Battle of the Brits:
Coldplay vs. Oasis Dallas concert showdown
Stephanie Garcia


September 27, 2005

Two of England’s most famous bands paid a visit to the Smirnoff Music Centre last week.
Oasis shook up fans on Sept. 22 and, the next night, Coldplay graced the stage, playing for a sold-out crowd. Two big nights for Smirnoff and fans that can’t get enough of what the United Kingdom has to offer. So, the rock ‘n’ roll gruff of Oasis versus the crooning piano ballads of Coldplay … who was more deserving of the $50 ticket?

In terms of production, Coldplay went all out, with giant screens displaying things such as band members to a bear crawling on all four legs.

All colors of the rainbow were shined into the eyes of the crowd while singer Chris Martin either ran up and down the stage like a child refusing cough syrup.

Oasis took a different approach, nothing too flashy, for they want all the attention on them, or at least singer Liam Gallagher wants all the attention on him.

Strings of Christmas lights were hanging around blocks while bars of red and blue signaled on and off.

While Coldplay’s multi-colored atmosphere was interesting to look at, it distracted from the music. For at least half the show, the screen artwork was more interesting than the band itself.

The most important thing about a gig is the music, of course, and both Coldplay and Oasis delivered the energy to please the groups’ fans. There is no doubt that either knows how to put on a good show, but Oasis has the advantage. Not only has Oasis been around longer, but it is genuinely the better band.

Oasis began the set with “Turn up the Sun” off the group’s latest album, Don’t believe the Truth, which immediately made the crowds’ hands shoot up and I’m not quite sure the hands ever came back down. Liam sang in his Manchester drawl, sunglasses, blazer and Levis in the most arrogant “screw off” hands-in-pockets sort of way, while guitarist and singer Noel Gallagher, in a grey t-shirt and jeans, modestly proved he has much more talent than his brother.

Noel glided through the guitar solo on “Live Forever” and just when you think Liam is staring in aw at his brother, you realize he’s looking directly into a video camera recording the show. Liam leaves the stage a few times, because he cannot handle just standing about the stage while Noel takes over lead vocals on crowd hits such as “The Importance of Being Idle” and “Mucky Fingers.”


Of course, Oasis played the classics. According to Liam, “Morning Glory” is for the cowboys, while “Cigarettes and Alcohol” is obviously for the alcoholics. I don’t really need to tell you that “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” were done in prefect tune and grace, but I will anyway. They are two of the best–known songs to come out of the ‘90s, and they are still relevant today and Liam knows it. I’ve never seen a more arrogant man in my life, Liam standing center stage biting his tambourine like a prize dog and his bone just waiting to be adored, like the god he thinks he is. He doesn’t have to wait long at all.

Noel overtakes the throne on the second to last song of the night, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Noel stepped back for the first chorus leaving it up to the audience to fill in. That song was perfect in just about every way, I’m sure there were some tears flowing by the time Oasis tore into the last song of the evening, a cover of The Who’s “My Generation.”

So, maybe Coldplay doesn’t have the same reputation of classics as

Oasis, but the audience wouldn’t believe that for one minute. Coldplay walked through the maze of flashing lights and began with “Square One” off the act’s new album, X&Y. The mom and daughter next to me start screaming and jumping up and down shouting “Chris! Chris!” as do many of the fans around, then everyone starts swaying and screaming. The next song, “Politik,” proves to be an early crowd favorite and sends everyone into even more hysterics with the pounding piano and the line “open up your eyes.” Drummer Will Champion is at his best in this song and the crowd spazes out when his giant converse shoe is shown on the screen.

I was surprised to see the band’s debut hit, “Yellow,” played so early in the set. Usually, that’s the type of song a band likes to end with, but Coldplay has apparently moved on. It did, however sound wonderful and yellow balloons filled with confetti came down on the center section of seats. The first single off X&Y, “Speed of Sound” proved to be a bit of a crowd downer, people began to sit down and have private conversations or play with their cell phones, also, I believe this is the song in which a man a few seats next to me vomited.

Coldplay has a lot of slow-paced piano ballad type of songs, which don’t always work too well live, since they have so many of them, it makes for a sleepy audience and people start to lose interest, and this is what I figured the song “Trouble” would do, but it proved me wrong and was actually one of the highlights of the show.

Martin even told a childhood story about his love for Phil Collins while his dad was trying to educate him on Johnny Cash, he then went on to sing a cover of Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” which got a lot of love from the crowd. But as amusing as that cover was, “Clocks” was the crowd favorite. It’s surely one of the most energetic songs Coldplay has to offer. Martin’s vocals stayed pretty consistent through out the whole show, even on the high notes.

The band closed with the epic sounding motions of “Fix You” and cell phones glowed in the mist of the thousands of fans for one last time. All four members dressed in black gathered at the front of the stage to bow, blow kisses, and wave goodbye, while I couldn’t help but think—why didn’t they play “Shiver”?

The Bottom line: Coldplay is a bit too dramatic and Oasis just wanted to play some rock ‘n’ roll. Oasis is well worth the $50. No light show required

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