I posted this previously in the Wembley thread, but thought it deserved its own thread as others are doing the same. Taken from my
blog.
I became a fan of Oasis seven years ago. After years of anticipation, I saw them live for the first time last October at Wembley Arena, which was a truly phenomenal experience. The dream was yet to be completely fulfilled, however, as I had not yet seen them perform in their most natural venue - a stadium. That opportunity arose on Thursday as I travelled to the same location to see them next door at Wembley Stadium, following the 9 months that had passed since purchasing tickets. Upon entering the venue we achieved places in the Golden Circle, the back of which was still near enough to the stage to ensure a decent view. Before Oasis, however, was a rather impressive support line-up.
The first act was Reverend and the Makers, who put a great amount of energy in their set for an opening act. A lesser man probably would have paid little attention to their music and commented instead on the fact that they have a rather attractive keyboardist - but not I! Reverend and his Makers were followed by Coventry three-piece The Enemy. Their music is regularly compared to The Jam, though frontman Tom Clarke's angry demeanour makes Paul Weller look like Barney the Dinosaur. Still, if you can get past this they do have some strong material. Songs from their first album stood out most strongly in my opinion, with Away From Here and You're Not Alone prompting crowd singalongs. No other band could have been more appropriate for this line-up than final support act Kasabian. Buzzing with the same brand of Northern confidence that defined Oasis, you would struggle to find an Oasis fan that dislikes them. Consequently, anthems such as Club Foot, L.S.F. and recent single Fire received a positive response from the crowd, who became suitably warmed up for the night's headliners.
On account of the strong line-up, time seemed to pass relatively quickly before Oasis took to the stage. The audience showed their excitement as the band launched into their classic song and tour opener, Rock ‘n’ Roll Star. This was followed by several crowd pleasers in succession – Lyla (slightly cheesy on record, but brilliant live), The Shock of the Lightning and Cigarettes and Alcohol. Oasis have never been a band who make drastic changes to the setlist from show to show, and the set remained, bar a few changes, very similar to that which was played at Wembley Arena. For some bands this could be a cause for criticism, but fortunately the songs Oasis play, albeit repeatedly, are strong enough that you can let them off.
The first ‘new’ song to be played was the 1995 hit Roll with It, perhaps an appropriate choice given the recent revival of Britpop rivals Blur. Like Lyla, it is a very fun live song. Oddly, Noel Gallagher neglected to sing the backing vocals for this song (i.e. the “Will drive, will drive, will drive…” part in the bridge) which was a strange choice given their integrity to the song. The Gallagher brothers were quite talkative tonight, with Noel being his usual humorous self (“Andy Bell looks like he’s just arrived from the Jackson memorial,”) and Liam, his usual aggressive self (“You’re all soft Southerners”). There’s something I find exciting about being in the presence of Noel talking, which is hopefully a reflection of my idolisation of him as a musician rather than repressed homosexuality.
The gig was the first of Oasis’ three night residency at the stadium, and the last to be announced after the weekend gigs sold out. This made me worry that the audience would consist of less enthusiastic fans who failed at getting tickets for the weekend gigs. As it turned out, my worries were not entirely in vain. While the standing section had sold out, there were clearly a lot of empty seats at the back of the stadium, which I did feel dampened the atmosphere slightly. Liam Gallagher expressed his annoyance at this, sarcastically requesting that the audience “Bring some of your mates next time.” The crowd around me jumped and danced to the aforementioned songs, but were less appreciative to lesser known album tracks such as Waiting for the Rapture. The big singalongs still occurred for the more famous classics, however – The Masterplan being as breathtaking as ever, and Slide Away, a song which is very personal to me, made for an incredibly emotional moment. It took Morning Glory, a song which reflects Oasis at their most ‘rock ‘n’ roll’, to get the crowd moshing again. This was followed by My Big Mouth, a song from Be Here Now, considered by many to be the black sheep of the Oasis discography. I love it however, and it was great to finally hear a song from that album performed live.
The mood calmed again as the band performed a few gentler songs received an airing. These included the Liam-penned I’m Outta Time, in addition to the classic b-side Half the World Away, another song I heard for the first time this evening. It was perhaps unsurprising that Wonderwall, the band’s most famous song, received the loudest singalong of the evening. All was well until one of the last choruses when, suddenly, everything went quiet! The band could still be heard playing through their monitors, but the stadium’s speakers were doing nothing at all. Ironically, Wonderwall was perhaps the best song for this to happen during, as the crowd were able to pull the song through by singing the chorus even in the absence of any sound.
This problem had already occurred once on this tour – the band were forced to abandon the stage at Manchester’s Heaton Park after the power cut twice. Both incidents were a result of a faulty generator, which is rather appalling given the magnitude of the tour. Noel joked after the incident that the generator was a product of Trotters Independent Traders, and clarified that absolutely nobody would be entitled to a refund, having made the mistake of offering reimbursement to the Manchester audience and losing a great amount of money as a consequence. Fortunately, all seemed to have been fixed following this glitch and the band launched into Supersonic as normal. Unlike at Wembley Arena, this was not the final song before the encore, as Oasis had an extra song to treat us to for this tour – the brilliant Live Forever. In hindsight, it was perhaps positive that this was not played previously, as hearing it for the first time at Wembley Stadium made it all the more special.
On the arena tour, Noel had returned after the encore break to perform a stripped-down acoustic rendition of Don’t Look Back in Anger. I had assumed that, for the stadiums, the band would revert back to the full-scale electric version, but the acoustic version was played again tonight. Although I would like to hear the full band performing this song, it wasn’t a major annoyance as the song was still heartbreakingly beautiful. Bright lights were shone before us during the chorus, which Noel allowed the audience to sing. As if to clarify that not everybody knew Oasis that well, however, a few people started singing the words to the chorus during the guitar solo. Considering, tickets went on sale 9 months ago, you’d think they might have had the chance to give (What’s the Story) Morning Glory a listen during that time. This was followed by Falling Down, a song which, despite being a highlight of their recent career, feels rather out of place during the encore.
This couldn’t be said for Champagne Supernova, however, nor the final set closer I Am the Walrus, a Beatles cover which has begun to feel more like Oasis’s song than theirs. The crowd had become slightly inactive during the latter part of the set, and during the last song I tried to jump around to see if anybody would join me. Sure enough, one stranger next to me shared my enthusiasm and we ended up dancing together and singing the song’s bizarre “Goo goo ga job” lyrics. Occurrences such as these are what make gigs such unique experiences, as somehow in a joyous context people are able to lose their apprehensions. The band left the stage after this, and a montage of clips from the show was shown on the two screens either side of the stage, with the acoustic Married with Children accompanying it. It was a nice final touch, and I couldn’t help but smile on hearing the “Goodbye, I’m going home” line as the audience made their way out of the stadium.
It is difficult, when comparing my two Oasis concerts, to look at them objectively and not consider the fact that I had the thrill of seeing the band for the first time at Wembley Arena. The band played well at both, despite not making an effort to look ‘interesting’ as they performed – the songs are their only real concern. The setlist was certainly improved at the stadium, if only for the fact that a set including Live Forever is superior to any set without it. The crowd, while by no means bad at the stadium, was more energetic and more familiar with the set at the arena. In honesty, despite the obvious differences between the two venues, the experiences I had at both gigs were actually very similar. Being unaware of my surroundings above or behind me, at each gig I watched the same band from a similar position playing a similar set. To be fair, though, nobody really expects lasers, acrobatics or diverse setlists from Oasis. They can certainly play their songs however, some of which are in my opinion amongst the greatest ever written. For this, I shall always be grateful.