The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia) September 9, 2005 Friday
BYLINE: Elaine Corden, Special to the Sun
Oasis have a troubled history with Vancouver. Nine years ago (yes, it was that long), the Manchester group walked off stage after being pelted with loonies, causing a near-riot among the audience at the Pacific Coliseum.
Times have changed, though, and several ill-fated marriages and babies later, the infamously riotous Manchester rock outfit have mellowed and are finally ready to make peace with Lotusland.
Opening on the stage at GM Place with three songs from their new, return-to-form album Don't Believe the Truth (including the new single, Turn up the Sun, penned by oasis latecomer Andy Bell), Liam and Noel, the often-feuding brothers Gallagher, seemed far less arrogant than they were in their troublemaking heyday, and their notorious predilection for words that would make a sailor blush was all but gone. With only the siblings remaining from the original line-up (and the son of one of their Beatles heroes, Zak Starkey, now on drums) they are a very different band from the cocky youngsters who set the world on fire in the '90s with their hooky brand of '60s-cribbed rock.
Still singing with his hands clasped behind his back, singer-cum-lout Liam Gallagher sounded as good as ever, and seemed to be on his very best behavior.
"It's been a long time you've waited, Vancouver" said the outspoken frontman, referring to the group's contentious claim that they would never play Vancouver again "This one's for everyone here who was patient." The band then launched into the crowd favourite What's the Story? (Morning Glory) setting off a Brit-accented singalong of epic proportions.
Though the group favoured songs from their new album, and wisely avoided songs from the cocaine-addled days of Be Here Now and the loathsome 2002 record, Heathen Chemistry, they eventually gave the near sold-out crowd the hits they wanted, cranking out anthems like the perfect-Beatles rip-off Wonderwall and the barroom anthem Cigarettes and Alcohol.
If you need any further proof that the troublesome Gallaghers have mellowed in their old age, their dedication of Live Forever from their all-conquering 1994 album, Definitely Maybe, to the victims of the recent New Orleans flooding disasters, showed they are new men. The old Gallaghers, who once spat on the stage at the Grammy awards, would never have been caught dead expressing such overt sentimentality.
The crowning moment of the eve came during Champagne Supernova, an anthem from the heyday of Brit Pop that sent the crowd into a frenzy, with laddish ex-pats draping their arms around each other for a bit of early-90s reverie.
What made the event more than a revisiting of Cool Britannia, though, was the powerhouse songs from Oasis' new album. Maybe the group are off the drugs that ruined them in them six years ago.
Either way, new tunes like the decidedly pretty tribute Muhammad Ali were a fantastic sign of the future of Oasis. Though some may have written them off as has-beens, the new sounds on offer at GM Place are a hopeful sign. Amongst all their famous troubles, it may have been too easy to forget: Those brothers make some marvellous rock songs.
It may have been a long time coming for Vancouver, but it was worth the wait.
