Enjoy.

Noise & Confusion ‘05

It was finally here ladies and gentlemen. The gig (at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff) that had the hallmarks of one of the greatest ever. Such established bands like The Coral, Razorlight and Foo Fighters were performing, and of course, Oasis were headlining. There were upcoming bands such as Yeti, Nic Armstrong and The Thieves and The Subways performing as well.
After spending the night in the dwelling of Master Spud Ball I awoke at 6:30am, an ungodly hour to say the least! After a quick sausage sandwich we departed Chéz Ball at about 7:10am. We made it up to Cardiff in very good time, making it to a nearby McDonalds at about 10am, or thereabouts. If you were to step outside of said McDonalds then you could see part of the Millennium Stadium. After polishing off a muffin and a Fanta, Charlotte Ball, Rebecca Ball, Spud Ball and I climbed back into the Spud-Wagon and were dropped off nearish to the Stadium.
We unwittingly walked past Gate 1 (where we were supposed to enter) and made our way to Gate 7 for some unknown reason, after discovering our ridiculous error we had a nice leisurely walk to Gate 1, en route Spud picked up a Razorlight t-shirt and I got me a brand spanking new Oasis t-shirt. Both for the price of £15 each.
We arrived at Gate 1 at just past 11am. After queuing for just under an hour, the gates opened, the people flooded in. The 4 of this proceeded to leg it down to the front and go into the semi circle which was right at the front, Spud was saying it was the golden circle, too excited to care I agreed (in hindsight he was probably right). Most near us were sitting on the concreted floor (as I rightly predicted to the other 3 when debating over what the terrain would be) so we joined them, Spud and I had a game of slaps, I murdered him at it. At about 13:45 I had my last thing to eat until 11pm; a fruit pastille.
No more than 5 minutes later, the first band of the day/night appeared, it was Yeti, a relatively new band unknown to most, I had heard 5 songs of theirs and was generally very impressed, this was their chance to make a name for themselves by starting the gig off with an astounding performance. Unfortunately, they didn’t put in a good performance. The instruments were good, it was just John Hassal’s (I think that’s how you spell his name) voice was far too quiet. Even ‘Never Lose Your Sense Of Wonder’ was a bit flat. The crowd were still at the bar generally so they were actually performing to about 10000 people if that. 5/10.
There was about a 20 minute wait again where more people sat down and the like. Then Nic Armstrong and The Thieves appeared on stage, even I, the musical nerd had not heard of this lot and to my surprise, they were pretty darn good! During one of their songs they had something like a chorus that went “OOOOOOOOOOOOH AAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OOOOOOOOOOOH” this had the drunkards going and they were just babbling that incoherently for the best part of the night, much to the sober population’s amusement. They were very good performers but the crowd were still unresponsive. 6/10.
A bit of an extended wait for The Subways but not by much, I was beyond caring about how hungry I was or what the time was. This was rock and roll, and when the threesome of The Subways came on, they proved that this was Noise and Confusion in 2005. They were astounding; the charisma of the front man (whose name slips my mind) was brilliant. Rock & Roll Queen was easily the best song of the night but all the songs were brilliant, Mary was also another tune. The night was summed up when the front man climbed up on top of the huge amps and goaded the crowd into going mental and making noise. They obliged, it was the first sign of this being a mental, mental night. 9/10 easily for performance and the like, they were just brilliant.
After The Subways had finished their set, I set about finding out the Argyle score, expecting a disgusting 3-0 to Watford reply from my father I discovered they were leading, 1-0!! This sent Spud and I into jubilation.
At about 16:20 The Coral came on, after already having the pleasure of seeing them in Exeter in October I expected a rip roaring performance from this lot, they had about 45 minutes or so to impress. They impressed the majority of the crowd, but I was left feeling a little disappointed as they had performed so brilliantly at Exeter University that they couldn’t live up to that performance and they didn’t. If my memory serves me correctly Simon Diamond, Don’t Think You’re The First, In The Morning, She Sings The Mourning, Pass It On and Arabian Sand were played. Like at Exeter, Arabian Sand was the last song played and there was a great instrumental on the end of it, I think it was Pass It On as well that had a superb outro tagged on to it. A good performance but they could have done so much more. 7/10
