Right, first things first, I've been a massive Oasis fan for as long as I can remember really, thanks to my parents playing What's the Story Morning Glory repeatedly for about a year in 1996. I'd put that album in my all time top 10. As Westwood would say, heavy hit after heavy hit (note to self, never, and I mean never use Tim Westwood in future blogs). So obviously I was very excited about seeing them at Wembley, at their final date of a sell-out UK tour. And, for the most part, they didnt disappoint.
Wembley Stadium itself is a great venue for music. I imagined it to be a lot bigger than it actually was but there must been at least 50,000 people there, all anticipating the arrival of the Gallaghers. No idea why people would choose seating at a gig like this, because to get the real atmosphere, you really need to stand, just to take in the experience
Lets talk about the support first. I missed Reverend and The Makers and the majority of The Enemy, because quite frankly, I dont really care for either band and neither did my friend, Mr David "I love Blur" Stubbings, who is quite possibly the only person to see both bands this summer.
However, I saw Kasabians set, which was quite frankly fantastic, and really got the crowd pumped up. I thought they'd stick to a lot of stuff off the new album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (yeah I still don't get that album title.)
But they just played the songs that made them one of the UK's best bands of this decade such as Club Foot, Empire and LSF plus new tracks Fast Fuse, Fire and Underdog, which if you haven't heard on any advert recently, I'd be very suprised. The highlight of the set for me though had to be The Doberman, which I think is criminally underated from the second album.
But on to the main attraction. Lets get the negatives out of the way and maybe people will call me critical here. Liam Gallagher doesn't move. He could have died and I probably wouldn't have noticed. You would think at a gig of this stature, he might just move around the stage a bit. Nope, he just stood there staring at the crowd. Yes I understand its his gimmick to lean into the mic and think everything is above him, but after two hours, it becomes very tiresome. Even the graphics were more entertaining, especially the rolling car as Mr Stubbings pointed out.
The 2 hour set itself was almost perfect. They started with Rock and Roll Star, which I think is a great opener for them really, although I would have gone for Morning Glory. Then Lyla, which the less said about the better, one Oasis song I can't stand. They threw in the odd track from the latest album, Dig Out Your Soul such as The Shock of The Lightning and I'm Outta Time. To Be Where There's Life though felt a bit out of place, and I dont see it is as a great track.
Every hit was there, but I would have liked to see more tracks that weren't big singles such as Shakermaker and Cast No Shadow, but I'm really nitpicking as they played Whatever for the first time in 10 years according to Noel
The highlights for me were definately in Noel's acoustic stuff. The entire crowd with their hands in the air and singing in unison for Half the World Away and The Masterplan, not to mention Don't Look Back In Anger. These moments really made the gig for me, it was a sight to behold.
The last two tracks were also brilliant, Champagne Supernova, which to me is the definite Oasis song and a cover of I Am The Walrus, which made the gig near perfect.
Overall, Oasis were on near top form, just let down a bit by the fact the gig wasn't great visually, but music-wise it was spectacular.
Heres some other more in-depth reviews of the gig, including a review of both Britpop bands by some guy from down south:
Dave Stubbings' review of Britpop gigs
www.itsgoodtobefree.com/2009/07/14/itsgoodtobefrees-review-of-oasis-at-wembley-stadium-12-07-09/
www.thelondonpaper.com/going-out/whats-new/live-music-review-of-oasis-gig-at-wembley-stadium
Images courtesy of becca_ca_ca at Flickr
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