It’s the moment the world has been waiting for. The Oasis Reunion tour has begun.
We arrived at Heaton Park for Oasis under slate grey Mancunian skies on Wednesday. Fortunately the weather did brighten and made for the perfect day.
After their initial Mancunian shows on the weekend spirits and expectations were high (as were the number of bucket hats). I think it would be incredibly difficult for this band not to live up to fans hopes – it’s been a dream of many for years and something we didn’t dare hope nor expect to see.
They’ve been on form since their reunion and with such a strong back catalogue they’ve got a solid list of bangers to choose from for the setlist. And Wednesday certainly was everything we’ve longed for. The Gallagher brothers walked out and embraced each other – surely hoping to put to bed any rumours of remaining tensions; their stage presence certainly suggested this is the case. They appeared amicable, each allowing the other their moment in the sunshiiiiiinne.
The setlist felt oddly long (in a good way) and while it was a hefty 2 hour plus gig, it was almost unbelievable how many hits they have. Even 45 minutes into it I felt like I’d heard so many great tunes it was a little like those bands that come out strong, play their best known hits and then faulter for the remaining hour – except that didn’t happen. The energy and the quality of the songs remained incredibly high for the entire set – and when you reflect on what wasn’t played (She’s Electric, Stop Crying Your Heart Out just as a couple of examples) it truly highlights just how mindblowing Oasis’s back catalogue is.
Musically they sounded incredible, and Noel’s voice sounded better than I’ve ever heard it. They seemed at ease, and happy to be there. They were in sync, having fun and it truly was everything the world (or at least the whole of Manchester) wished for.
Two of the most mind-blowing takeaways for me:
- They left their biggest 3 songs until last, and you could have easily left before the encore having seen probably the best set of your life.
- At one point the screen pans to show a microphone standing alone. Noel had walked away, and the crowd had just continued singing, completely oblivious. This could have happened for the entire show, I have never seen such a word perfect crowd. I know this is exclusive to Manchester where the words of Wonderwall are taught to children roughly around the same time we teach them to walk, where Don’t Look Back in Anger is more well known than the national anthem. But the fact that a band that hasn’t released music for so long still has a following so loyal is incredible. Noel said “no other band has fans like these” and he was bloody well right.
If you’re debating about getting that ticket, if the rest of the tour is as strong as this, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
And if you don’t end up going, take a look at our ten bands to check out instead.