Never again, I’d sworn to myself. “Mark my words,” I’d said following their dire Lansdowne Road show in 2002, “never again am I watching Oasis live.”
Five years later, and I’m standing in Marlay Park for my 11th (yes 11th!) Oasis gig. I never could keep a promise. It’s been 10 years since I first heard Liam Gallagher say “sunshhhhhiieeen” and I haven’t missed an Irish show since. The stinker at Witnness 2002, the Liam walk off at Derry, even the disaster at Glastonbury last year. Somehow I’d continued to keep the faith. As my GAA manager once said, ‘boy are you a sucker for punishment.’
I wasn’t the only one either. 22,000 of us were bundled into Marlay Park on the back of past glories and a belief in the truth that Oasis are back. On a balmy summer's day it really felt like it would be a good one. Thankfully, it was even better than that.
From the off this was a new, fresh and reinvigorated Oasis buoyed on by the critical and commercial success of their sixth studio album. With a strut and a swagger, Liam gave Marlay Park his trademark stare before launching in to Andy Bell’s album opener, ‘Turn Up The Sun’. Wearing a white beanie hat he looked cooler and leaner than ever before. To use his own parlance, Liam was mad for it and Oasis have seldom sounded better.
Of course it’s the classic Oasis of Definitely Maybe and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory that keeps us coming back for more. However, what made this show such a return to form was how well the new material sat alongside the older gems. ‘Lyla’ slotted into their cannon of classic anthems with effortless ease. ‘The Importance Of Being Idle’ offered as much a stylistic shift as we’re likely to get, while ‘Mucky Fingers’ and ‘The Meaning Of Soul’ added weight to the belief that Noel Gallagher’s at his best when pilfering chunks of riffs and melodies from his record collection. Genius steals, as an awesome ‘Cigarettes And Alcohol’ later shows.
As the canon of classics continued, ‘Live Forever’, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ vied for the highlight spot, but it’s an encore of ‘My Generation’, with Liam sneering the line “people try to put us down,” which truly announced that the boys were back in town. Fantastic.