|
|
Post by webm@ster on Sept 21, 2005 8:18:18 GMT -5
With a wellspring of talent, Oasis proves it hasn't dried up
By Steve Knopper, Special to the News
September 21, 2005
Astoundingly, to anyone familiar with Oasis' history of public infighting, canceled tours and ugly breakups, the British quintet arrived on stage two minutes ahead of schedule. This turned out to be the best kind of foreshadowing.
An animated Liam Gallagher was in fine, gravelly voice, guitarist Noel Gallagher held down the songs so his brother couldn't spin out of control, and a new three-man rhythm section provided power and precision.
Liam wrecked only one song, the band's smash 1994 ballad Live Forever, on which he sang almost defiantly out of key, but unexpected delights such as the new Lyla and Mucky Fingers more than made up for it.
Both songs are from Don't Believe the Truth, Oasis' comeback album from earlier this year; the latter is a blatant Velvet Underground rip-off, with all the fast-and-loud rock 'n' roll stomping that implies, and the former is a ballad with a superb chorus that sticks in your head hours after you hear it.
Oasis almost didn't make it to this point. In the mid-'90s, the one-eyebrow Gallagher brothers, inspired by the Beatles, Kinks and Who songs of their youth, churned out Britpop hits with pretty choruses and the overamplified electric guitars of the grunge era. Their savage feuding made international gossip columns and they called off a 1996 U.S. tour. Eventually, they split up, had kids, put out a stinky album and came back with Don't Believe the Truth, a well-written but muted CD that sounds much better live.
At Red Rocks, they opened with two new songs - Turn Up the Sun and Lyla - that established the formula Oasis would use the next hour and a half. Liam Gallagher occupied center stage in a long, dark-green overcoat in the style of '60s British "mods." Noel Gallagher, in a light-red polo shirt, cranked up the volume so that even his ballads and lightweight pop songs sounded like strident anthems.
And new drummer Zak Starkey, son of the Beatles' Ringo Starr and veteran of several recent Who tours, provided the thudding bottom and controlled chaos whenever the songs became a little too predictable.
Although they seemed to lose interest just before the encore, Oasis put on a string of seven or eight truly great rock 'n' roll performances - Bring It On Down; (What's the Story) Morning Glory; Cigarettes and Alcohol; The Importance of Being Idle; and A Bell Will Ring.
They cribbed unashamedly from British rock greats, borrowing the rhythm of Cigarettes from T. Rex's Get It On (Bang a Gong) and the cadence of Lyla from the Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man.
But the band has a knack for transcending plagiarism. They closed with a version of My Generation that was more explosive than anything The Who has done in years.
|
|
|
|
Post by djlen74 on Sept 21, 2005 9:00:01 GMT -5
Sounds good
|
|
|
|
Post by castlecraver on Sept 21, 2005 9:12:41 GMT -5
I hope some video boots surface of this one... Red Rocks is gorgeous and acoustically superb
|
|
|
|
Post by Guess God Thinks I'm Cain on Sept 21, 2005 9:16:39 GMT -5
Well said. I was at the gig, which also coincidentally happened to be Liam's Birthday and Noel asked us all to," embarass him by singing Happy Birthday to him," which in turn we did ;D. Liam was really animated at the gig, even going in to the first row early in the show to give a hug to a fan.  Noel was animated as well, going on and on about this place in Colorado called, Tiny Town and how he'd love to live in a place called Tiny Town and be king of the midgets. He then dedicated "Mucky Fingers" to anyone from Tiny Town  . He also kept calling us, cowboys. "Come on you cowboys, you know the words," while Liam mumbbled something about this being the place where Wild Bill is from. Liam was wearing the same trench coat from the Phoenix gig, while Noel wore a pink shirt similar to the one he wore for one of the Canadian gigs a few months ago if anyone remembers. Noel also dedicated "Idle" to himself saying it was the last great song he wrote. Liam's voice, in general, was in top condition and in classic Liam form he dedicated "Rock n' Roll Star" to "that fookin' rock & that fookin' rock" reffering to the two boulders that suround the amphitheatre at Red Rocks.  |
|
|
|
Post by USOasis86 on Sept 21, 2005 10:34:06 GMT -5
great to hear positive review, any idea as if they'll come back to the hub  |
|
|
|
Post by mancityblues on Sept 21, 2005 11:17:09 GMT -5
How was the crowd? Sold out?
|
|
|
|
Post by jilliam on Sept 21, 2005 12:32:52 GMT -5
sound like Noels not ill anymore. did the crowd sing the whole Happy Bday tune to liam? How many tambs got tossed out? sell out? half full?
