And there they are. Liam in the middle, noel to his right, around them six more musicians. We succeeded, the Gallagher brothers play together again on a stage after sixteen years.
Their performance, on Friday evening in the Rugby Stadium in Cardiff, fulfilled the dream of all those fans orphaned when Noel announced in 2009, he did not want to stay in the company of that ‘idiot’ (‘Moron’) Liam for a day. But here, at the first of their reunion concerts, 74 thousand spectators undergo the long-awaited immersion in the Gallagher chemistry. With a generous dose of classics, dress codes from 1996 and a firm faith in their own rock and ‘roll style, Oasis creates a spectacular trip.
The main asset is the long series of hits engraved in many hearts. The songs are characterized by the somewhat stiff boogie rock from Noel, combined with Liam’s nonchalant fringe singing. They wrote texts that are mainly slogans and therefore could grow to anthems: ‘Live Forever’, ‘All My People Right Here, Right Now’, ‘(You’re My) Wonderwall’.
Video wall
And there they are. Liam (52) in brown Parka, jeans and on white sneakers, noel (58) modest in jeans and light blue shirt. Noel seems to be fused with his guitar strings, and plays smooth solos; Liam is in his well -known pose: bent knees, hands on the back. As if he expects an attack every moment.
On one of the largest stages ever filled by only eight musicians, the question is how the audience is reached in the rear rows. But a surprising solution was devised for that. The eight musicians are almost winged by a wall of video screens over the entire width and height of the short stadium side. Video images are shown on continuous: colorful collages mixed with live images of mainly Liam and Noel. There are psychedelic excesses, combined with punky layout and lush landscapes through which Liam’s head floats. That approach takes some getting used to at a performance by Oasis, where the music was always in the first place. But the current stream is varied and has just the right grain not to be licked contemporary.
Of the twenty -three songs, only a few came from this century.
The emphasis on the nineties is useful for more reasons: it legitimizes the absence of new songs. This is not a real reunion for the time being, but a reunion tour. This makes it a versatile tribute: to the own glory time, to the music history and a feeling of being ‘being British’-in the sense of community sense and flair for fashion (many wear ‘bucket hats’, the fisherman’s hats that Liam once made popular). It votes nostalgic and somewhat sad, like a one -way trip to the past – to a decade in which smoking is still being smoked everywhere, and in which guitars and exercise spaces are still affordable. That time has now been closed, but the glory can revive here for a while. Partly thanks to the efforts of mother Gallagher, who had enough of her arguing sons. And thanks to the late Taylor Hawkins, drummer from Foo Fighters, who wanted to start a petition: ‘Oasis must be back’. And also because it yields the brothers a considerable amount.
Outrageous ticket prices
The excitement was built from the moment the Tour was announced last August, through a disastrous ticket sale in which fans had to pay frenzied ticket prices by applying ‘Dynamic Pricing’. The minds were so high on this that the British government ordered a further investigation into this practice. Yet it became the most coveted performances of this year, especially in England.
Between now and at the end of November, Oasis gives 41 stadium concerts in England, Ireland, North and South America, Korea and Japan. According to rumors, Europe will follow next year.
Halfway through Liam, when he talks to the audience: ‘And is it a good show? Are you happy? ” With a slanting smile: “With your ticket of a thousand pounds?”
The brothers grew up without a father, opposite the stadium of their favorite football team Manchester City. The football grandstand became their alternative at home. There they experienced the power of singing together, all in a stadium. The love for ‘Man City’ was unconditional, also – or precisely – in the event of disappointing performance. The brothers would also sow that kind of love, by thick and thin, in the nineties.
The audience, young and old, comes from all over the world. It sweeps tears from the eyes during songs that were the ‘soundtrack of my childhood’, as a woman from Leeds tells. She and her husband are singing hard, arms in the air, as football fans. The audience shouts the loudest during ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ (spontaneous cigarettes are spontaneously lit) and monster hit ‘Wonderwall’ in the encore. But the most dearest is ‘Live Forever’ (‘You and I Are Gonna Live Forever’) that gets extra charge with this reunion. The video images show pastoral meadows and cloudy skies and at the end the portrait of a young man in a red outfit, a reference to the day before in a car accident killed Diogo Jota, football player at Liverpool.
The interaction between the band members on this first evening is minimal. But the solos are well aimed, the ‘sound’ in space is surprisingly good and veterans Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Gem Archer and Andy Bell play exactly as before. Liam still turns out not to be a relaxed performer, he disappears after every singing part in the shade or drinking the drum stage for a sip. With a number of songs, Noel takes over the singing from him, including the beautiful ‘Half The World Away’. Noel has a gentle voice, in contrast with the weathered Liam.
And then, if the last sounds of ‘Champagne Supernova’ have died away, the group has received the applause and the audience dries the cheeks, Liam is the first to walk off the stage. The camera images show a short embrace of the brothers in Silhouette. It drives a last wave through the stadium.
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