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Post by brent006 on Aug 30, 2008 9:26:48 GMT -5
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Post by Oasis39 on Aug 30, 2008 9:39:25 GMT -5
Great review
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Post by franz on Aug 30, 2008 16:04:22 GMT -5
my review... forgive the lack of paragraph breaks please....
aside from what this reviewer below was able to make out in the edmonton sun review, liam did say early on "i know we havent been here much, but you have a beautiful country, well have to come back".
i managed to walk down to the 4th row almost exact middle - a tad to noel right - and stay the whole time cause no one claimed the seat. security was considerably less strident – at first – than in seattle. despite it being a large venue (though for a hockey stadium not as large as i expected. and catching a cab out was a miserable ordeal) it was rather a better show all around than the one in seattle.... theyve passed their first-night-whatevers and displayed a lot more groove as the night got going. by the time the finale of "i am the walrus" came on, both gem and noel were, indeed, showing some smiles, though for noel a smile is definatley not the symbol of contentment, rather his facial grimaces and eyes looking to the heavens are. gem was singing along and throughout liam and him and noel (poor andy looked like shite.... perhaps its the failed marriage?) consistently scanned the crowd, liam on several occasions making personal contact to certain people: the pushers, the picture-takers using flashes ("well have none of that"), and noel acknowledging the mad group of fans calling out for a rare song with a comment about not remembering, which made them go wild. liam gave applause to the group off in the extreme-side seats and noel to the crazy girl up front in the beatles shirt. the drummer (whats his name?) was, as usual, the seemingly hardest worker of the lot, and being as close as i was i got to see all of the looks/communication between him and the noel for their cues. liam, of course, did not dance around "like a poncer" but was clearly enjoying himself and more relaxed than at the seattle show, as his little swaggers went from upright verticals to sliding horizontals every now and again, his voice absolutely a perfect balance between the gravely worn-away and the smooth professional, solid and passionate. every member had at least one of their songs performed with this setlist and a good sampling from the new album fit seemlessly with the some of the old tunes: supersonic, morning glory,champagne supernova and lyla (not so old) most especially, with the huge tidbit crowd-pleasers of wonderwall, slide away, cigs & alcholol and the acoustic newly arranged dont look back in anger scattered throughout. the images on the led screens were a synaesthetic flow of magical mystery tour psychedelia that specifically synched up with the themes of some songs: ie: colour-tweaked helicopters and jets for morning glory (which samples helicopters as its background drone), and retro images of riots for aint got nothing ("all i want is the truth"). the last 3 songs were an awesome choice of 3 that went into each other and got the crowd rising to an amazing pitch with the massive sing-along of "koo-koo-ka-tchos" for i"i am the walrus"..... thats what got gem singing and noel thoroughly wrapped up and into his guitar as his effects soared in volume and intensity... the brothers harmonies throughout the show being the constant for this band as his electrifying guitar work is live (its mind-boggling [not really] how "the media" cant resist contextualizing oasis within the "bickering" of the brothers, despite their longevity and most of all the most sonicaly pervasive and happily-married harmonies since lennon and mccartney). there was no doubt of their love of the splendour of being able to play this song live in such a context. as liam said pointing to us all "THIS is what music is all about". and my last comparison to the opening gig of this mini-tour in seattle (without purposely trying to better the canadians...), the crowd was generous, enthusiastic, happy, and i didnt notice a single frat-boy in my midst calling out that they wanted to fuck liam.....
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Post by franz on Aug 30, 2008 17:19:44 GMT -5
oh yes, and i do think its well worth mentioning in any review the power and wit of the way oasis has been opening their shows over the last 3(?) tours, with the audio sample from "close encounters" ("this is not a drill... sighting of formations...") and then "fucking in the bushes" with the old woman...... a brilliant way to build suspense and then explode.
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Post by mrmojorisen on Aug 30, 2008 17:19:45 GMT -5
Great review.
