‘I’ve waited 25 years for this moment’: Oasis, the reunion – and what made them great

There were, of course, the dramas and the brawls and the fights on ferries and the whacking each other about with cricket bats that in the end got in the way of carrying on towards the end. But in a way, this is also the rare magic at the core of Oasis: the friction, the tension, the love and hate and love and hate again. It is Liam’s voice, raw and guttural and swaggering. It is Noel’s melodies and lyrics – sometimes solitary and pained, other times soaring and sweeping and so full of energy and hope and clarity that complete strangers in pubs still hug each other and sing along to every word of Don’t Look Back in Anger. It is – I hope – Bonehead, back from a brush with cancer, returning to rhythm guitar and reminding these brothers that it all started somewhere beautiful before it came off the rails.