Oasis @ UIC Pavilion (6/20/2005)

The Man With The Masterplan: Noel Gallagher of Oasis (Photo By: Chris Castaneda)

"Oasis have always been at their best when they didn't give a fuck."

That remark serves as an introduction to the latest Oasis tour program. What it should probably say is, "Liam and Noel Gallagher have always been at their best when they didn't give a fuck." The main message behind the program is that Oasis have been reborn. This has been the main message for the past five years since 2000's Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants. With their sixth album Don't Believe The Truth debuting at #12 on Billboard (the band's highest debut on U.S. charts since 1998's Be Here Now), their largest U.S. tour in seven years highlighted by a sold-out date at Madison Square Garden, and brothers Gallagher already at each other's nerves a month into their current tour, Oasis seem to be up to their old tricks during their best success in years.

Before returning to Chicago for a sold-out show at the UIC Pavilion, fans in Italy and Belgium had the unfortunate opportunity to be in the same room during classic Oasis stage drama. It was reported that during a June 4th stop in Brussels a displeased Noel Gallagher lectured his younger brother, singer Liam, in-between songs which later led to Liam's exit. Just a week later at the Heineken Jammin' Festival in Imola, Italy, Liam departed during "Champagne Supernova" and left it to Noel to keep the show together. Both times Liam left the shows fans described his demeanor on stage as drunk.

"I carry madness everywhere I go," sang a snarling Liam as Oasis lit up the stage while their Chicago-Anglophile worshipping contingent bathed in the glow of "Turn Up The Sun." After recent events and past tour sins, that opening line really captured the stormy cloud of uncertainty that follows Oasis from album to album, tour to tour. The band stacked up seven songs from Don't Believe The Truth in their primary set while past glories from 1994's debut Definitely Maybe and 1995's (What's The Story) Morning Glory? filled out the rest of the show. Liam did his usual stroll around the stage when his presence wasn't required at the microphone or took a seat off to the side of the stage when it was Noel's turn to lead in song. Liam was in a chatty mode but whatever that was said was most likely lost to the rest of the crowd as it indiscernibly echoed out to every corner of the venue.


(Photo By: Chris Castaneda)

The band's Spinal Tap luck with drummers continues as the offspring of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, Zak Starkey, took to the kit, replacing longtime drummer Alan White. Starkey has been The Who's drummer since 1996 and joined Oasis after White was asked to leave by the band in January 2004 while recording sessions were underway for a new album. Starkey made his debut with Oasis on June 23, 2004 at the Poole Lighthouse in England. Bringing his own kind of flare to the band, Starkey attacked the songs with a furious excitement. Guitarist Gem Archer (Heavy Stereo) and bassist Andy Bell (Ride) have filled into their roles since being brought into the whirlwind world of Oasis over 4 years ago. Then there was Noel Gallagher, still a performer of very little steps during a song, who was almost at a distance as if making sure the ship was being steered in the right direction.


Liam Gallagher (Photo By: Chris Castaneda)

The band's live performances are often criticized for its lackluster attempt to "mach shau," to make a show for the crowd. Nowhere does it say bands need to give blood on stage or set themselves on fire to provide entertainment. But fans are smart enough to detect when a band is bored with their songs. As amped up arena stompers like "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and "A Bell Will Ring" pounded with volume, the energy behind them felt almost precise with little sense of adventure. The Gallaghers alone have never been an easy read. What sweat they do work up during a song could either come from them giving it their all or trying to keep up.

If there were any moments that gave the evening a taste of something different to an Oasis show, they were Noel Gallagher's sung "The Importance Of Being Idle" and "Mucky Fingers" from Don't Believe The Truth. "Mucky Fingers" was the Dylan-pop friendly take on the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man" while the mid-tempo breeze of "The Importance Of Being Idle" scored with an element that has been missing in their creative output over the years: melody.


Gem Archer (Photo By: Chris Castaneda)

The rest of the show fell back on the band's classics like "Champagne Supernova," "Wonderwall," and "Don't Look Back In Anger." To say it was the kind of setlist that covers the band's catalog would be a lie--any material from the band's third album Be Here Now was a no show as if in Noel Gallagher's mind it was an album that some other band made, not Oasis.

Liam's voice never wavered, and Noel never lectured his singing brother. Musically, each member was the best at what he did and made the band as solid as a wall, but the bricks that have made this wall what it is today, the songs, still haven't come in any new shape. As St. Liam stepped towards the edge of the stage balancing his tamborine on top of his head during the end of "Rock 'N' Roll Star," you almost knew that all the overbearing self-assurance and self-righteousness in his mind about Oasis was still strong.


Madferit In Chicago (Photo By: Chris Castaneda)

For the fans who packed the UIC Pavilion, Oasis' largest headlining show in Chicago since 1998's Rosemont Horizon date, they applauded every note and every word the band produced. Whether or not a few fans whole-heartedly accepted the truth Oasis was singing about, it couldn't be heard over the roar.

When asked if it was worth the wait to hang out by the band's tour buses for a possible autograph a security guard replied, "There's two after parties. They're getting fucked up. Shows you how much they give a fuck about their fans." Perhaps that's the average assessment of Oasis today. Maybe that's what broke the backs of fans who gave their time and money to this band at the height of the popularity almost ten years ago. But the measure of appreciation for their fans isn't how many autographs they sign or how available they make themselves to others, it rests on the shoulders of their music.

In a 2002 special edition of the English magazine Q, a list was compiled of the Top-50 Oasis fan favorites. It's kind of telling that the #2 choice, "Acquiesce" (a B-side), was described as, "one of Noel's greatest songs because it's one that borrows least from The Beatles, or from anyone." To some fans that have stuck with the band this far into their career, through lineup changes, cancelled shows, breakup rumors, and overblown arguments between brothers, they may still be waiting for Oasis to make a real Oasis song for a change. The sold-out crowd inside the pavilion still begged the question: has the image of Oasis overshadowed the music? Is America missing something that the United Kingdom knows about Oasis? Or is America just quick to say, "Enough is enough," when its heard one too many songs that sound the same?

The music should always be the focus; not the tired, old antics of two brothers in a band.