champagne Supernovas ruled fuelled by Cigarettes and Alcohol.
This is an outstanding piece of work and one of the best music documentaries/ concert movies of recent times. An amazing, totally immersive piece of ‘90s nostalgia that will secure the fact that any kind of reunion or not, Oasis will absolutely Live Forever.
Oasis Knebworth 1996 is in cinemas worldwide from this Thursday 23rd September via Trafalgar Releasing.
Oasis Knebworth 1996
Summary
A must for Oasis nuts, this fantastically put together documentary is one of the best of the year.
