Live Review

Oasis – Heaton Park, Manchester

• 7th Jun 2009

After a few technical hitches on the first night of their Heaton Park gigs Oasis had very kindly offered full refunds…although as Noel said you have to be a bit of ‘c***’ to claim it back especially after they had still done a full set……

Anyway tonight was Oasis’s second gig of three at Manchester’s Heaton Park. Boy was it cracker!

Liverpool’s Edger Jones and his band Free Peace opened in the afternoon and warmed the crowd up with their impressive rock blues ‘May You Live In Interesting Times’ sailed away into the Manchester sky getting everyone suitably rockin….what’s more the Manchester sky wasn’t filled with rain (for a change) although it threatened!

Oldham rockers Twisted Wheel belted out tracks from their recent debut album with the likes of ‘Lucy The Castle’ and ‘She’s A Weapon’ on show. Twisted Wheel are a surprising band they threaten to be a new Oasis, they are almost doing it slowly and quietly but hopefully people will go away from tonight’s gig and go buy their album it’s a must and full of punk enthused energy made from the finest Northern matter.

Ah The Enemy another band who have really grown in stature over the last few years and after a cancellation due to illness on the first night of the Oasis Heaton Park Gigs, Tom Clarke and his boys were back in fine fettle! The band were full of crowd anthems and played a solid mix of tracks taken from their debut album ‘We’ll Live and Die In These Towns’ and new album ’Music For The People’. A mix of rip roaring anthems like ‘No Time for Tears’, We’ll Live and Die in These Towns’ had the crowd singing along and then also impressing with their lovely new single ‘Sing When Your In Love’ – out 22nd June no less!

Leicester rockers Kasabian are getting more like Primal Scream every time they play which is no bad thing. Tom Meighan seems to have more of a stature to him with longer hair and he really owned the stage along with Serge. Fuelled with plenty of anthems the band rifled their ammunition to the excited Manchester crowd. A mix of psychedelic rock with tracks taken from their new album ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ being played, including warping new single ‘Fire’.

Also track’s from the band’s second album ’Empire’ came out to play with the likes of ‘Shoot The Runner’ getting the crowd bouncing around, packed with attitude. The real core of Kasabian’s foot stomper’s were taken from the band’s self titled debut album with ‘Processed Beats’, ‘Reason is Treason and ‘Club Foot’ all revving the crowd up ready for Oasis.

Noel, Liam, Gem, Andy and superb new drummer (the band’s fifth) Chris Sharrock from Liverpool no less, all on stage for what was to be one of the most crisp Oasis gigs for a long time.

The band ravaged through ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star’ as if it time had just stopped still in the nineties, the band still and will always have it. Heaton Park was a funny old setting really, it was what it was, a park that lacked perhaps some enclosure to bump up the atmosphere, however 70,000 Oasis worshipers clearly are not going to stay quiet and the usual ‘wee throwing’ and battles with the stewards was the norm. I don’t know what it is about seeing Oasis live they really do make you feel like you will Live Forever!.

Liam was in top form perfectly executing ‘Lyla‘, in fact Liam’s vocals were so crisp he left an imprint in the crowd’s head for the rest of the evening. Again on ‘The Shock Of The Lightning’ taken from the band’s seventh studio album ‘Dig Out Your Sole’– the vocals were bang on.

Chris Sharrock was more formally introduced to the crowd by Noel ‘This is our fifth drummer Chris Sharrock, he’s from Liverpool! and boy what a drummer he is, it appeared as if Chris had been in Oasis all his life and he has certainly added some glue to the band who were like an army banging out all their greats including ‘Roll With It’ and ‘Cigarettes And Alcohol’ sending the crowd into hysteria.

’Half The World Away’ had to suitably make an appearance and Noel’s voice too was outstandingly heart warming as was Liam’s yet again on ’I’m Outta Time’. ’Wonderwall’, ‘Live Forever’, ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ followed one after the other to make what was an amazing Oasis gig, the band came back on for the encore which included ’Champagne Supernova’ and they triumphantly finished on ’I Am The Walrus’ much to the crowd’s delight – can’t get a better set list than that!.

A memorable gig with a solid line up of Britain’s heavyweights, one thing that was notable was the sheer class and crispness of Oasis that seemed to be underpinned by Chris Sharrock on drums.

The set list in full was:

‘The Meaning Of Soul’
‘To Be Where There’s Life’
‘Waiting For The Rapture’
‘The Masterplan’
‘Songbird’
‘Slide Away’
‘Morning Glory’
‘My Big Mouth’
‘The Importance Of Being Idle’
‘Half The World Away’
‘I’m Outta Time’
‘Wonderwall’
‘Live Forever’
‘Supersonic’
‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’
‘Falling Down’
‘Champagne Supernova’
‘I Am The Walrus’

Oasis will be back for a last night show at Manchester Heaton Park tonight (June 7).

Pie and Mash will be off the menu and will thankfully be replaced by Chips and Gravy!

For further news/info on Oasis please visit:

www.myspace.com/oasis

www.oasisinet.com

Thanks to Steve Goudie @ Stone Images