Familiar To Millions

The grim brothers on two CDs, recorded live over two nights earlier this year in Wembley Stadium might not exactly be the blueprint for a perfect night in. Much as I’d be tempted to deride Familiar To Millions as a last-ditch cash-cow from a pony whose one trick is now see-through. But it does have its moments.

‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ is still a damn fine pop song, even if the version here is more Pink Floyd than The Pixies, and the brilliant ‘Live Forever’ is a slacker anthem for the nineties if ever there was one. ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Shakermaker’, meanwhile, can still raise the hairs and the hackles like few 90s rock anthems, despite the fact that Noel’s lyrics are as close to poetry in motion as an elephant dancing the Charleston.

The later songs, though, really don’t work. ‘Who Feels Love?’ steals from The Beatles’ own eastern thievery and like much of the newer material, is too bloated for its own good, with ‘Gas Panic!’ a contender for overblown rock hymn of the new millennium. Recent single, ‘Go Let It Out’ is dressed up in clothes that are far too big and grand for what is essentially the runt of their pop litter.

Then you have the obligatory anthemic singalongs of ‘Stand By Me’ (surprisingly impressive), ‘Wonderwall’ (sadly hackneyed by this stage) and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ (still capable of inducing a teary grin after a dozen lagers). There are also two covers, Neil Young’s ‘Hey Hey, My My’ is reasonably faithfully reproduced and shows them at their rocking best, while The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’ is overlong, overwrought and overly dull.

Like most live albums, then, this by turns showcases Oasis at their blinding best and then allows them to wallow in their weakest moments. Maybe you had to be there.