Just after The Coral had finished I received a text from Mr P. Moore. Watford 1 – 1 Argyle, Watford equalised in the last minute. After feeling extremely annoyed and the like I forgot about that as I remembered that Razorlight were about to come on stage. I have been sceptical about Razorlight, after giving their album the once over, I wasn’t overly impressed and came to the conclusion that they were a poor man’s Libertines. This is where the crowd got going, as soon as Razorlight started there was a lot of bopping, pogoing and moshing. I can only remember Golden Touch and Somewhere Else being played, the rest of the time I was just trying to stay alive. Razorlight are not that talented musically, but my god can they do a gig. This is the ideal warm up act. 8/10.
Now we had a 30 minute wait for Foo Fighters, during this time cups of water were passed back through the crowd, I got one cup and just poured it over my head, I was hot, I was sweaty and knackered and was dreading the prospect of Foo Fighters, yet relishing it at the same time. When the Foos did come on, the crowd erupted and the hard rockers set the crowd alight with songs such as In Your Honour, Best of You, Learn To Fly and Monkey Wrench. I was hit in the face at least 5 times by idiots flailing elbows about but due to the mosh I was just moved away from them easily enough. Dave Grohl and co. were in fine form as they ran through new and old material. They paid tribute to Oasis, blew our heads off and basically said “Beat that Oasis”. 8/10
It was a marathon of a wait for Oasis now. It was meant to be about 45 minutes after Foo Fighters, it felt like 45 hours. For the most part Rebecca Ball and I were just getting as much water down our throats as possible. During the Foos set Charlotte actually went out of the standing area and sat down and we lost Spud in a sea of bodies. Then one of the best things of the night happened, I Am The Resurrection came on over the tannoy, this was a cue for tens of thousands of people to sing along, it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever heard. Then Cum On Feel The Noize came on and even more people sang along. There was also the rudimentary Mexican wave in the seated area… The anticipation was building, and on the two huge screens either side of the stage there were several celebrities clicking their fingers and the slogan “Every 3 seconds a child dies of starvation”. 50 Cent came on and the crowd reacted by going “BOOOOOOOOOOOO”, this was followed by a massive “H’RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” as Noel Gallagher appeared on the screens.
An image appeared on the screen a few minutes later, it was obvious Oasis were imminent. There was a barely audible voice saying something, I turned around to Rebecca and told her to hang on for dear life as this place is going to go fucking mental. Fucking In The Bushes boomed out, the crowd went mental, especially yours truly. The band ran through the set list that served them so well throughout the summer festivals except they had one difference, the legendary song, The Masterplan was played, and it was brilliantly performed, one of the highlights of the performance. Inbetween a song (can’t remember which) Andy Bell looked over in my direction, I put my thumb up, he nodded and smiled. Made me proud… By the time the set was half played, I was on my own right up at the barrier and was loving every minute. Liam dedicated Rock ‘N’ Roll Star to himself and it was played brilliantly, it was the last song said Liam but just 5 minutes later they were back on to play 3 or 4 more songs. If I am honest I was too tired to sing along but I summoned the energy and as My Generation was boomed out of the stage, I sung, I had the time of me life. It was brilliant. As soon as the gig was over I legged it to the top corner of the stadium and got two photos of the departing crowd, with the lights on it was a brilliant sight. I attempted to purchase a poster but they were sold out apparently, despite me seeing two posters on the wall, could have at least given me one of them… Oasis were 10/10. They lived up to my expectations and bettered them.
Set list:
'Fuckin' In The Bushes'(Intro)
'Turn Up The Sun'
'Lyla'
'Bring It On Down'
'Morning Glory'
'Cigarettes And Alcohol'
'The Importance of Being Idle'
'The Masterplan'
'Songbird'
'A Bell Will Ring'
'Acquiesce'
'Live Forever'
'Mucky Fingers'
'Wonderwall'
'Champagne Supernova'
'Rock 'N' Roll Star'

Encore:
'Guess God Thinks I'm Abel'
'The Meaning Of Soul'
'Don't Look Back In Anger'
'My Generation'

Overall, it was a brilliant gig, if it is done next year I am deffo going because it is just so brilliant in the Millennium Stadium. It was freezing in there at first but it was made warmer because every single person was sweating so much. On a side note, I weighed myself this afternoon, I lost half a bleeding stone from last night!

I thank you.