I’m seeing them in Dublin next weekend so I’ve been revisiting the Oasis Bandsplain episodes to get hype and just wanted to say thank you 🫶 This piece made me quite emotional!! Also thanks for validating my ill advised financial decision to travel to see them and not wait for the US shows lol
I was at this same show! I'm based in Chicago, but I'm a huge Britpop fan (also saw blur at Wembley in 2023) and I wanted to see Richard Ashcroft too. You really captured the vibe - the community and sincerity and joy was so magical! It felt great, even when I was crying. And for me, it is really special to be doing something I know my younger self would be so excited about. Not everything I liked as a teen had staying power, but Oasis did! I am curious to see how the Chicago crowd will be next week.
I too am curious how the experience/crowd vibe at the LA show will be in comparison ! I’m guessing less of all the above but maybe I’ll be totally surprised
What an experience, Yasi! Glad you got to experience it. I used to think that I was above nostalgia, but of late that pit in my Gen X stomach is either something I should talk to my doctor about or just the aching for some imagined perfect past. I’m nostalgic for nostalgia shows that I experience second hand! Does that make any sense? I just want every show to be epic…and some are and some aren’t. Always chasing something! Anywho…thanks for the great piece
I've said this but we (New Zealand), got skipped again by Oasis. The last time they played here was 1998 where they played a hilariously bad gig here in Wellington. My cousin was there, he can confirm the general shiteness of it at the time, but in retrospect would have been amazing!
'Moments before Oasis were due on stage, someone handed Liam a kazoo – and the front man decided to make full use of it. “The very first song is basically Liam missing some of the words because he's blaring out that kazoo,” says Sahota.'
I am jealous reading all the reports from the Wembley show. I have tickets for Chicago and every time I think of it I am first excited and then hit with the reality that is Cage the Elephant. C'mon give Americans Ashcroft! What about Weller??? I am going with my 22 year old son who wasn't alive for Brit Pop and he is a HUGE fan. (Back in the day I was Team Blur or Team Pulp. Got to see Pulp last year in Chicago and I have tickets this fall to see them in MPLS.)
I attended the July 4th show in Cardiff with a few of my closest friends and it was truly an emotional experience. I can’t remember the last time that I cried at a show, and “Half the World Away” had me unexpectedly weeping. The feeling of community and collectively sharing a lived experience with people around you that you don’t know personally, but with whom you share such a deep love of something that is associated with so many personal memories, was incredibly rare and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced at a concert before. The closest point of comparison I have is certain sporting events that felt very consequential, but this was so much more powerful because 1. music, and 2. the sporting events were borne at least in part out of some local or regional civic pride, whereas I ran into people at this show from all corners of the globe that were experiencing the same excitement and nostalgia that I was. It’s caused me to be very reflective since the show, and you are spot-on: the comedown is real.
Firstly, babe, what are those sunglasses you’re wearing? I need to know yesterday.
Also, I take nostalgia baths as a past time and that is why I am devoted to bandpsplain. Why are we not IRL friends I’ll never know. Also, I’m half Persian Azizam.
I absolutely agree with your theory on nostalgia and experiencing things for the first time. I'm devastated that I'm not able to see the lads on this tour. 😭
That was so well written Yasi. I’ve got a few friends who have been to this tour once, maybe twice. I’m still waiting for my turn (Dublin, in a couple weekends) but this was the best and most poignant description of the entire enterprise I’ve read. So glad you got to do it… you deserved it, this year above all.
I’m so glad you got to see them in old blighty and got to poznan with your brethren. Can’t wait to see them in Melbourne, not sure the vibes will match these uk shows but I’m so glad I’ll get to see them live. Too young in the 90s to see them and by the 00’s my music taste became questionable thank god for the brothers Gallagher and bone head bringing some much needed joy
It's such a shame Australia doesn't have a massive stadium geared for football/soccer. Oasis last week was my first big Wembley gig and 90,000 people crammed around a small soccer pitch is sooooo much better than spaced around a huge cricket/AFL pitch. From Sydney, so have only known the big stadium shows at the Olympic stadium there, but it all feels so disconnected and far away. Wembley is close to MCG crowd size (90k v 100k) but the Wembley footprint is only half the size of the MCG. It's electric. We need to make soccer Australia's biggest sport just so we get a 90k+ soccer stadium for big gigs.
What I am marveling at is going back over the story of them, especially the little details of the early years (1991 - 1994). These idiots (said lovingly) nearly blew it so many times as many were (the Roses, to name a few) not as lucky to defy their own asshattery to become stratospheric. The Amsterdam Incident has to be one of the funniest/dumbest things any living rock band has done before they've put out a single song.
The one thing I often wonder is can someone even do this again - not in a man doing guitar rock in the monoculture sense - but can one come from the lower classes, openly brawl, miss gigs, cause general chaos, and still Shift Culture and Speak To People like they did. Does the requirement of Total Professionalism really limit what popular music can do? Just wondering out loud.
Anyway, loved the write up and confirm everything you said, as I attended Night One at Wembley. Magical show. Absolutely biblical.
I’m seeing them in Dublin next weekend so I’ve been revisiting the Oasis Bandsplain episodes to get hype and just wanted to say thank you 🫶 This piece made me quite emotional!! Also thanks for validating my ill advised financial decision to travel to see them and not wait for the US shows lol
Going in Dublin is gonna be magic
Would love a The Verve Bandsplain episode!
I was at this same show! I'm based in Chicago, but I'm a huge Britpop fan (also saw blur at Wembley in 2023) and I wanted to see Richard Ashcroft too. You really captured the vibe - the community and sincerity and joy was so magical! It felt great, even when I was crying. And for me, it is really special to be doing something I know my younger self would be so excited about. Not everything I liked as a teen had staying power, but Oasis did! I am curious to see how the Chicago crowd will be next week.