Sounds great that Liams voice is doing great they got 8 or so more gigs to go.
|
|
|
|
Post by drummert5 on Sept 21, 2005 14:37:51 GMT -5
Liam's voice, in general, was in top condition and in classic Liam form he dedicated "Rock n' Roll Star" to "that fookin' rock & that fookin' rock" reffering to the two boulders that suround the amphitheatre at Red Rocks. Not quite, that was Acquiesce that was dedicated to "that rock and that rock", which was pretty funny ("cos we need each other", etc.). The reviewer had it right though - Liam's voice was amazing except for Live Forever which he murdered. A couple of great moments for me... all the crew running back and forth behind the band's equipment, perhaps not realizing that as sneaky as they were trying to be, their shadows were being projected on the rock behind the band. Also - I noticed the mics that pick up crowd noise were on stage...are they always? There were at least 3 cameras filming the gig, and even after Noel dedicated Mucky Fingers to everyone from Tiny Town, he said "that's going to sound funny on the tape." Could we be looking at a Red Rocks DVD? That would be great! |
|
|
|
Post by drummert5 on Sept 21, 2005 14:40:54 GMT -5
sound like Noels not ill anymore. did the crowd sing the whole Happy Bday tune to liam? How many tambs got tossed out? sell out? half full? Sounds great that Liams voice is doing great they got 8 or so more gigs to go. No one was singing Happy Bday where I was standing, but you could hear it happening in other parts of the crowd (about 3 different timings going on at once, of course). 3 tambourines, all to girls, and a load of girls got on stage at the end to hug Liam...a guy attempted to get in on the fun but was tackled by security. I couldn't see an empty seat anywhere after the boys came on, although for Kasabian's set it wasn't even half full. |
|
|
|
Post by giggergrl on Sept 21, 2005 15:55:53 GMT -5
Well said. I was at the gig, which also coincidentally happened to be Liam's Birthday and Noel asked us all to," embarass him by singing Happy Birthday to him," which in turn we did ;D. Liam was really animated at the gig, even going in to the first row early in the show to give a hug to a fan. Noel was animated as well, going on and on about this place in Colorado called, Tiny Town and how he'd love to live in a place called Tiny Town and be king of the midgets. He then dedicated "Mucky Fingers" to anyone from Tiny Town . He also kept calling us, cowboys. "Come on you cowboys, you know the words," while Liam mumbbled something about this being the place where Wild Bill is from. Liam was wearing the same trench coat from the Phoenix gig, while Noel wore a pink shirt similar to the one he wore for one of the Canadian gigs a few months ago if anyone remembers. Noel also dedicated "Idle" to himself saying it was the last great song he wrote. Liam's voice, in general, was in top condition and in classic Liam form he dedicated "Rock n' Roll Star" to "that fookin' rock & that fookin' rock" reffering to the two boulders that suround the amphitheatre at Red Rocks. now this is a BETTER REVIEW, the things i really wanted to know ! love to hear when the lads get a bit chatty with usa fans ! cheers ! |
|
|
|
Post by Guess God Thinks I'm Cain on Sept 21, 2005 17:55:50 GMT -5
The place was sold-out completely: 9,450 aprox.  Not bad for the middle of nowhere ;D |
|
|
|
Post by giggergrl on Sept 21, 2005 18:12:04 GMT -5
The place was sold-out completely: 9,450 aprox. Not bad for the middle of nowhere ;D NICE WEATHER  / i love colorado weather, who doesn't ? lol at yer liam quote ! one of the best ! |
|
|
|
Post by drummert5 on Sept 21, 2005 19:52:13 GMT -5
Oh...and another good moment, while I'm thinking about it: just as the band starts TUTS, Liam shouts "Jason - the words, mate!"... so seconds later he ran out with a big stack of lyric sheets...I still don't think I've ever seen him look at them though.
