April 7, 2000
Oasis in 2000
The year 2000 has been an important and busy one for Oasis. On February 28 and 29 they released their 4th studio album, Standing On The Shoulder of Giants. It has gone platinum in Europe and word has it that a few U.S. record stores are almost sold out of the original shipments they received back in February. (I kid, I kid!)
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants has been one of the top 10 albums in the world since its release, but it's still been seen as a commercial failure in most countries. In the U.S. it barely broke into the Billboard top 25 in it's debut week and was off the top 100 in a matter of weeks. It should be noted, however, that the U.S. charts are very anti rock right now and British rock groups are almost non-existant in the U.S. In the UK, however, Oasis has always done extremely well, but Standing on the Shoulder of Giants fell out of the UK top 10 after 3 weeks and currently sits at #18. It started off fairly strong, debuting at #1 and outselling its closest competitor 14-1. Despite some of the disappointing sales figures, it is still one of the top selling albums in the world, so that ain't too bad!
Oasis also started a World Tour to coincide with the release of their album. It kicked off in Japan, then the band stopped off to do some shows in Europe, and they're currently on the North American segment of the tour. It will all wrap up with some big UK stadium shows this summer. This is Oasis' first World Tour with new bandmates Gem Archer (who replaced Bonehead on rhythm guitar) and Andy Bell (who replaced Guigsy on bass). The new band members have added a new element to Oasis' live show, making the band sound better than they ever have. Opening for Oasis on the North American leg of their tour is the Scottish band, Travis. Their album, The Man Who, has been pretty much unstoppable in the UK, where it's gone on to sell over 2 million copies!! Both the British and American media are trying to set them up as the next big thing in America, but that's not going to happen. The music scene is really screwed up now and there's no way Travis is going to make it to the top stateside, but touring with Oasis should help gain them plenty of recognition and a small but dedicated following.
During the first show of Oasis' U.S. tour they played at the Paramount Theater in Seattle and performed a cover of Neil Young's "Hey Hey, My My" as a tribute to Kurt Cobain, seeing as it was the anniversary of his death and they were playing in his home city. Go to oasisinet.com and check the tour schedule to see if Oasis will be coming to a city near you. If you're going to any of the shows then feel free to send me a review. (I'll be at the Tower Theatre show!!)
Oasis and Sony haven't been doing much to promote the new album, but there have been a few interesting TV appearances here and there. In the UK they recently performed what I heard was an amazing show on Live with Jools Holland. Now that they're in the U.S. they're appearing on some American shows; they'll be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 10 and Late Night with David Letterman on May 2. In late March Liam appeared on the utterly stupid MTV program Total Request Live where he displayed his infamous rock 'n' roll additude, leaving the host and the boy band obsessed crowd bewildered. The following day Noel and Gem appeared on VH1's The Daily One Show for a short interview promoting the new album and the new VH1 special Oasis: Behing the Music.
The Oasis: Behind the Music special premiered on VH1 on Sunday, April 2. It was a classic episode of the popular VH1 rockumentary series, detailing the Gallagher brothers' sibling rivalry and successful career. It even included interviews with Pete Townshend and Johnny Marr, who had great things to say about Oasis!! It's a fabulous episode of Behing the Music, so check it out! Go to vh1.com for air times.
Who knows what the rest of 2000 will hold for Oasis? Hopefully the Robbie Williams feud will come to an end (I'm not even going to go into that) and hopefully there will be some hit singles off SOTSOG, so it will gain the attention it deserves!