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Photo: Neil Lupin
Due to illness, The Enemy pulled out of their support slot late afternoon which meant an extended set by Kasabian in the biggest support slot of year. More time at the bar meant by 10 to 7, the crowd – mostly blokes in their 20s grinning from ear-to-ear - were on a nice level. ‘Shoot The Runner’ and ‘Processed Beats’ has the audience in raptures, the pit heaving from the off. “Is anyone from the Midlands?” asks Tom, “this track is guna ruin you!” ‘Empire’ followed and the crowd went ballistic. There’s no fillers with Kasabian, every tune is a tune and in ‘Where Did All The Love Go?’ they have a new anthem. The rolling guitars and cocky swagger reminiscent of early Gallagher before the chorus kicks in and we have the first sing-a-long of the afternoon. ‘Doberman’ precedes ‘Fire,’ with Tom telling everyone to remember where they are, it was one of those moments. The now legendary cover of Candi Staton’s ‘You’ve Got The Love’ is the set-clincher rolling into LSF, it’s effortless and it’s pure class. With an Arena-tour inked in for the end of the year, surely a headline slot of their own at Wembley can’t be that far away?
Oasis have the crowd exactly where they want them though seem to shuffle on stage and it’s clear from the outset that Noel is in a stinking mood. Definitely Maybe provided the spine of the set, opening with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ and closing with ‘Supersonic’ then ‘Live Forever’ and the majestic ‘Slide Away’ falling in the middle. ‘The Masterplan’ is one of Noel’s finest and it never disappoints though in a generally slower set than usual it perhaps didn’t get the platform it deserved. ‘My Big Mouth’ made a welcome return as the rain started to lash down but the early buzz of the crowd had all but deserted the Pretty Green-clad Mancs. The rain didn’t help them but the set dipped too much in the middle then never really picked back up again.
Dedicating ‘I’m Outta Time’ to “our kid, you know I mean it,” Liam hinted at the problems off-stage as rumours of a split continue to circulate despite denials. On returning for the encore and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ Noel says “I don’t know if I can be arsed to sing this anymore” and then didn’t. The crowd sang it for him which should have been a special moment, in the rain at Wembley, but it wasn’t. In truth it was uncomfortable. Liam returned for ‘Champagne Supernova,’ defiantly declaring “we ent splittin’ up, we’re just getting fucking started.” The thing with an Oasis gig is there’s no pyrotechnics or props and there’s not a lot of movement on stage, it has always been just about the music. So when that isn’t on the money, there’s nothing to bail them out. Noel played with his head down and Liam with his hands behind his back, barely exchanging a glance.
Due to play headline slots all over Europe this summer, only time will tell for the future of Manchester’s most famous brothers. Liam’s final refrain of “right we’re out of here I spose,” before a half-hearted ‘I Am The Walrus’ could turn out to be iconic.
Oasis live at Wembley Stadium:
