Oasis

support The Floor Is Made Of Lava
author PP date 24/01/09 venue Forum, Copenhagen, DEN

Interestingly enough, the 10,000-capacity Forum is the only non-arena venue in Copenhagen that I've never been to, probably because most bands that play here tend to be rather terrible. Tonight seems to be the exception though as Oasis are gearing up for their second show in Denmark within two months as a response to a quickly sold-out show at the somewhat smaller Falconer Salen in November. But more on that later. On first impression, the venue reminds me of Earls Court in London which houses the annual Give It A Name festival, albeit a somewhat compressed version. What these two venues both have in common is an intimidatingly dark interior with lights dimmed, and what's worse, queues, queues, queues and more queues. Everything is smoothly organized with enter-exit queuing structures set up to everything, but the problem seems to be that the ratio of stalls to people seems to be far too low. After queuing 10 minutes to the press-booth, another 10 minutes awaited for the cloakroom, followed by 20 minutes to withdraw cash (none of the bars accept credit card), only to discover that in order to buy a beer I'd probably have to queue for at least 45 minutes. Great. That's not something I was prepared to do considering Oasis were about to start their set in half that time.

But before we get onto the Oasis review, let me say a few words about The Floor Is Made Of Lava, by whom I only managed to catch just over one song, thanks to the ever-annoying Danish timetabling system where the tickets say "show starts at 20:00" even though support band has been playing for 15-20 minutes at that time. They seemed much more professional and interesting on stage than I had imagined, showing plenty of energy and ability to play in front of thousands upon thousands of people comfortably. I've read that these guys are supposed to be one of the best live acts in Denmark, and if the one song I saw was anything to judge on, that might just be correct. No rating though considering I only saw one song, but an eye-opener for sure, expect some more coverage of these guys on our pages.

Oasis

After the 30 minute pause in which I was desperate for a pint of beer but unable to obtain one due to the immense queue-length to every single bar, the lights dim, and Oasis come on the stage to the rhythm of "Fuckin' In The Bushes", which to my disappointment is just coming from a backing track as the band are setting up. "Rock 'n' Roll Star" gets people moving and singing along straight away though, and the huge singalong in "Lyla" foreshadows what tonight's show is supposed to be all about, a sequence of singalongs from the eight or nine thousand or so people who have packed into Forum tonight. The band's stage setup is as grand as you'd expect from multi-platinum selling superstars like Oasis, with four massive vertical video screens behind the band showing both retro-styled live picture from what's happening on stage and strange enough video material to make someone on a substance go "WTF?". In between the songs and during instrumental moments, vocalist Liam either disappears off stage (especially during Noel's songs he is nowhere to be seen) or stands in front of the band with a somewhat arrogant expression, as if he was inspecting his minions (the crowd) and making sure they are living up to his standard.

"Is there anybody from England here tonight?", he then asks, and small clusters of "YEAH" echo from different parts of the venue. "This song is for you", and the band begins their fifth track "Cigarettes & Alcohol", the last song in which there's a crowd response for a while. The next three tracks are terrible choices for an Oasis setlist, and it's starting to look like the crowd is falling asleep during the dreamier moments of "The Meaning Of Soul" and "To Be Where There's Life", both taken from the band's newest two records "Don't Believe The Truth" and "Dig Out My Soul". For a moment, I even forgot that I was at an Oasis show as I was immersed in the video screens during these songs. Before "The Masterplan", Liam manages to wake up the crowd though by merely noting "this is known as time-wasting in England" before strolling a few laps around the stage. Those who have been to England will know that that's exactly how 'chavs' look like all the time, and I have to admit, Oasis does indeed look like five chavs from England on stage. They act arrogant, and they play their songs sloppily and with little joy. It's one thing to feel painful to watch a band stand still like statues for the entirety of their set, which Oasis have perfected into an artform, but it's taken to a new level when the cherished "because maybeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" & "that saves meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"'s from "Wonderwall" are merely cut into "because maybe" and "that saves me". Way to ruin a fantastic song; if it wasn't for the entire venue filling in for Liam's missing parts this would've been a miserable rendition of a 90s classic.

Now that we're on the negative side of things, what the hell is up with the shitty setlist tonight? Where are songs like "Let There Be Love", "Gas Panic", "Who Feels Love", "Go Let It Out", "D'You Know What I Mean", "All Around The World", "Stand By Me", "Some Might Say", and a bunch of other classics? Why throw in songs like "Ain't Got Nothing", "Supersonic" and "Falling Down" when you've got so much better songs to choose from!? The Beatles cover that the band finishes things with is interesting, but I'd be lying if I wouldn't rather sing along to "All Around The World" instead. I'm guessing that these guys are coming to Roskilde this year, and the reason they haven't announced the band yet is because they wanted to sell as many tickets as possible to this show, so I'm hoping that the atmosphere will be better at the festival than here. I've read that the band's quality of performance swings a lot on a night-by-night basis, so maybe it's just an off-night tonight. Regardless, tonight Oasis merely look like washed up 90s rockers who are trying to forget their glory days in favour of a more artsy approach, and it's not working for me.

5

Setlist:

1. Fuckin' In The Bushes

2. Rock 'n' Roll Star

3. Lyla

4. The Shock Of The Lightning

5. Cigarettes & Alcohol

6. The Meaning Of Soul

7. To Be Where There's Life

8. Waiting For The Rapture

9. The Masterplan

10. Songbird

11. Slide Away

12. Morning Glory

13. Ain't Got Nothing

14. The Importance Of Being Idle

15. I'm Outta Time

16. Wonderwall

17. Supersonic

--Encore--

18. Don't Look Back In Anger

19. Falling Down

20. Champagne Supernova

21. I Am The Walrus (The Beatles cover)

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