Oasis

When at last Oasis took the stage, the crowd was going crazy and we ended up in the second row as the group played a long version of the wordless snippet from their new album. Don’t be fooled by some of their mellower recorded songs, seeing them live, they were fast and loud with one of the fiercest mosh pits I’ve seen. They played “Shakermaker,” “Supersonic,” and “Slide Away” from “Definitely Maybe” mixed in with “Roll With It” and “Hello” from “What’s the Story.” They played the anticipated “Morning Glory” minus the ground shaking intro done on the tape, but it still rocked. “Champagne Supernova” was hardly recognizable at first since it was sped up quite a bit, but it was not a lesser version, just different from the one we are used to.

When they left the stage, Noel re-entered to sit on a chair with an acoustic guitar and played a lovely little song by the Beatles, called “The Octopus’s Garden.” It was a nice rendition and gave us all a chance to breathe. The tell-tale capo was on for the hit song, “Wonderwall.” Without an intro, it started even better than the tape version, only to be rudely interrupted when a shoe was launched and hit Noel after the first verse. He left the stage as Liam Gallagher returned to tell us about respect and how he was gonna “bite out the fillings” of whoever threw the shoe. He proceeded to tell us the songs they would have played (which included my favorite “Don’t Look Back in Anger”), but now would not play. Then he left the stage in a hurry as the soccer chant began.

The entire band returned for an angry, loud version of “I am the Walrus,” complete with a stuffed walrus who had witnessed the entire show perched atop an amp. Then they left leaving a crowd who refused to believe they were gone. The stage remained dark for another five minutes before the house lights came on and everyone realized the show was really over