Allstate Arean, Chicago, IL

Q-101 Festival

Saturday 4th December 1999

by Andrew Perry

Alongside a picture of the band, Gem & Andy onstage.

ONLY THE STRONGEST WILL SURVIVE

Oasis present proof that the Bonehead/Guigs debacle was merely a short-lived chink in their armour. But will Andy Bell and Gem survive the rigours of life with Liam?

The safe option would have been an intimate, mates-only gig in a Buckinghamshire pub. instead, Oasis slouched onstage for the first time in over 18 months in far more testing and uncharacteristic circumstances. Over four nights of alt-rock radio hell around America, the running order went like this: Filter, Fiona Apple, Blink 182, Oasis, the Foo Fighters and, headlining, Bush.

Local press for the second night in Chicago all but ignored oasis's presence on the bill, despite the fact that as recently as January '98 they'd sold out the very same 16,000-seater Allstate Arena. Only the Chicago Entertainer carried a small story announcing the arrival of bassist Andy Bell from Hurricane and Gem "from the band Stereo Total [sic]".Inside the Arena, it was like a pro-Blink 182 rally. The fact that the stage was set in the round made oasis's prospects appear grimmer. Would these Pierced People pelt them offstage?

Eventually Noel strode on in a resolutely non-skate denim combo. Andy Bell already nicknamed 'Psychedelic Giraffe' - shuffled next to Alan white's drum riser, while Gem assumed the Bonehead position. And then there was…Liam, wearing one of his black Mao-cut shirts and a pair of round, black shades, jeering atop the PA, rattling a tambourine to 'Cigarettes & Alcohol'. It seemed incredibly slow for an opener, perhaps betraying the few weeks they’ve had to practice together. As "Cigarettes & Alcohol" segued intoa jam on the riff of led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", it was obvious that, for now at least, the new recruits would be following their predecessors' heads-down brief to the letter.

"We're gonna do a version of 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer', yeah, yer up for it?" taunted Liam - a reference to Blink 182's earlier singalong version of 'Silent Night' - before a snail's pace 'Supersonic'. The set seemed designed to do the exact opposite of thrash, to rekindle the kind of menace and antagonism that early oasis sent out to their audience.

Still about 200 lighters sparkled aloft around the auditorium for a lovely version of "Wonderwall", which junior Gallagher finished by kissing his tambourine enigmatically. The pace remained low but the vibes good for 'Champagne Supernova', with Gem and Noel playing face-to-face rather like Thin Lizzy might have.

Bizarrely, with the clock showing five minutes left, Liam disappeared to let Noel sing a so-so cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", only to return for the finale, give the 'cooome on!' signal and toss his tambourine into the crowd. As he stalked off the back of the stage, a couple of projectiles came back his way. What presumably was the band's choice of outro music - Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" lasted for about 20 seconds, before skate rock returned to the PA.

An hour later, at a ballady moment in the Foo Fighters' set, a miffed-looking Dave Grohl moaned, "Come on, you did the lighter thing for Oasis." Tonight, it mattered less what 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' may sound like than that, after many barren months of cuddly unfock'n'rollness, normal service was resumed in the space of a 28 minute Oasis set. Good to be back? The pleasure is all ours.

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c 2000 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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