Oasis: Knebworth 1996
Taking Britpop by storm and force, Oasis peaked in the 1990s not because they tried to, but because that was when their Strongbow Dark Fruits, Stone Island-clad, bucket-hat bully fanbase was at its peak. Just Roll With It, their rock song once suggested. Oasis: Knebworth 1996 will be a legendary concert for fans of Liam and Noel Gallagher. The Holy Grail of concert features for those that wish to relive the experience of this high. It’s no Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets or Suede: The Insatiable Ones, but it was inevitable that all members of the Britpop Four receive a concert film. It took a little longer for this feature, and it is hard to see why.
The “rock concert of the decade” is profiled about as well as expected. The mystifying fantasy around it is never going to be captured because the event itself is not as big as the legendary status that now surrounds it. Hype conjured by those that were not alive for the concert, interviews with those that likely weren’t there and are just hoping to ride the coattails of a band that died a decade ago. Oasis fans muttering about how they found themselves at the concert, back in the good old days of Euro ‘96 and Cool Brittania. Trainspotting was just around the corner, as was the crash for the big bands that capitalised on the New Labour movement. Oasis were just one of them.
Every interviewee hopes to cram the term “back in the day” into their soundbite, probably because Oasis: Knebworth 1996 is a documentary solely committed to the camaraderie of simple music. Telling the whole story of Oasis is inevitable, but surprisingly dull. They were a sudden explosion, rather than toiling away in the underbelly of indie for so long like their contemporaries. Most of the interviews are just bluster and awe from starstruck fans. Oasis: Knebworth 1996 fails to provide the crucial balance of the best documentaries. Re-enactments of people receiving tickets, ringing up to book tickets and travelling to the concert eat up much of the time here. They are as shoddy as the usual re-enactments. Those hoping for an out and out concert feature will be sorely disappointed, but will at least have some revitalised footage to feast their eyes on.
But that footage is dull. The nasal crooning of Liam Gallagher, adorned in a horrid white jumper and dated sunglasses is not enough to win over the passive audience members. A performance of Don’t Look Back in Anger marks a nice inclusion, but to get to these moments of live footage, insufferable commentary and mocked-up experiences are waded through. Good luck to the viewers that do. Their reward is a snippet of remastered clips that are likely available on YouTube. Oasis: Knebworth 1996 will appeal to the uber-Oasis fan, and there are so many of them out there that there’ll be no trouble for the unmoving collection of segments, clips, and re-imaginings that director Jake Scott offers here.