Oasis gives a lesson in cool
By J.D. CONSIDINE

The Globe and Mail

Monday, June 20, 2005

Oasis

Molson Amphitheatre

In Toronto on Friday

Has there ever been a cooler job than being a rock star? Not only are you paid piles of money for just a few hours of work, you get applause for showing up, unquestioning adoration from your fans, and the pleasure of turning playtime into a career. Sure, CEOs have more clout, but there's a reason you won't find teenagers standing in front of a mirror, holding a hairbrush and miming a shareholders' meeting.

Likewise, has there ever been a band cooler to rock stardom than Oasis? Even though the Manchester combo has been steeped in success since it exploded onto the scene in 1994 with Definitely Maybe -- and not for nothing does that album start with a song called Rock 'n' Roll Star -- Oasis has never gone in for the chipper, "Hello, Cleveland!" bonhomie of most rock royalty, preferring instead to mask their excitement with sunglasses and scowls.

Indeed, the four could have been mistaken for mannequins during their performance at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on Friday. Noel Gallagher, fellow guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell stood stock-still for much of the show, barely moving anything but their fingers, and once singer Liam Gallagher assumed his position -- right shoulder dropped, knees bent, fists up, like a man awaiting a punch -- he stayed put until the end of the chorus (if not the song).

The two unofficial members, drummer (and Ringo spawn) Zak Starkey and keyboardist Jay Darlington, were a bit more animated, but whether that was a sign of enthusiasm or merely a function of playing their instruments was hard to say.

Still, it would have been wrong to mistake this lack of movement for a lack of commitment to the job at hand, as the playing was crisp, professional, at times even impassioned. In just under 90 minutes (an embarrassingly short set for a band with eight albums under their belt), they managed to play all the big hits as well as seven songs from their new album, Don't Believe the Truth. Even if neither Gallagher cracked a smile, there was no doubt a good time was had by the enthusiastic capacity crowd.

How Oasis pulls this off is hard to say. Clearly, a lot of it has to do with the material. Having come of age during the era of classic rock, the band members present themselves as neoclassic rockers, deftly evoking the glories of the past while somehow keeping their sound firmly rooted in the present.

Some of that has to do with Noel Gallagher's gift for musical mimicry -- the way the current hit Lyla manages to echo Street Fighting Man without sounding like outright theft -- but mostly it stems from the band's sense of rock mythology. Oasis understands the fans' need to believe, and the show's best moments took pains to conjure the Spirit of Rock, as when the lilting, sing-along Don't Look Back in Anger recalled the excitement of Saturdays spent watching Mott the Hoople on the telly --even if that was a memory few in the crowd would actually have.

Openers Jet, a garage band-obsessed Australian quartet, are equally neoclassicist, but for them the past is a source of adrenaline as much as inspiration. Unlike Oasis, they gleefully bashed their way through their set, cranking both the volume and the tempo for such tunes as Last Chance and Are You Gonna Be My Girl.

Where Liam Gallagher's onstage gait betrayed nary a hint of rhythm, Jet singer/guitarist Nic Cester couldn't stop moving to the music. Yet all that manic enthusiasm did little to make the songs sharper. By contrast, the stately immobility of Oasis did little to dent the power or appeal of Champagne Supernova and Wonderwall. Cool, it seems, really is the essential rock-star quality.