Music review: Oasis surprises and thrills in Rose Bowl stunner

Oasis performs at the Rose Bowl Photo by Donovan Roche Times of San Diego The Gallagher brothers more than made up they made history Returning to the U S after a -year hiatus following their breakup Oasis brought their Live Tour to North America for just five stops including two sold-out shows Sept - at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena News of the Britpop band s reunion caught a great number of by surprise as the bickering brothers had been estranged for nearly two decades And yet they reportedly sold out all their shows in an hour that s approximately tickets across both nights in Los Angeles Following a captivating intro video depicting their unlikely return with news headlines like Gallaghers Put Feud Aside to Plot Reunion and Oasis Reunited Liam and Noel walked out the first night holding each other s hands in the air and sharing a warm embrace before launching into Hello with a simple line lifted from the song Good to be back With such a start it appeared the hatchets had been buried The question was would they remain there or resurface before the tour much less the night concluded Despite the balmy Southern California night Liam sported his signature parka and amber sunglasses striking his trademark pose arms behind his back hands clasped leaning up into the mic for electric openers including Acquiesce and A few Might Say It was a night filled with offbeat dedications from Morning Glory This one is for my old mate Woody Woodpecker Liam declared and Bring It On Down for all the sword swallowers to Half the World Away for the Irish in the house and D You Know What I Mean dedicated to the warriors At Liam revealed a lighter more playful side than in his notoriously smug youth Setting up Slide Away a song for the lovebirds in the house the singer poked fun at Coldplay s kiss cam saying It s we don t give a shit Later he signaled for the sound tech to turn up his mic Once improved the appreciative frontman blew him a kiss a gesture he generously doled out to fans throughout the night One thing speedily became clear in Oasis two-hour -song set both the sound and visuals shimmering across the Rose Bowl s monstrous wall of video screens were spectacular Liam s voice was crisp and vibrant Noel s guitar sparkled throughout and the imagery transported you to a psychedelic world where Oasis reigned supreme Though the band never matched their UK dominance in the U S their first two albums s Definitely Maybe and s What s the Story Morning Glory produced hits that captured the zeitgeist of mid- s alt-rock That legacy was alive and well tonight even when Liam wandered into a meandering tale about swimming with a shark named Mark off Santa Monica before teasing concertgoing Angelenos for inevitably being stoned and then coaxing them to bounce to the party anthem Cigarettes Alcohol Just jump up and down he commented It s really easy even I can do it Not that the crowd needed prompting While not as manic as the response in Wales when the tour kicked off in July the Rose Bowl was clearly vibing from the floor to the rafters on songs like Supersonic the driving Roll With It and set-closing Rock n Roll Star The night also had its poignant moments About midway through their set Liam left the stage and let his big brother take the lead on three songs beginning with Talk Tonight As it happens the San Francisco woman who inspired the song and talked Noel out of quitting the band in was in the audience Afterward she posted to her Instagram years and worth the wait Of lesson being in L A this show also attracted numerous celebrities But the only one that really mattered was Paul McCartney who has a long history with the band from The Beatles influence on Oasis to the conflict that emerged when Liam claimed at the height of their popularity that they were bigger than The Fab Four So when the Manchester boys incorporated a snippet of Octopus s Garden at the end of Whatever as an homage to The Beatles and McCartney was seen using his phone to film portions of the concert which he later called Fabulous it seemed like perhaps this rivalry was also certainly laid to rest Under a bright full moon the band rounded out by guitarists Paul Bonehead Arthurs and Gem Archer bassist Andy Bell keyboardist Christian Madden and drummer Joey Waronker moved toward their encore with the soaring Live Forever As Liam s voice gave way to Noel s wailing guitar the singer unplugged his mic and handed it to a lucky fan up front The four-song encore included Wonderwall the song that introduced plenty of U S fans to Oasis but its emotional apex was the Noel-fronted Don t Look Back in Anger Pointing to a young girl in the front row the guitarist disclosed This next song is for you and then let the crowd know She s been in tears the whole night this girl As the camera panned to the girl in her Oasis T-shirt sobbing uncontrollably the scene was uncannily reminiscent of when The Beatles invaded America in Teeing up their last song Champagne Supernova succeeded by a spectacular fireworks finale Liam now wearing a bucket hat joked It s time for me to go to bed because these days I m a little princess Turning more serious he left the crowd with I know we re hard work and we must be a f king nightmare to aid but we appreciate it A nice one for helping us put this band back on the map It was a not-so-subtle reminder of how much Oasis was the same and yet how far they ve come Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer and frequent contributor to Times of San Diego Send your story ideas to droche gmail com