|
|
|
|
Post by StepOut on Sept 21, 2005 21:25:05 GMT -5
Good review. It's nice to see the band getting so much positive feedback on this tour.
|
|
|
|
Post by AlissonBrazil on Sept 21, 2005 21:51:15 GMT -5
pics?  |
|
|
|
Post by drummert5 on Sept 22, 2005 13:42:46 GMT -5
Oh, and one last thing before I forget it. I got there early enough to hear the soundcheck, which was
Mucky Fingers
Idle
Don't Look Back in Anger
...and, much to my surprise, The Masterplan, full band version.
Perhaps this'll show up in a gig?
|
|
|
|
Post by mojofilters on Sept 22, 2005 14:59:02 GMT -5
does anyone have a copy of the show yet?
|
|
|
|
Post by webm@ster on Sept 22, 2005 15:05:27 GMT -5
pics? |
|
|
|
Post by oasisfan40 on Sept 22, 2005 18:23:45 GMT -5
I was also at this concert, and i was one of the first at the gates. I heard many different people throughout the night saying that they were going to make a dvd from the concert. Has anyone heard any truth to that? Also maybe it was me but i thought kasabian really performed well. Any comments?
|
|
|
|
Post by TheSunTheSea on Sept 22, 2005 20:15:00 GMT -5
sound like Noels not ill anymore. did the crowd sing the whole Happy Bday tune to liam? How many tambs got tossed out? sell out? half full? Sounds great that Liams voice is doing great they got 8 or so more gigs to go. No one was singing Happy Bday where I was standing, but you could hear it happening in other parts of the crowd (about 3 different timings going on at once, of course). 3 tambourines, all to girls, and a load of girls got on stage at the end to hug Liam... a guy attempted to get in on the fun but was tackled by security. I couldn't see an empty seat anywhere after the boys came on, although for Kasabian's set it wasn't even half full. LOL Believe it or not, that was me who got tackled (I was the guy with the black hair and goatee in the light colored collared shirt). I don't know what i was thinking when I rushed on stage. I wanted to yell "Get your tits out for the lads" or something like that into the mic, but instead I got tackled by the bouncer. It made everything worth while when Liam shook my hand on stage though. Such a great show! Do any of you have pics of when "My Generation" was played? I'd love to see a pic of myself on stage  |
|
|
|
Post by oasisfan40 on Sept 22, 2005 20:33:51 GMT -5
lol, i stood by you in line dude...that was so awesome to see you rush the stage. Many many props for you buddy
|
|
|
|
Post by razorramon on Sept 22, 2005 21:04:16 GMT -5
nice review
|
|
|
|
Post by stomko on Sept 22, 2005 21:36:58 GMT -5
Seems like there will be a DVD release of much of the tour. Boston was was filmed, now Red Rocks. Phili had some filming being done on stage. It's to bad MSG wasn't taped.
|
|
|
|
Post by Mogly on Sept 22, 2005 21:48:51 GMT -5
it's a shame they didn't tape MSG or HB, those are landmark gig, although technically boston was their biggest US show ever (or was it Phili?)... anyway I would also like to see something from the big stadium shows in England just because the crowd is more into it
|
|
|
|
Post by TheSunTheSea on Sept 22, 2005 23:14:10 GMT -5
lol, i stood by you in line dude...that was so awesome to see you rush the stage. Many many props for you buddy haha thanks man. Nobody on the Soapbox (the main Oasis forum I post on) believes me. Oh well, I have the bruise on my bum to prove it. Who were you in line? There were a lot of cool people I met that day in line. Oasis fans are great. |
|
. He also kept calling us, cowboys. "Come on you cowboys, you know the words," while Liam mumbbled something about this being the place where Wild Bill is from. 
/ i love colorado weather, who doesn't ?
Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5