What with lawsuits, infighting and lost teeth, it's been a tough old month for Oasis. Yet, as they emerge tonight to the strains of 'F*cking In The Bushes' and launch straight into 'Hello', it appears to be business as usual. The guitars are loud and Liam is centre stage; his hands are behind his back and his voice is rasping. The Boys Are Back In Town. So far, so familiar.
However, the huge visuals flashing above seem to transmit a more foreboding message. Depicting the Gallaghers' in a multitude of iconic black & white portraits they create the atmosphere of a tribute concert. Staring at these moody photos of Liam and Noel circa 1997 it feels as if someone, or something, has just died. As the gig continues this proves to be very apt.
The set is a fair approximation of where Oasis are presently at. We get a fair shake of 'Heathen Chemistry', plenty from 'Definitely, Maybe' and 'What's The Story', a brace from 'Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants' and nothing from 'Be Here Now'. In short, they play the songs that made them the biggest band in Europe, plus some new ones that sound similar.
This is a problem. As Bono might put it, they're stuck in a moment they can't get out of.
Liam wanders round like an impotent lion with false teeth, still thinking that staring out the crowd qualifies as entertainment. Maybe it once did, but he'll be doing it in 2042 at this rate. Meanwhile, He who used to be in Ride, and Him from Heavy Stereo, add less personality than a Louis Walsh boyband. They simply stand there like clones, looking vacant in Aviator glasses. The long-departed Bonehead and Guiggsy were The Glimmer Twins by comparison.
Maybe it's not their fault. Maybe the crowd needs Liam to be Liam and Noel to be Noel in the same way we need 'The Great Escape' and Morecambe & Wise at Christmas. They have become some sort of nostalgic sing-along-a-safety-blanket.
Certainly, there are some embers of talent still burning, but these emanate almost solely from Noel. Whenever he takes the mic - for a welcome acoustic rendition of 'Married With Children' and for 'Little By Little' and 'Don't Look Back In Anger' - then some sort of passion stirs again. The minute Liam lopes back on, the atmosphere drags more than his knuckles. They finish with 'My Generation' which is possibly ironic. If not, then it's pathetic. A slur on all of us.
If it were a football match then tonight had 0-0 written all over it. A scrappy long-ball game played by journeymen. To stretch the analogy further, if Oasis were a football team, they would be Blackburn Rovers: winners in the mid-90s, then relegated, and now offering little more than mid-table mediocrity. And in the Champion's League era that's no longer enough. In fact, maybe that's unfair on Blackburn - this was a strictly Second Division affair.
