On the opening night of their eagerly anticipated reunion tour, Oasis rolled back the years with a set of their greatest songs. “Nice one for coming with us over the years,” Loan Gallagher remarks as the band concludes their performance at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, their first in sixteen years. As the evening came to an end, crowds were singing along to Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger.
The band made a lot of noise. It was louder in the throng. As the 74,000-strong crowd in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium shouted every word as if they were about to burst their lungs, waves of noise smashed off the stage and bounced back.
Tens of thousands of voices raised in song, distorted guitars, pounding drums, rumbling bass, and song after song engulfed us all in an amazing whirlwind of sounds. So, 16 years after their breakup, Oasis came back as if nothing had happened.
In comparison to what Oasis would have brought on tour during their heyday, the high-def screens were larger, wider, and more active. Other than that, though, not much had changed.
“Yes, beautiful people, it’s been so long,” said Liam Gallagher.
Across the front of a stage, a group of men were playing loudly and forcefully. Standing in the middle, their frontman roared at the top of his piercing voice.
As a collective extension of the band, the crowd was right there with them the entire time, singing and pounding their arms until everyone all engulfed in a large, rocky whirlpool of music and camaraderie. It was both amazing and ridiculous.
Hello, Acquiesce, Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Supersonic, and Fade Away were among the piled-high rock hits that made up the first half of the setlist.
The audience continued to sing along with Noel’s melodic, semi-acoustic B-sides as if they were all timeless big classics during their interlude.
“Thank you very much,” said Noel, then made a joke about the controversial dynamic ticket pricing. “I hope it was worth £175 of anybody’s money. Sorry, £210. Sorry, £250.“
With the stadium yelling”, it’s just rock and roll,” Liam strode back for a roaring second half of monster anthems, which included a psychedelic stomp through D’You Know What I Mean?, an unapologetic cheesy romp through Whatever, ab massive Slide Away, and a furiously supercharged Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.
However, it is something more expensive, universal, and all-encompassing. The crowd was singing as if they were meeting noise with noise, and there were walls of guitars and walls that were collapsing. There were flares.
A projected image of the sadly deceased football player Diago Jota played while Live Forever reverberated across the stadium.