First of all, there are things to be said about the two opening bands for Oasis. The opener Kasabian, from a biased point of view, is a far superior band to the second performers, Jet. Jet, although good looking, and semitalented are an Australian band that wishes they were British, and their catchy Top 40 hits lack the musical substance that Kasabian should be revered for.

Kasabian has a hypnotic, catchy dark rock sound that is clearly British, and their debut self-titled album is definitely worth buying. The interesting name of their band "Kasabian" happens to be last name of the girl get-away driver in the Manson murders. The odds that this sinister little fact could be a coincidence is to be determined, although, "Helter Skelter," by the Beatles was played in the theater directly after the show. Hmmmm. The lead singer of Kasabian is another delightful specimen of the nerdy "British rocker" phenomenon. For those who have not heard of this phenomenon, an in-depth description will now take place.

British boy rockers often are skinny, nerdy, scruffy little men who wear clothes that are too tight and too often become visibly stained with sweat. When they convulse around on stage in a slightly rhythmic and very bendy fashion, their little shirts ride up to expose their inevitable "happy trail" that perfectly matches their short but ungroomed facial hair. This pasty white wonder boys never cease to amaze by creating incredibly ingenious music and somehow, always managing to be sexy. This is nothing short of a phenomenon.

More importantly, Oasis, the self-proclaimed "best band in the world," played at Dodge Theatre for the fine residents of Arizona. Liam Gallagher, the bratty and arrogant lead singer, wore a green trench coat and sang his heart out, sans tantrum. Noel Gallagher, the main guitarist and more talented brother of Liam, was as adorable as to be expected, and together with their band these boys gave their audience an amazing show to be remembered.

Oasis did not neglect their fans, by playing the essential Oasis fan favorites with a positive energy and having fun doing it. Liam gave a member of the audience a much coveted tambourine, and toward the end of the show ran through the crowd. The audience rocked out to classic Oasis tracks like "Morning Glory" and "Cigarettes and Alcohol," which, according to the band, was sang, "for the junkies." During "Live Forever," Liam did his quirky and notorious stunt of putting his tambourine on his head in a halolike fashion. Dodge Theatre provided a lovely array of lighting to enhance the show. At some points during the concert it felt like being a part of the music video to "Champagne Supernova," which they played with such zest that "Champagne Supernova" was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the entire performance.

Anyone who has ever heard of Oasis has heard "Wonderwall," and they announced it was, "for the ladies" before they played it, slow and sweet, taking their time with the chords and bringing tears to the eyes of their fans. This version of the song was beautiful but not as good as their faster version, which can be sung with more infliction, and pain is awesome. The drunken assclown who would not stay in his seat because he was dancing all over like an idiot and yelling the lyrics along to the songs while he wreaked of body odor must have been very pleased when they performed "Acquiesce" halfway through the show because he was screaming the song title repeatedly between every song until they played it.

Aside from the assclown stench, Oasis had the perfect ending to their superb performance. They played a four-song encore, concluding with the broken-hearted love ballad "Don't Look Back in Anger" and a vintage rock cover of The Who's, "My Generation." Oasis played an amazing rock show filled with lights, dancing, tambourine shaking and crowd-pleasers, and although they failed to play a single track from their Heathen Chemistry album, any true fan would not look back in anger.

By Miriam Weisberg
Arizona Daily Wildcat