Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Y-fronts

Fuji Rock 2009
Oasis (Rock)




So we drove nine hours for this.

To stand in the middle of a field getting soaked to our y-fronts. And all for a bunch of scallies from Manchester.

Oasis are headlining Fuji tonight as part of an ultramassive world tour which underlines their recent renewed success.

A huge - and I mean HUGE - roar erupts from the crowd...and here come the saviors of rock 'n' roll.

Yep, it's Noel, Liam and, er, the other guys.

The logistics of what it took to get the band here tonight are mind-boggling. How much technology must it take - airplanes, freight, generators and the rest of it - to plonk Oasis on a stage in the middle of a Japanese alpine valley?

But it seems the most natural thing in the world when their faces - familiar from a thousand TV shows and magazines - appear from the wings.

The place goes absolutely mental.

If last year Underworld received a thunderous reception from the Fuji hordes, the welcome given Oasis is absolutely deafening. The atmosphere is electric and there's a mad rush as 50,000 Japanese fans head pell-mell toward the stage.

Ouch! Look out, wontcha!?

Anyroad Noel looks pretty cool in a leather bomber jacket even though temperatures are well into the 30s. Liam's wearing one of those long green raincoat thingies from his much-ridiculed (by Noel) fashion collection.

He's gonna need it if the weather keeps on like this.

They start with Fuckin' in the Bushes, then Rock 'n' Roll Star and Lyla. It's a familiar but effective set of no-frills Oasis rock 'n' roll. Sure it's predictable, but loud and in person ya gotta admit it's quite a show.

The innate conservatism of Oasis which has always turned me off is the main reason for their success.

Their obsession with The Beatles, Stooges and Stone Roses - as well as the occasional plagiarized riff or lyric - has enabled them to sound like a classic rock band without ever actually becoming one, that rollicking first album aside.

I may not be Oasis' number one fan, but they've won me over - or worn me down - over the years. Noel has proven himself to be a genuinely amusing social commentator and his melodic gifts have turned his band into a national institution.

But glancing at my friend I notice a cavernous yawn spreading over his face. We're in a bemused minority of two among 50,000 believers. He gestures for us to leave and we head to catch the end of System 7.

When we stagger past the main stage one hour later, Oasis are still going strong. We catch the dying strains of Champagne Supernova and a cracking version of I Am The Walrus which trumps the recorded version.

Liam thanks the crowd for enduring the torrential rain - "Nice one for stickin' around in this" - but delivered in a Mancunian drawl his appreciation goes completely over the heads of his adoring Japanese fans.

Good night, Fuji Rock.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're still wearing y-fronts? How seventies!

Shiffi Le Soy said...

Heh heh. Actually I'm a boxers man, but y-fronts seemed more evocative!!

Spaewaif said...

Oasis
are
no
more...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/29/noel-gallagher-walks-out-of-oasis

Shiffi Le Soy said...

So
I
guess
I
caught
them
just
in
time.

Anonymous said...

If Oasis were an occupation they would be unskilled carpet fitters repetively lining your ears with 1970's shag-pile, laid down with the instrumental equivalence of a hammer and nails.