I too am curious how the experience/crowd vibe at the LA show will be in comparison ! I’m guessing less of all the above but maybe I’ll be totally surprised
I am also going to LA night 2 with my sister and I have repeatedly explained that it is okay to wear Oasis merch to the show!
What an experience, Yasi! Glad you got to experience it. I used to think that I was above nostalgia, but of late that pit in my Gen X stomach is either something I should talk to my doctor about or just the aching for some imagined perfect past. I’m nostalgic for nostalgia shows that I experience second hand! Does that make any sense? I just want every show to be epic…and some are and some aren’t. Always chasing something! Anywho…thanks for the great piece
makes total sense to me bruv
online support group for the Oasis comedown? Their (v.good) social videos they post after each show/city are making it worse.
truly need to be institutionalized (briefly) over this
I've said this but we (New Zealand), got skipped again by Oasis. The last time they played here was 1998 where they played a hilariously bad gig here in Wellington. My cousin was there, he can confirm the general shiteness of it at the time, but in retrospect would have been amazing!
'Moments before Oasis were due on stage, someone handed Liam a kazoo – and the front man decided to make full use of it. “The very first song is basically Liam missing some of the words because he's blaring out that kazoo,” says Sahota.'
https://boilerroom.substack.com/p/they-came-to-nz-and-they-ballsed
Not a kazoo
I am jealous reading all the reports from the Wembley show. I have tickets for Chicago and every time I think of it I am first excited and then hit with the reality that is Cage the Elephant. C'mon give Americans Ashcroft! What about Weller??? I am going with my 22 year old son who wasn't alive for Brit Pop and he is a HUGE fan. (Back in the day I was Team Blur or Team Pulp. Got to see Pulp last year in Chicago and I have tickets this fall to see them in MPLS.)
I attended the July 4th show in Cardiff with a few of my closest friends and it was truly an emotional experience. I can’t remember the last time that I cried at a show, and “Half the World Away” had me unexpectedly weeping. The feeling of community and collectively sharing a lived experience with people around you that you don’t know personally, but with whom you share such a deep love of something that is associated with so many personal memories, was incredibly rare and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced at a concert before. The closest point of comparison I have is certain sporting events that felt very consequential, but this was so much more powerful because 1. music, and 2. the sporting events were borne at least in part out of some local or regional civic pride, whereas I ran into people at this show from all corners of the globe that were experiencing the same excitement and nostalgia that I was. It’s caused me to be very reflective since the show, and you are spot-on: the comedown is real.
I was at the first Cardiff show too and the singalong and pure collective joy during Half The World Away was magic
😭
Firstly, babe, what are those sunglasses you’re wearing? I need to know yesterday.
Also, I take nostalgia baths as a past time and that is why I am devoted to bandpsplain. Why are we not IRL friends I’ll never know. Also, I’m half Persian Azizam.
The sunglasses are old Celine!! There’s a pretty good dupe from this Italian company I’ll find the link
You gorgeous gem.
https://www.nau.it/it/biobased-1s.html
Love love love that Kundera novel. And all of his other ones too. Especially The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and The Joke.
I’ve read Unbearable Lightness the most but all his books are so good
I absolutely agree with your theory on nostalgia and experiencing things for the first time. I'm devastated that I'm not able to see the lads on this tour. 😭
That was so well written Yasi. I’ve got a few friends who have been to this tour once, maybe twice. I’m still waiting for my turn (Dublin, in a couple weekends) but this was the best and most poignant description of the entire enterprise I’ve read. So glad you got to do it… you deserved it, this year above all.
❤️
It's been four weeks since the Cardiff concert and I am still convinced that I peaked in life that night. I'm not joking.
Damn straight. They got King Richard and we get Cage the fucking Elephant. Truer words were never spoken.
Again, with love and respect of course
I’m so glad you got to see them in old blighty and got to poznan with your brethren. Can’t wait to see them in Melbourne, not sure the vibes will match these uk shows but I’m so glad I’ll get to see them live. Too young in the 90s to see them and by the 00’s my music taste became questionable thank god for the brothers Gallagher and bone head bringing some much needed joy
Australia I’m sure will go ham
It's such a shame Australia doesn't have a massive stadium geared for football/soccer. Oasis last week was my first big Wembley gig and 90,000 people crammed around a small soccer pitch is sooooo much better than spaced around a huge cricket/AFL pitch. From Sydney, so have only known the big stadium shows at the Olympic stadium there, but it all feels so disconnected and far away. Wembley is close to MCG crowd size (90k v 100k) but the Wembley footprint is only half the size of the MCG. It's electric. We need to make soccer Australia's biggest sport just so we get a 90k+ soccer stadium for big gigs.
What I am marveling at is going back over the story of them, especially the little details of the early years (1991 - 1994). These idiots (said lovingly) nearly blew it so many times as many were (the Roses, to name a few) not as lucky to defy their own asshattery to become stratospheric. The Amsterdam Incident has to be one of the funniest/dumbest things any living rock band has done before they've put out a single song.
The one thing I often wonder is can someone even do this again - not in a man doing guitar rock in the monoculture sense - but can one come from the lower classes, openly brawl, miss gigs, cause general chaos, and still Shift Culture and Speak To People like they did. Does the requirement of Total Professionalism really limit what popular music can do? Just wondering out loud.
Anyway, loved the write up and confirm everything you said, as I attended Night One at Wembley. Magical show. Absolutely biblical.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6qBHr173idmkENchiwgp5I?si=ZTU_t5paRC20kN-4Cv14Lw
This was ace. Get to fuck!!!
💙