On January the 8th oasis kicked off their 1998 North American tour at The Blockbuster/Sony Entertainment Centre [E-Centre] in Camden, New Jersey. I was lucky enough to be at this show, and it looked to me like oasis was having a pretty good time performing, something they didn't appear to be having when I saw them in September of '96. I think the crowd had a lot to do with the success of Thursday night's show. While oasis' popularity in the U.S. is nothing near what it is in most countries, there didn't appear to be a lack of true oasis fans at the concert. When enclosed, the E-Centre seats around 7,000 people, and on Thursday the place was packed, all but a couple lone seats were occupied. The concert was sponsored by the popular Philly rock station, Y100, who had a pre-concert party with oasis & a few lucky fans. Before the show a crowd of 'mad for it' fans gathered around the Y100 hummer, singing oasis tunes while waiting for the D.J. to hand out backstage passes. Only a few passes were given out. (I was hoping they'd be giving out a lot more, because I really wanted to meet the band. ...Oh well...)
The opening band was Cornershop who are just starting to gain some recognition in America with their song 'Brimful of Asha'. The crowd was fairly interested in Cornershop's performance, but few sang or danced along. In my opinion they sounded quite good, especially during 'Sleep on the Left Side' & 'Brimful of Asha'. Once Cornershop finished their set [which lasted about 45 minutes], it was about another half hour before oasis came on. Finally the lights darkened & everyone stood up, knowing that oasis was about to take the stage. A recording of 'The Boys Are Back In Town' filled the E-Centre, letting all the fans know that Britain's "bad boys" were about to appear. When oasis finally took the stage, the crowd screamed and danced about as Liam asked, "Are ya mad fer it?!"
Oasis began the show with a wonderful performance of the catchy rock song, Be Here Now. They followed that up with Stand By Me, Supersonic, Some Might Say, Roll With It, & D'You Know What I Mean? [which I felt was one of their best performances of the night]. After that Liam took a break & Noel did a two song acoustic set, which included a beautiful version of Don't Go Away that almost the whole crowd sung along to. He finished off his solo-set with an acoustic version of David Bowie's Heroes. After the acoustic set, the rest of the band rejoined Noel for a great performance of Don't Look Back In Anger. When that was over, Liam came back out for Wonderwall, which naturally got a great reaction from the crowd. After Wonderwall it was time for my favorite song, Live Forever, the band sounded great on it. Next came It's Getting Better, (Man!!) During the guitar solo, Noel appeared to be having a problem with his guitar & a new one was rushed out to him. After the song he apologized to the crowd, but the apology wasn't really necessary, the song still sounded great despite the guitar problems. The last song of the night was Cigarettes & Alcohol, but the band did come back out for a one song encore. They chose Fade In-Out, and while they were performing it a screen in the background showed clips from what I believe was The World's Fair. The footage went well with the song, especially the line, "Get on the rollercoaster, the fair's in town today..." Also, the words "Greatest Show on Earth" came up, which was quite fitting, because as far as the 1990s is concerned, oasis is the greatest show on Earth. Just ask anyone who was at the E-Centre on January 8th.
A few hours before the concert, Noel Gallagher stopped by the Y100 studio for an on air interview. For pictures of that and other concert photos, go to Y100's incredible web page by clicking on the photo below.
*This picture is taken from Y100's website. I take no credit for it.
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