Parents' Guide to Oasis Knebworth 1996

Amid the slew of fans explaining that they had the time of their lives at the concert, eventually a, "I guess you had to be there" feeling starts to set in with this music documentary. If Oasis Knebworth 1996 were a straight concert film, the performance would convey the magic. But here a song starts, sounds great, and then is faded down to let another random fan say how good it was. The idea of "show, don't tell" clearly didn't cross director Jake Scott's mind. The first 30 minutes of the film is a solid scene setter with archive footage showing the cocky young band playing a tiny London venue. Fast forward two years and there's a national frenzy with 250,000 tickets available for a weekend of Oasis-mania. The buzz is on, let's go!

Then the first footage of the show begins and it's … OK. Some of the songs sound flat and tuneless, although others hit all the right notes. Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher are in perfect harmony, the crowd are jumping. But then the film continuously fades out for yet another voiceover. The documentary does get across what a big deal these concerts were, shows a pre-smartphone time that will never be repeated, and a couple of emotional fan stories do resonate. But so many don't. All of which eats into time that could be spent watching the headliner instead of the borderline tedious support act.