I got to the Austin Music Hall a little after 1:00; the band's buses and trucks were already there but no other fans were. People started showing up around 3:00 and a little after that the band came walking down 3rd Street. I think they'd been to the Waterloo Pub (?? I'm not from Austin so I don't know the name) as there's little else in the immediate area and I don't think they had a hotel (arrived from Dallas that morning, left for Houston right after the show).

The soundcheck started some time later. When I heard the opening of "Don't Look Back in Anger" I went over to look in the windows and to my surprise could see Noel on stage. About half-way through the check I decided to write down the songs but I think I'm missing a few. Here's what I heard: DLBIA (Noel on vocals), Roll With It (Liam on vocals), Hello (Liam), Cast No Shadow (Liam), Wonderwall (Liam), The Masterplan (Noel), I Will Believe (Noel), a song I didn't recognize at all and couldn't decipher lyrics to (Noel), Half the World Away (Noel)... then the line started forming for real so I moved back from the windows and missed anything they did after that. A short time later Noel came to the door and said hello to everyone in line. People were shouting things to him, but all I heard clearly was someone ask him to play "Sad Song." He said no. Apparently Liam had gone out the back door about the same time and taken pictures with some people back there.

The doors opened around 6:30 and there was a pretty calm dash for the stage. Just as we got up to the barrier, someone grabbed one of the girls I'd met outside, shook her by the shoulders, made a weird sound, and then ran away. It was Liam. He, Bonehead and Alan were standing at the bar on the side. Not thinking, I left my place at the front and walked over. When I got there, I realized I had nothing to say (I am very, very shy). So I just stood there. Liam was saying hello to everyone, shaking hands, and flirting a little with three attractive girls who went up to tell him they like his walk. He was paying quite a bit of attention to them, and finally one woman went over and said, "I just want to say hello to you, I don't want any sexual favors or anything." :p I went back to the crowd after this and found myself about 3 or 4 deep from the stage. I didn't think it would be too bad. The opening band, Cling., were pretty good but I couldn't hear Phoebe Augustine's vocals. The wait for Oasis wasn't that long -- maybe twenty minutes before "The Swamp Song" started and so did the pogo-ing, which was cool. But as soon as Liam came out, there was a surge for the stage. My impression is that the Austin show wasn't too bad in terms of moshing and crowdsurfing, but I started to panic during "Acquiesce." The crowd was too tight and I was already getting dehydrated (my own fault), and I had to get out but I was too far back for anyone to see I needed to be pulled out. During Supersonic, I guess I started blacking out (twice I caught myself half-way to the floor, pretty much just held up by the pressing crowd). I just started to push my way to the side, begging people to let me out. One guy finally asked if I wanted him to put me on top so I could get out, but my phobia of crowds (which had been dormant for years) was in a full-scale blow out by then and I couldn't answer him. I guess this guy could see I was freaking out because I heard him shouting at people to let me out (thank you, if you are reading this!). I finally got out of the crowd and ended up all the way in the back on my tip-toes. I can't say much about the stage antics if there were any because I couldn't see, but I thought they sounded really good (and I wished I'd brought my recorder since I didn't even stand in the crowd!).

After the show Noel came out to sign autographs, and I got my poster signed. Most people left after that but I met some other fans and, thanks to those of you who have posted about having patience and waiting until 2 a.m., I convinced some of them to wait with me to meet the band. Tracy decided to try to sweet-talk our way past security. She asked one guy where the band was and he said they were inside taking meetings. "Well," Tracy said, "we want to take a meeting with them, too!" *I* didn't -- although seeing Liam so close at the bar did stir up some latent heterosexual yearnings, but that's another story ;) -- but I wanted to see how far Tracy could get us. Not very, as it turned out; Tracy would have had to "take a meeting" with the security guy just to get inside the door. While she was still working on him, Noel came to the doorway. When he saw that there was just a handful of us, he came out and we all said hi. He said hi and we all just stood there. He could have just walked away at that point, but he stayed and asked how we were and if we wanted him to sign anything. While he was signing, Tracy asked if Liam was going to come out and Noel said, "No." When she asked why not Noel just said, "He's a cunt." I guess this is his standard comment on Liam? A little voice in the back of my head was imploring, "Speak, girl, speak!" so I managed to say, "Have fun at Maine Road next weekend." He said "yeah" and got on the bus.

He came off the bus a little while later and we walked over to talk to him. I wanted to tell him how much some of his songs mean to me, so as he was signing things I said, "Um, Noel?" I thought he would carry on signing things, but he came over to where I was standing. I said that although he's said he has trouble with lyrics, I think they're brilliant. He smiled, wrinkled his nose, and replied, "Nah, they're just alright." I disagreed and said that some of his lyrics really touch me; he looked away and said thanks. A little later I noticed Bonehead and Alan sitting on a bench. It's really, really difficult for me to ask for an autograph. But Bethany and I went over and I said, "You can say no if you want, but would you mind signing these for us?" So, of course, they said, "No!" I knew they were kidding, but I just said, "Right" and started to turn away. So they called us back and signed our stuff (although Alan didn't like my pen and asked if I had one that wasn't crap). Guigsy came out with two women and sat in gum, to the amusement of many. There was a nice little crowd by this time, sitting around talking and drinking wine. I'm not good at small talk so I didn't say anything, just sat and listened, except when Alan said something about not coming back to the States until the end of the year. I said, "What about the shows in Mesa and L.A.?" He gave me a funny look and said, "Yeah, at the end of the year" (apparently that's what he said originally but I hadn't been paying attention). Around 2 a.m. someone (Terry?) came out and said it was time to go. They got on the bus and we stood waiting for Liam to come out. People were calling to him but he just got right on the bus without even looking over. We watched the bus drive off down 3rd Street. And that was that. Nothing too exciting, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. :)

OK, if you got this far thanks for reading!
Jen'fr oneal@unm.edu