“This is the f*cking place! This is it!” – Oasis make their long awaited return to Manchester
By George Roberts
This was the big one.
Oasis in Manchester.
The Gallagher brothers produced an electric atmosphere on their return to where it all began.
Heaton Park was the venue for this enormous reunion.
The first of five sold-out concerts in the city.
Liam and Noel brought the house down.
Bucket hats were donned as plastic cups of Brooklyn Pilsner took flight.
Amber liquid rained down as Liam generated a monumental energy amongst the crowd with an electrifying performance.
Oasis played 23 of their biggest hits to 80,000 adoring fans on Friday, July 11.
Those privileged enough to have a ticket for this gig witnessed the Mecca of the Britpop revival.
Only the best band in the world could evoke the nostalgia and positive vibrations characteristic of Britain’s golden era of pop music.
Liam and Noel captured the essence of a bygone time for an audience of Millennials, Gen-Zers and Baby Boomers.
Neil McCormick, the Daily Telegraph music critic, described the Gallagher’s reunion as being “as halcyon as Beatlemania or the Summer of Love.”
Oasis transported us to the times of vibrant colour, exuberant melody, political stability and affordable housing.
A musical time warp, many could’ve sworn John Major was the Prime Minister, Lady Diana was the Princess of Wales, a loaf of bread was 60p, and England were hosting the Euros.
Heaton Park was the reincarnation of Knebworth 96.
The Manchester-born, sky blue-supporting brothers made their way onto the stage to the sound of the provocatively titled F*ckin’ in the Bushes and roaring applause.
The blaring distorted guitar, the crashing cymbal-focused drums, and the epic opening monologue of the first track from
their 2000 album Standing on the Shoulders of Giants was the perfect introduction for this colossal moment in time.
“This Is Not A Drill!” flashed across the towering screens.
“This is the f*cking place! This is it!” Noel’s eminent words to the Manchester crowd now immortalised in history.
The famed four chords of Wonderwall crept into the air, before Noel’s guitar erupted, blasting the driving riff of Hello.
Liam’s snarling nasal rock ‘n’ roll vocals pulsated across the park.
Bedlam ensued.
“I don’t feel as if I know you, You take up all my time, The days are long and the nights will throw you away ‘Cause the sun don’t shine”
“You look f*cking stunning you should be proud of yourselves,” Liam yells out to the crowd before Manchester’s favourite sons blast the iconic, overdriven track Morning Glory.
Noel’s guitar detonated a solo to shake the earth while Liam stood with his trademark pose – hands behind his back, eyes closed, soaking it all in.
The brothers were home.
The 90s hard rock melody makers enabled a cultural rite of passage for many British young men and women that night.
Liam, the impresario, instructed the crowd to face away from the stage, as the legendary riff from Cigarettes and Alcohol sent fans bouncing up and down, punching the air to Noel’s guitar.
Noel carried the audience through a joyous and sentimental journey of Talk Tonight, Half the World Away and Little by Little.
Liam injected the spirit of Oasis once more with Stand by Me, Cast No Shadow, the song he dedicated to Richard Ashcroft (the band’s supporting act) and the almost transcendental Slide Away.
The inspiring and hopeful tune of Rock ‘N’ Roll Star ended the set before the Gallagher’s returned for the best encore any band could offer.
Mancunians embraced as brothers, fathers and sons wrapped their arms around each other belting out the words to The Masterplan, Don’t Look Back In Anger and Wonderwall.
The final chords of Champagne Supernova rang out over Heaton Park as Liam and Noel left together with their hands held high in the air.
Red, white and blue fireworks ascended from the stage, marking Oasis’s triumphant return to the home of Britpop.
In that moment, in that atmospheric rock theatre that Oasis conjured, Manchester had just witnessed history.
Biblical.
