With a simple “Hello” , Oasis put an end this Friday in Cardiff (United Kingdom) 16 years of silence and formalized the truce sealed by some Gallagher brothers who, after decades of insults in public, fights and seedlings, took the stage seized from the arm. By the time they reached WonderWall, Penultimate theme of the night, the older brother already made the child to the child. Aware of expectation, but with a naturalness as if they had acted yesterday, Noel (58 years) and Liam (52 years) dedicated themselves for two hours to what they know best: a fresh and scoundrel rock, with rabidly lively guitars, thunderous and letters that are already part of the collective memory.
A decibels equalizer on a screen on the stage advanced to 75,000 souls delivered that the great moment was about to arrive, but not before recalling, through a mounting of press articles and countless publications on social networks, the frenzy that had preceded the announcement of last summer that the best musical export of Manchester in decades, this time, returned.
Liam, dressed in one of his recognizable dark hood jackets, tambourine in hand, and Noel with a blue shirt and his inseparable guitar, reeedited their usual roles on stage: the first, planted before the microphone, as always, practically eating it, and the older, comfortable brother, with his usual poise, heart and brain, respectively, of a group that has marked a group that has marked a group.
Roll With It, Slide Away o Acquiesce They did not miss in the repertoire of a band that in Cardiff put the pistons at full performance. Oasis knows how to delight his fans, one and a half million tickets are not exhausted in hours by chance, and avoided unnecessary experiments. That attendees wanted to hear, achieving the impossible: that it seems that time had stopped in 2009, the year in which the group separated.
Next to them, to the guitars, Paul Bonehead Arthurs, the only member of the original squad, who did not share the stage with the Gallagher since 1998, and Gem Archer, another old acquaintance of the Oasis history, like Andy Bell, the bass. The only one that this Friday premiered with the band was the battery, Joey Wararker.
They were the ones who remained when, after nine songs, including Supersonichis first great success, Liam left the stage for the first time, but not last at night, to pass the role in exclusive to Noel. Hardly by chance, the older brother opened his written turn more than 30 years ago, when, after one of his usual disputes with Liam he had first raised the group.
With more than half a century each and a long history of excesses, despite everything, in Oasis the drive of those blatant young people who managed to escape the mundane destiny that awaited most of their generation among the working class of Manchester is still evident. Liam showed that his sense of humor, caustic and rebellious, remains. “Were it worth the 40,000 pounds that cost you the tickets?” He asked the attendees with sneer, referring to the scandalous amounts caused by the band itself.
He was seen enjoying, relaxed, his voice sounded significantly better than in his years of Beady Eye and alone and there was no lack of known gestures, such as the launch of the tambourine to the public, the theme of opening of his debut album, Definitely Maybe, And probably in which the three guitars sounded best, along with the gold clasp, Champagne Supernova, which confirmed all the pools, which had anticipated that it would close the concert.
The first chords of Whatever allowed to revive the nostalgia of that Cool Britannia Uncover and proud that 30 years ago he claimed his space as a cultural and sociological movement, while Live Forever paid off an emotional tribute to died this week in car accident. In Cardiff, Oasis reigned again, demonstrating why the true kings of the britpop, The threading response to the dreary existentialism of the grunge of Seattle headed by Nirvana or Pearl Jam. His albums were eight numbers 1 between 1994 and 2008, but his validity has moved to the digital age. About 25 million people listen to them every month on platforms streaming Like Spotify, twice that Blur, his nemesis in the dominant dichotomy three decades ago, in which he went from Oasis,
More than 10 million, from 158 countries, tried to get entry when the tour was announced last summer. Among them is Shunsuke Katsura, 31, who expressly traveled from Japan to go to the first concert and this Friday I was walking through Cardiff with the great suitcase with which I had arrived from Tokyo: “I must be here to one of my friends, who is the one who got the entrance. I am a fan for many years and this is my first time in Europe.”
The atmosphere in Cardiff in the hours before the concert was electrifying. Some decided to camp to guarantee a privileged place to see Oasis on stage for the first time in 16 years. The next roads were cut to traffic, which helped generate an almost festival atmosphere among thousands of enthusiasts of all ages, although with a remarkable concurrence of twenty -year
This is the case of Max Ellison, 21, who admitted that the passion for Oasis is a family legacy: “They began to like me since I was very small, for my parents, and that they were not from the fifth of the Gallagher: they exceeded 30 years when Oasis emerged, so this passion is an intergenerational issue in our house.”
The commitment of the majority of fans in the Welsh capital was almost militant. Diligently dresses for the occasion, next to the shirts with the emblematic group logo, the black and white rectangle with the word ‘oasis’ written in italic helvética, the star garment was the equipment specially designed by Adidas, which made the immediate vicinity of the mainity stadium seem more to a football match than a rock concert. The most popular accessory, however, was the fisherman’s hat (bucket hat, In English), turned into one of the group’s identity signs, as the mural with the faces of Liam and Noel composed of 3,000 of these black and white caps that were erected in Cardiff.
Since the Gallagher have refused to give interviews, nobody knows with certainty that he has gathered them again, 16 years after Noel left Oasis, as he would say, because “I could not continue working with Liam or one more day.” It was in August 2009 in Paris, just before going on stage in rock in Siene. Some theories suggest that it is to finance his divorce from his wife for 12 years, Sara McDonald; Others, which was a bet that the brothers would have made with Pep Guardiola, Manchester City coach: if the Oasis team would return (the team rose with the maximum continental title in 2023); And of course there is no lack of those that attribute the merit who has suffered the most the enmity of his offspring.
What is clear is that, once the current journey is over, if the brothers are encouraged again, their motivation will hardly be money. The figures vary, but it is believed that the tour of 41 concerts, 17 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the rest spread over America and Oceania, until November 23 in Brazil, will earn 50 million pounds (about 58 million euros) to each, an amount that exceeds the accumulated during their previous career. There are British media that throw above, and ensure that each brother will pocket the equivalent of 3.5 million euros per concert. Of course, given his history of fights and seedlings, none will see a pean of what was agreed until they step on the stage, although both seemed to have taken their return extremely seriously.
Liam has left behind excesses to fond to run and, despite his arthritis problems, which have led him to need a hip prosthesis, it is usual to see him doing it jogging At 6 in the morning in Hampstead Heath, one of the most popular parks in London, near his residence. For his part, Noel, the older brother not only in age, but the brain of the group, in front of the heart that represents Liam, already arrived on Tuesday in the Welsh capital in a medium as anti -star of rock as the train, the same medium used by most of the thousands of attendees on Friday, and remained religiously in all sound tests, unlike his brother, who did not consider it necessary.
The two Cardiff appointments suppose the great warming for the next scale, Manchester, its hometown, where Oasis has scheduled five dates, as in the Wembley London stadium, where they will bring together the largest number of attendees, 90,000. It is at least, the forecast, since no one dares to rule out that one of the most lucrative tours of history ends up early by a fraternal dispute. After what was seen in the mainity Stadium, however, it would be surprising. Over the half century and, according to both, after leaving their wild days behind, the Gallagher show having learned from the past and already
