www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/arts/music/22oasis-extra.html


Madison Square Garden," said Liam Gallagher, lead singer of Oasis, when the band arrived onstage Wednesday night. Except that when he said it, there were eight syllables instead of six: two extra had slipped in, before Garden and after Square. In other words, he was happy to be there, insofar as Mr. Gallagher gets happy.
Oasis emerged 11 years ago with a simple, sturdy formula: the members seemed like nothing more or less than ambitious louts, especially the bandleaders, Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel, a guitarist and songwriter. And yet these seemingly insensitive souls specialized in big, starry-eyed rock 'n' roll ballads, with more than enough swagger to balance out the sentiment. On "Definitely Maybe" and "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?," released back to back in 1994 and 1995, Oasis established itself as Britain's biggest band, and while the group has never quite reclaimed that title, it hasn't gone away, either.

Now, Oasis is enjoying something of a comeback, even on this side of the Atlantic, where the brothers have always seemed less like rowdy heroes and more like quaint imports. The new Oasis album, "Don't Believe the Truth" (Epic/Sony BMG), sold 65,000 copies in the United States its first week. And for Wednesday night's concert, the band filled Madison Square Garden with fans, most of whom didn't even seem to be British.

After a pair of disappointing albums (maybe that Oasis formula is harder than it looks, even for a Gallagher), "Don't Believe the Truth" is a welcome surprise. It contains a fistful - though not, unfortunately, an albumfull - of convincing additions to the band's catalog. To prove it, the band began Wednesday's concert with three new songs, including the album's first single, "Lyla." That song has a familiar-sounding verse (perhaps one day, Noel Gallagher will have to convince a judge that he's honestly never heard "Street Fighting Man," by the Rolling Stones) and a huge, off-kilter chorus, which the crowd helped Liam Gallagher sing.

As even his brother must grudgingly admit, Liam Gallagher has a terrific voice, a frayed sneer that mimics the frequencies of a distorted guitar. By contrast, Noel Gallagher often delivers his lines while ascending into or descending from falsetto. During the songs that Noel Gallagher sang, like the album's rather bland second single, "The Importance of Being Idle," Liam Gallagher made himself scarce, and he didn't return until the coast was clear.

Onstage, the band members stayed stubbornly still, and the pose sometimes grew dull. But despite the popularity of the new album, many fans had clearly paid for the privilege of singing along to the big old hits like "Wonderwall," which began with an introduction from Liam Gallagher. "We're going to do - " he said, and then he was interrupted by some noise from his brother's guitar. "I'll shut up," he mumbled, although a few extra syllables found their way into that phrase, too.

"Wonderwall" puts Liam Gallagher's sneer to excellent use: when he declares, "I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now," you can't tell, at first, whether that means that no one cares more or no one cares less. And you can't tell, either, which would be worse. "Wonderwall" is a perfect cry-in-your-beer ballad, only without all the crying.

Oasis is a band that finds ways to sing love songs without re-enacting them. When Liam Gallagher asks listeners to "love one another," part of the fun is hearing the lyrics tug against the persona. And at Wednesday's concert, part of the fun was watching Liam and Noel Gallagher avoid physical contact and even eye contact. Theirs is, not coincidentally, a very Oasis sort of love: a love unrequited, unexpressed and possibly even unfelt.