In the regretful days that followed England’s World Cup exit last week, a video was played on repeat on social media. Someone had edited red and white into greyscale over a clip of England’s footballers linking arms and swaying, singing along to Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’.
At this tournament it became a tradition. England won a game, then a few more. The pundits finally fell silent. Ian Wright or Gary Neville whispered: ‘Drink it in.’ That famous guitar started up; the camera panned along the players’ line. We all knew the opening words: ‘Today is gonna be the day…’ No more ‘Sweet Caroline’. ‘Three Lions’ was played but the crowd only cursorily joined in. ‘Wonderwall’ became this tournament’s anthem, last week topping the global Spotify chart for the first time since its release 31 years ago. England may not have made it to last night’s final but in some ways that didn’t matter. The real winner of this World Cup wasn’t a nation at all: the tournament has made it the summer of Oasis once again.
Of course, many will be irked by this. We had a lot of Oasis last year, starting with the band’s comeback gig in Cardiff on 4 July. Through five months and 41 performances worldwide, our screens were filled with newsreels of rollicking, bucket-hatted figures. From Manchester to Mexico City, devotees materialised out of thin air: Gen X ravers in original tour shirts together with bourgeois youngsters unborn in the band’s heyday. Both threw themselves and their beer around as the catchy strains of ‘Hello’ started up at each concert.
