As It Was: Oasis Frontman Triumphs in Survival and Redemption via Song

Liam Gallagher Comeback-Rockumentary Light on Noel and Oasis, but Heavy on Personal Career and Music…

Oasis was the biggest rock band to come out of Britain in the 1990s. Formed in Manchester during the year 1991, brothers Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher stood at the band’s center, writing songs that they would eventually perform around the world. Hits such as Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back In Anger and Champagne Supernova still play on the radio (and in our heads) to this day.

Sadly, in 2009, the brotherly dynamic duo broke up, and they did not do so quietly. Ever since then, the Gallaghers’ relationship has been soured and fans have been praying for the two to set aside their differences and reunite on stage. 

Ten years after the band’s separation, the odds of Liam and Noel getting back together do not seem any more promising than they ever were. As far as fans know, the brothers’ relationship is muddier than ever, and their time in Oasis has become somewhat of a wistful legend in the world of rock n’ roll, a short-lived story of two haughty English brothers who were worldwide sensations and then, at their height, unexpectedly fell out of each other’s graces. 

While 2019 cannot promise Oasis’ return in any way, shape, or form, it is offering a unique chance to look back at the band and learn about one of its members recent attempt at returning to the world of music. Coming out this week, directors Gavin Fitzgerald and Charlie Lightening will be releasing “Liam Gallagher: As It Was“, a documentary bio-pic that follows Liam Gallagher, his present life and work, and perhaps most interestingly, his time in Oasis the dynamic bond he had with his brother. 

As It Was will be Fitzgerald and Lightening’s first collaboration together. Both are up-and-coming directors, with filmographies that only go back to 2010, but both have excelled in music-themed documentaries. In 2013, Lightening directed 12-12-12 about the Hurricane Sandy relief concert, and in 2017 Fitzgerald did the short The Truth About Irish Hip Hop.

Nevertheless, this upcoming Liam Gallagher pic —set to be released today— will probably be both directors’ most ambitious project yet. There have been many rockumentaries and concert videos centered around Oasis since the turn of the millennium, but few have approached the topic on such a personal level since the breakup. As It Was, however, is not meant to be an Oasis picture per-se, but a specific, in-depth look at Liam Gallagher’s past and present.  

In many ways, this Liam-centric focus provides a number of challenges for As It Was. Foremost, the film cannot rely as much on a backlog of historic stories from Oasis’ rise and fall, for it instead focuses on Liam’s unsteady career since the breakup and his slow (but ultimately successful) return to music with an upcoming solo album. 

Similarly, because Liam and Noel’s relationship is still rocky, the latter brother did not want to be involved in the film, so the directors had to tell the story without his cooperation. They were restricted in how much old Noel footage they could use and were even deprived the right to include Oasis songs in their soundtrack without getting into a legal battle. 

In a movie about triumph and bouncing back, it is perhaps only logical that the filmmakers would have to overcome a few obstacles behind the camera as well. Liam Gallagher spent lots of time in the shadows after his fall from stardom, but as the film will chronicle, he rose from his ashes, regained a following, and created the album Why Me? Why Not, which will be released on the September 20th.

When it comes to As It Was, let’s hope that Fitzgerald and Lightening have done as good a job as Gallagher has in hurdling the roadblocks towards creating their art, and that audiences will appreciate the inspiring story they aim to tell. 

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