There they were, standing right in front of me. Four guys who seemed to be the best of mates, arms around each other for the majority of the night. In another set of circumstances, in another place, at another time -- this might seem like an odd display of affection between four twenty-something young males. But at the Oasis concert on Friday night, it seemed very appropriate.
Oasis are one of the few bands I can think of who can have this sort of effect on people. And even though it was the third time I have seen Oasis live, I couldn't help but feel that this night would be something I would one day be able to tell my grandchildren about. And I imagine that they would be just as envious of me as I am of those who got to see The Beatles in their prime (assuming, that is, that they inherit my taste in music).
Deciding to cleverly skip over the low-points of their catalogue (3rd and 4th albums Be here now and Standing on the shoulder of giants respectively), Oasis played the majority of their excellent new album Don't believe the truth and filled the rest of the set with vintage Oasis.
Set highlights included their classics Don't look back in anger and Champagne supernova, as well as more recent classics like Songbird and The importance of being idle. Watching the fans sing along to almost every word of the early Oasis songs was something that needed to be experienced -- there were no doubts that these are classic songs and that they will continue to be rediscovered, cherished and loved by future generations.
A pleasant surprise for me was hearing Talk tonight, a superb Noel sung B-side from The masterplan. Some notable omissions were Roll with it, Supersonic and Some might say. I'm still hanging out to hear my favourite Oasis song Half the world away at a gig, but I'm not holding my breath.
Unlike other huge bands of our era, Oasis are completely unpretentious. While Radiohead refuse to play their early hit Creep (as they have now "moved on"), Oasis clearly embrace their past and understand the power of a great song. While lack of reinvention can be the downfall of a band (*cough*Coldplay*cough*), Oasis are such amazing songwriters that even overplayed songs like Wonderwall continue to strike an emotional chord more than a decade later.
Their decision to close their set with a fantastic cover of the classic Who anthem My generation was entirely appropriate for a band who has defined the music of their generation. Oasis are truly masters of their domain.
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Great show, one of the best I've seen. A celebratory atmosphere, and the drenching we got post-show made it feel like we'd stepped out into the streets of Manchester. I have never seen or heard a crowd reaction like that which greeted Oasis on Friday night. Almost every song was a singalong, it was often very difficult to hear the music beyond the crowd's singing. Like the screams that greeted the Beatles, so they say. Even my old man enjoyed it, mixing it up with the kids. Hightlight for me? There were many, including seeing Liam give the two-fingered salute to girls sitting on their boyfriends' shoulders (sitting on the shoulders of dickheads, perhaps?). Acquiesce was a welcome addition, love the Liam/Noel Verse/Chorus combo. My only regret was not getting to glass some coont. A fella next to me tried to kiss me during Don't look back in anger (e'd up by the looks of it), but what was I going to do, shove a plastic cup into his face?
ReplyDeleteAnd Jiggs, I could criticise one aspect of your post, but that would involve me defending Coldplay, which is something I don't want to do.