Early in the set, after a soaring “Some Might Say,” Liam put to bed the notion that, despite his band’s somewhat contentious relationship with America, that they lacked affection for the U.S. of A: “No, we like coming here,” he swore. What he didn’t like, he clarified, were the people who told him “You gotta play the game, kids” — presumably when it came to stateside media and radio and promo and such — “or else you’ll be chopped liver.” The brothers’ refusal to follow industry rules may have hurt their American prospects back in the late ’90s, but Sunday night’s sold-out crowd certainly validated their approach in the long term, as Liam testified: “I’m standing here in this beautiful stadium to tell you you don’t have to play the game.”

“Gonna need your help in the choruses,” Liam tasked the audience when gearing up for the Be Here Now power ballad “Stand By Me,” while also preemptively chiding anyone in the stands still worried about not looking cool: “No one’s keeping score here.” If they were, though, it would’ve been point: Liam, as the crowd lifted the singer across the song’s refrains like it was one of the band’s signature hits — somewhat ironic, since in the U.S., it was never even officially released as a single, and thus relatively unlikely as a particular stateside crowdpleaser. Nobody knows the way it’s gonna be, indeed.

Liam introduced Definitely Maybe peak “Slide Away” as one “for the lovebirds,” before jokingly assuring the crowd that they were safe from any “Coldplay cameras.” Even if there were, couples in the crowd would have likely still been unable to resist getting a little PDA-ish in response to the heart-melting love song — which has become such a highlight of the band’s Live ’25 show that fans were already singing it (along with the climactic “Take me there!” chants) in the bathrooms ahead of the show.

After kicking off the band’s encore with fan-favorite B-side “The Masterplan,” Noel asked for a show of hands of who had never seen the band before. “You might’ve wondered what it might be like to sing this next song with 60,000 or 70,000 of your fellow Oasis fans,” he teased for those with their hands up. “Well, you’re going to find out what that feeling is like.” Naturally, the band subsequently launched into “Don’t Look Back in Anger” — and there wasn’t a silent throat in the house as Noel let the crowd take both of the song’s first two choruses, ably demonstrating that even first-timers knew what to do when it came to singing along with these lads.

As the band winded down its stupefyingly loaded encore — with a run of “Anger,” “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” that still feels almost unsportsmanlike for a show’s closing run — a dazzling display of fireworks lit up the East Rutherford sky. Launched from MetLife’s top level, these fireworks felt like an appropriately momentous capper to a stellar first New York-area stadium outing — one that proved that Oasis had won regardless of whether they’d ever really played by any rules.