Oasis Knebworth 1996 (15)

In August 1996 at the height of Cool Britannia, the historic deer park of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire hosted 250,000 Oasis fans for two consecutive record-breaking shows supported by Prodigy, Manic Street Preachers, Ocean Colour Scene, Charlatans, Cast, Chemical Brothers, Kula Shaker and Bootleg Beatles. This documentary incorporates extensive concert footage with previously unseen material to relive that summer weekend through the eyes of fans in attendance.

LondonNet Film Review
Oasis Knebworth 1996 (15)

In August 1996, girl power was in full force with the Spice Girls zigazig ah-ing at the top of the UK charts, surfing a wave of Cool Britannia alongside Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede and contemporary artists Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. Damon Albarn and the boys had drawn first blood in the tabloid-fuelled Battle of Britpop when their single Country House outsold Roll With It. However, Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel counter-punched by shifting over four million copies of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and triumphing at the Brit Awards…

To underline their popularity, Oasis announced two shows in the grounds of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire supported by The Prodigy, Manic Street Preachers, Ocean Colour Scene, The Chemical Brothers and The Charlatans. More than 2% of the UK population applied for tickets on May 11 1996 and all 250,000 sold out in less than a day, breaking UK box office records in a pre-internet golden age when eager fans had to queue outside record shops and ticket offices or dial a telephone booking number (invariably hitting redial for hours on end in response to the dreaded engaged tone).

Director Jake Scott’s nostalgic documentary relives the weekend of August 10 and 11 1996 through the eyes of fans, incorporating extensive concert footage captured over two nights by Dick Carruthers with previously unseen material and dramatic reconstructions of fans’ journeys. Their first-hand testimony can be hit and miss but the recollections of Madeleine Hamilton are poignant. Then 14 years old, she secured two tickets on a parent’s credit card and only attended because her brother – not an Oasis fan – agreed to chaperone. In the film, Hamilton describes the concert as one perfect moment with her beautiful older sibling before his cancer diagnosis.

Director Scott and editor Struan Clay largely resist the urge to meld concert performances across the two nights, opening Sunday’s performance with Noel’s off-quoted remark to the crowd: “This is history. Right here, right now.” Blissfully, there’s not a single mobile phone in the undulating crowd. Everyone is defiantly in the moment.

Don’t Look Back In Anger oscillates between Noel singing and Liam on the side of the stage, rudely gesticulating into a roving camera, while Stone Roses guitarist John Squire energises Champagne Supernova. The political backdrop to the gigs is largely forgotten from the moment “five lads from two different council estates in Manchester”, as Noel describes the band, launch into Columbia and Acquiesce.

Backstage footage of Liam canoodling with fiancee Patsy Kensit is a fleeting distraction from an impressive wall of sound that includes many of the hits, including a suitably rousing finale of Wonderwall. Today is gonna be the day that Scott’s film is gonna bring it all back to you.

– Kim Hu