Oasis

This is the first time Oasis have played V since it begun 10 years ago and a lot of people thought it was never going to happen. Surviving through the birth, peak and death of Britpopm, Oasis have emerged as one of a few bands that manage to stand the test of time.

Oasis are largely considered responsible for the up rise of simplistic British guitar strumming bands who mix pointless lyrics with three chords to create catchy melodic anthems. It is a winning formula, and one that Oasis haven’t strayed very far from since 1994’s ‘Definitely Maybe’.

Their live performances have always been a bit of a mixed bag, with critics slating them for being uninterested in their performances, rude to the crowd and arrogant to the last – whereas their fans loved them for being uninterested in their performances, rude to the crowd and arrogant to the last.

Whichever side of the camp you belong to you can’t deny Oasis’s arrogance on stage, or their unaltered belief that they are, and always will be, the best band in the world.

Oasis enter stage to ‘Fuckin in the bushes’, an intro that is quickly becoming their trademark entrance.

Liam Gallagher stands emotionless and collective in the centre of the stage, surveying the crowd like they are his royal subjects whilst the rest of the band takes up their positions. Straight into ‘Turn up the sun’ the opener from new album ‘Don’t believe the truth’. For the few of you that haven’t heard it it’s an Oasis by numbers rock song with a punchy chorus and a steady head bobbing drumbeat.

The band performs ‘Lyla’ and if the crowd hadn’t already gone nuts, they sure did then. This was the band so many of the crowd had bought their tickets for, and nobody was going to let that money go wasted.

Fears that Oasis were just going to drudge through all their new material were quickly written off when the band begun the opening chords of ‘Morning Glory’ which quickly turned into ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. Two classics that would have been enough to keep most of the Oasis entourage happy.

Latest single ‘Importance of being Idle’ didn’t sound nearly as good live as it did on record, but still remains as one of the best Oasis singles released in a long time, easily displacing much of 2002’s ‘Heathen Chemistry’.

Oasis found time to play ‘A bell will ring’, ‘Meaning of Soul’ and ‘Mucky Fingers’ and merged them in with the classics ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’.

Surprisingly ‘Wonderwall’ featured in the set, as did ‘Don’t look back in anger’, but the real treat was right at the end when Oasis performed a cover of the Who’s ‘My Generation’. It’s a song they have been covering for a while now and they have practically made it their own. Mod emblems and classic British iconography spanned the huge screens behind the band as Liam bellowed out ‘People try to keep us down, talking bout my generation...’.

Was it worth it? Liam Gallagher still didn’t look particularly interested with the whole proceedings and brother Noel spent the whole evening with a face like a smacked bulldogs arse. Comparatively better than last year's Glastonbury, but if it wasn’t for their fans Oasis wouldn’t be half the band they are, and maybe one day Oasis will recognize that fact.

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