Oasis
Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
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All the buzz was about the opening band. And everywhere they’ve gone on this tour, Oasis has been dogged by mediocre reviews, less than stellar album sales and even concerns about the relative health or mental state of guitarist Noel Gallagher. So pretty much all Oasis had to do was show up in order to live down to expectations, right? Of course a few in the audience were probably hoping for an onstage "Celebrity Deathmatch"-style fistfight between Noel and brother Liam or a very public break-up of some kind. But that kind of self-destructiveness is a bit hard to sustain over the course of a multi-city tour. Plus this is the new family-oriented, sober Oasis, not the loutish version of old. So instead, Oasis just came out and played music and they did it very well.

The band walked onstage to the strains of the instrumental "Fuckin’ In the Bushes" from their latest album Standing On the Shoulder of Giants as a collage of words and images flashed on the screen behind them. Liam wore a floppy white hat that obscured his eyes for much of the evening. That could have been Bob Denver under that hat and no one would have known. Okay, maybe we would have.

He appeared to be in fine voice as the band took on "Go Let It Out" and the psychedelic Beatle-isms of "Who Feels Love." During the latter song, the video screen showed shots of the Strawberry Fields/Imagine memorial in New York’s Central Park and pictures of John Lennon. Liam, who recently named his newborn son for Lennon, appeared to nod in genuflection to the fallen hero as the song wound down.

The Beatles of course were a frequent touchstone throughout the show in songs like the Noel Gallagher-sung "Don’t Look Back In Anger" from What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. "So I start a revolution from my bed," he sings. Noel also took on a cover of the McCartney screamer "Helter Skelter" during the encore.

Throughout the set, when he wasn’t singing, Liam wandered the stage often stopping in one place to egg on the audience or get into staring contests with them. When Noel took the vocal spotlight, as on the new "Where Did It All Go Wrong," Liam wandered offstage altogether. Liam seemed to address his weirdly aloof behavior late in the set when he re-assured the audience they were in fact having a great time.

Noel, for his part, said he felt "like shit" but persevered nonetheless, cranking out lots of blistering guitar solos in addition to his solid vocal turns. The rest of the current Oasis lineup includes new bassist Andy Bell, guitarist Gem Archer, drummer Alan White and touring keyboard player Mike Rowe.

The crowd in front of the stage appeared to be one throbbing mass as they bounced up and down to older favorites like "Supersonic" and "Roll With It." A long version of the weird "Gas Panic" seemed to subdue the crowd and temporarily bring a halt to the frequent crowd surfing. But Oasis followed it with a number of cigarette lighter waving arena anthems including "Wonderwall" and the set closing "Live Forever."

In addition to "Helter Skelter," the encore included another Noel-sung cover song.

"You might not know it, but your Mums and Dads do. Especially the old people in the back," he said as the band ripped into a rocking, melodic rendition of Neil Young’s "Hey Hey, My My." Thanks Noel, I resemble that remark.

Afterwards he said it was "nice to see that some of the young people know the words to that song."

The hour and forty-minute show wrapped up with Liam’s return for a strong, sneering "Rock ‘n’ Roll Star" that ended with a couple of minutes of ringing feedback.

Openers Travis lived up to all the hype with a rousing 45-minute set drawn mostly from their latest album The Man Who, which has sold more than two million copies in Europe. The London-based band of Scots tweaked the headliners with "Writing to Reach You" which asks the question "What’s a Wonderwall anyway?" Singer-guitarist Fran Healy’s voice sounded great on songs like "As You Are" bouncing around this basketball arena and soaring to the rafters. He introduced the Smiths-like UK hit "Why Does It Always Rain On Me" talking about playing the song the preceding night on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. He wondered out loud why they keep it so cold in Conan’s studio. "Conan sweats," one band member offered. Bassist Dougie Payne sang a verse of the anthemic "Turn" as the rest of the band kicked the song into gear with a few well-timed leaps. And guitarist Andy Dunlop looked a bit like AC/DC’s Angus Young, hunching over his instrument and putting his elbow into his strumming motion. The poignant "Driftwood" was another highlight of the set. Travis didn’t perform their version of Britney Spears’ "Baby One More Time" as they have on other dates but threw in a nice cover of The Band’s "The Weight."

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