It was the first night of the Oasis tour last night. The second coming if you believed the frothing fans online. Anyone who has spent 400 quid on a ticket would have to convince themselves it was. Money well spent I guess.
I don't think anyone is worth that much for a ticket, especially not to stand among thousands of coked up fans dousing themselves and everyone around them in lager.
But I'm a jaded old fart. And I've seen them a handful of times anyway.
As such, I wasn't in the least interested in applying for tickets. Neither were my kids - they laughed when I suggested it. The Proms and musical theatre is more their bag. I would have been laughing at them at their age back in the day. Hey, what do I know?
It got me thinking, how did they get big? It is a phenomenon that I think you can only put down to nostalgia for their mid-nineties heyday. Looking at the set list, it could have been from the concerts when I saw them - last time in 2002 in Finsbury Park. They realised quite early that they'd never surpass the first two albums, which is why they contribute almost the entire set to this day.
As an aside, Finsbury Park left me with an abiding loathing of such blokey megagigs. It was horrible - nasty aggressive crowd, worshipping a bloated band believing their own hype. I really hope that the current run isn't overpopulated by obnoxious Liam wannabes and that there are some younger fans and women to civilise the crowd.
Back to the reliance on two albums. It's not necessarily a bad thing. AC/DC's set has been dominated by Back in Black and Let There be Rock for years. Another brother led band dismissed by the critics.
I was listening to Definitely Maybe earlier - the first time in years. I'd forgotten how good it is actually, and how different from later work. It's rawer and more varied. The massively catchy singalongs are there - Live Forever, Supersonic, Rock and Roll Star - but there's more leftfield songs such as the mildly trippy Columbia, and the magnificent Slide Away. If any song from that era shows a band that's 4Real, it's this. Liam's impassioned vocals are shredded, like Lennon on Twist and Shout, as he pushes harder to reach for some different and exalted future than the one due a lad like him from Burnage.
Maybe that's where the connection with fans come from. He got out. For all his later bluster, there's a desperation about Liam in the early days. Noel had a talent for songwriting and might have gone elsewhere to try again if Oasis had flopped. Liam had no Plan B. If it hadn't worked out, it's not hard to picture him as a bitter pub bore, whose eye you'd be careful not to meet. His acolytes are left with the chippiness, the aggression, and the sense of failure. A night out with like-minded lads is their career highlight. Just don't get in the way.
Blimey! This has got dark.
I do actually like Oasis, despite these musings, and I think they're important - they definitely say a lot about British masculinity, although not all of it good. And fair play to them, despite the piss taking ticket prices, they are back together for people who plainly adore them. How many Led Zeppelin fans would pay as much, and more, to see a reformed band, even as Page and Plant in their 70s?
Enjoy your Champagne Supernova.