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Post by edoasisfan on Aug 31, 2008 0:36:32 GMT -5
Great review Franz! I've watched lots of Oasis concerts on official DVDs and online, but the Edmonton concert was my first time seeing them live and the quality of the performance went way beyond my expectations. It was incredible to see Oasis live in top form. So the intro at the beginning was from Close Encounters eh? Brilliant. Here's another positive review from the Edmonton Journal: www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/culture/story.html?id=9cafe510-07f1-4c11-955a-2db418b0462eClassic rock legends have fans shaking itBig arena shows are where Oasis want to be; 11,400 fans treated to full array of chart hitsTom Murray, Freelance Published: 3:03 am OASIS With: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Matt Costa Where: Rexall Place - - - EDMONTON - "I love playing big arenas," flatly stated Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher just four hours before he and his bandmates stepped foot on the Rexall stage. "You think we'd like to go back to playing sweaty clubs? We spent 12 years to get to the point where we wouldn't have to be squished up against each other, with a sweaty crowd right in front of us." Good thing it's unlikely he'll be back to clubs any time soon. Besides, Oasis are arena rockers par excellence -- able to transmit more energy in their lackadaisical, posed coolness than five generic bands put together. Scrambling on literally minutes after opener Matt Costa, Gallagher brothers' pal Ryan Adams took his four-piece Cardinals into a set as varied as could possibly be considering the man's early pigeonholing as an alt-country singer. He was much more than that - and where his early years in Whiskeytown suggested a fixation on Son Volt's Jay Farrar, many of his newer songs come from the Bono in his soul, at least in his vocals. It was a great set -- tight in places, loose in others, brimming with soul. There were Stonesy rockers, Crazy Horse-style stomps, classic rock and pop redux, all with little twists that caught the ear -- the staggered beat that propelled Off Broadway, the a cappella break in the middle of Peaceful Valley. The last time Adams was in town - for the Edmonton Folk Fest a few years back - he needlessly tore a strip off his back- up band and generally acted like a petulant brat. This time he seemed genuinely grateful for the applause, playfully bantering, at one point singing a snatch of the Fraggle Rock theme song during a slight break. It may be a good decade since Oasis was relevant as a charting act, but the 11,400 in attendance Friday night didn't much care. For most of them this really was classic rock. They were on their feet as the band jumped into Rock 'n' Roll Star and stayed up while the band moved through songs from their classic debut Definitely Maybe (Cigarettes and Alcohol) to Be Here Now and Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. They oozed rock-star arrogance -- Liam with hands clasped behind back as he sang, Noel working the guitar god angle -- and absolutely filled the arena with a BIG sound that had most of the audience on the floor shaking it. The chart hits from What's the Story (Morning Glory) came later, but when they finally did the crowd had their lighters and cellphones ready to pay homage to Wonderwall, an acoustic encore of Don't Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova and the title track. All may be steeped in obvious Beatles worship and lyrics that can't be looked at too closely without mass snickering, but they hold up amazingly well -- mainstream pop music of the highest quality, epic, still able to move all these years later.
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Post by edoasisfan on Aug 31, 2008 0:38:54 GMT -5
By the way, Liam's mug was on the front page of the Edmonton Sun the morning after the concert (link to the article in the first post of this thread), whereas the Edmonton Journal had no mention of Oasis on the front page, and relegated the review (although positive) to the 2nd page of the Entertainment section. I usually prefer the Journal as it's Edmonton's more "serious paper" (like the London Times) while the Sun is more tabloid-y, but in this case, The Edmonton Sun editors made the class choice. Here is an additional article published beside the Edmonton gig review above: www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/culture/story.html?id=74e25b81-1632-4938-9a92-1e093cd0d6eaBadboy guitarist true to formFeuds part of the act for Noel GallagherThe Edmonton Journal Published: 2:31 am EDMONTON - "I'm going to outlast you," warned Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher halfway through our 30-minute interview Friday afternoon. "You're going to be the one to call it quits." It was true; after running through as many questions about the upcoming release of the band's newest album Dig Out Your Soul as could be found after a single listening, and pumping him for band gossip, Gallagher had indeed worn me out. A blunt man with an acid tongue --but also quite winningly self-deprecating at times -- Gallagher may not be the most loquacious interview, but he's honest and forthright. A bit of a troublemaker as well; he has been in the news at least as much for his recent feuds as for his band's music. This summer he casually knocked Amy Winehouse producer -- and recording artist in his own right Mark Ronson -- for not writing his own songs. Unfortunately, he didn't pick any new targets during Friday's interview, but he did nail his public image in one quotable line. "Look, I know exactly where I stand. When I'm bad, I'm as bad as the worst out there. "But when I'm good I'm absolutely great."
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Post by franz on Aug 31, 2008 13:47:48 GMT -5
that is an incredible quote at the end there....
"Look, I know exactly where I stand. When I'm bad, I'm as bad as the worst out there.
"But when I'm good I'm absolutely great."
man, i love noel for his honesty and refusal to play the game if its not on his own terms.
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Post by franz on Aug 31, 2008 13:50:34 GMT -5
wait, that Edmonton Journal write-up is really as short as all that is posted above?..... i clicked on the link expecting more, since the interviewer states that he ran "through as many questions about the upcoming release of the band's newest album Dig Out Your Soul as could be found after a single listening, and pumping him for band gossip, Gallagher had indeed worn me out."
crappy fucking editors gave him like less than 100 words after all that. i hate the ed journal. crappiest city paper out of all the cities ive lived in... itd be nice to get a fuller story from this guy.
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Post by franz on Aug 31, 2008 13:51:54 GMT -5
there isnt even a byline on the piece!!!!!
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Post by edoasisfan on Sept 2, 2008 0:28:20 GMT -5
wait, that Edmonton Journal write-up is really as short as all that is posted above?..... Yea, I noticed that too - what a waste of a 30 minute interview if that's all they were going to publish. Perhaps too many expletives ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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