All My People Right Here Right Now: Oasis at Wembley stadium 9/7/09

“Tonight I’m a rock n’ roll star”, snarls Liam Gallagher to 80,000 Oasis fans at Wembley. The first song played tonight is actually the final song they played the last time they were here. Its been almost a decade since Oasis last graced the stage at Wembley Stadium, playing two nights in support of their Standing On The Shoulder Of Giant’s album in 2000. After a triumphant first night, Liam went on the mother of all benders and turned up for the second gig still drunk, and in a foul mood. I can still recall Fuckin’ In The Bushes being blasted out of the PA system and struggling to climb onto my seat to stand up but losing a battle against the sudden jelly-like feeling in my legs, not soon before Liam swaggered on stage with some choice words. “This is for Bob Geldof, this is for fookin’ simple minds, this is for all them other idiots. But I’m glad yer made it”. Noel responded with: “I’d just like to say peace and love… this one’s called Go Let It Out” – “Says lazy arse whose been sat on his back for a year!”, quipped Liam. It was going to be one of those nights. These were dark times for Oasis. Divorces, band members walking out and critical backlashes all featured. If the 90’s was one big fat line of coke, this was the ultimate comedown.

Three albums later and Oasis are in as a good a place as they have been in years. They’ve just put out their best album since Andy and Gem joined. Dig Out Your Soul has the best collection of Noel penned tunes on an album since Be Here Now, one of Liam’s best efforts, and also the strongest song Gem has ever provided Oasis with, the psychedelic Mccartney-esque To Be Where There’s Life, which when played live is an absolute monster of a tune. They’ve almost finished the biggest world tour they’ve ever been on and Liam’s voice is sounding particularly brilliant at the moment. As was evident at Wembley, he’s holding notes longer and has got that snarl back that seemed to have gone into hiding on most of the last tour. When Liam’s on form you can really notice it too, he’s got that fire back in his belly. These aren’t bad times at all for Oasis.

What can I say about the show? well, first off there’s no gimmicks. No elephants. No fireworks. No dancers. Just a bunch of blokes playing some tunes – but it works. You won’t see Liam pulling a woman from the crowd, lying down side by side with her, and tenderly singing Slide Away into her ear, he’s not Bono. Liam’s approach is somewhat different, and unique. It’s hands behind the back, a bit of tambourine shaking and a lot of staring at the crowd. He still has the kind of stage presence that a lot of frontmen could only dream of and looks completely at ease singing to a packed out stadium. The first chunk of the set is pretty relentless. One after another a classic rocker is served up – Rock n’ Roll star, Lyla, Shock Of The Lightning, Roll With It, Cigarettes and Alcohol.

7 studio albums into their career, and a tonne of great b-sides to choose from, compiling a set list must be a painful task for Noel. A lot of it tonight you can’t really fault, there’s the crowd pleasers, the odd surprise and a few off the new album. However, when casting my eye down the complete set list, given the choice, I’d do without certain ‘big’ songs in the set. I’d rather hear a 10 minute version of Gas Panic than Wonderwall, but alot of people there are seeing them for the first time, so they’ve got to be catered for, which is fair enough. The absence of Bag It Up or The Turning is a slight disappointment. These are two of the best songs on the new album, in fact two of the best Noel has written in a long time. It’s a shame really, but Shock Of The Lightning, Waiting For The Rapture, I’m Outta Time, To Be Where There’s Life and Falling Down, just about quench my thirst for new material. They all happen to sound sickeningly good live and wouldn’t look out of place on an Oasis ‘Best Of’ compilation either. Noel must think quite highly of Falling Down to sandwich it between Don’t Look Back In Anger and Champagne Supernova in the encore, but if you’ve witnessed this live you’ll know why, it’s definitely earned its place in the set.

One of the highlight’s of the night is My Big Mouth. Who would have thought this song would creep back into the set list and actually stay there? It’s played in a slightly lower key but still sounds as ferocious as it did when I first popped Be Here Now into my CD player 12 years ago. Noel even looks like he’s enjoying playing it too, as does Andy who has apparently been campaigning to get the song back in the set for a while now. It’s nice to see that album not get completely ignored this time round. To be fair, it is met with a mixed response, a lot of people not having the faintest clue what it is, but for others it’s a nice surprise and a nod towards an album that gets too much stick. It’s on songs like this that it becomes clear the band actually has never sounded this tight, partly thanks to their 34th drummer Chris Sharrock who has a style which fits Oasis like a glove.

The only real glitch of the night, not anywhere near on the scale of the power failure at their gig in Heaton Park, was the sound cutting out during Wonderwall. Noel was quick to inform us we won’t be getting a refund though. Considering the amount of things that have halted Oasis gigs in the past – broken barriers, attacks on band members and Liam’s voice going, to name a few, this was a minor blip. There didn’t seem to be as much beer/piss throwing tonight either, so for the first time in ages I went home from an Oasis gig not smelling like a pub toilet. I Am The Walrus is the last song of the night, the same one they used to rehearse relentlessly at the Manchester Boardwalk in the early 90’s, a time when filling out Wembley was only a distant dream, let alone a 3 night sell-out. Now for that 5 year wait to relive it all over again.

Oasis played:

Fucking In The Bushes
Rock N Roll Star
Lyla
Shock Of The Lightning
Roll With It
Cigarettes And Alcohol
To Be Where There’s Life
Waiting For The Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
My Big Mouth
The Importance Of Being Idle
Half The World Away
I’m Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic
Live Forever
Don’t Look Back In Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am The Walrus

(Matt Humphrey)