THE 1999 Y100 FEASTIVAL
On December 3 I had the good fortune of seeing Oasis (along with Beck, the Foo Fighters, Moby, and Stroke 9) at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, for Y100's annual holiday show.
I was on the floor, which was quite an exprience. The first band on was Stroke 9 and they sounded fantastic. The crowd was pretty tame during their set and it was fun to hear everyone sing along to "Little Black Back Pack", the band's current / only hit. They have several great songs on their cd, however, and I suggest you all check it out. (It's called "Nasty Little Thoughts").
Moby was on next and the crowd got a little more pushy as the techno fans tried to make their way to the front of the stage. My opinion of Moby, however, was that he sucked! Come on people, that's not music -it's noise!!
During the Foo Fighter's set I was near the back of the floor, but the view was still pretty good. I was excited to see them live, but it took me a while to get into their set. They seemed to improve as they went along, though. Dave Grohl is a pretty humorous guy, I especially loved his rendition of the Backstreet Boy's "Larger Than Life." hehehe
Okay, after the Foo Fighters it was time for the one -the only -OASIS!! I decided to work my way back towards the front of the floor. I knew the moshing would be pretty bad, but I figured I would have more fun if I moved up, since I'd be closer to Oasis and all the dedicated Oasis fans. I slowly but surely started making my way up the floor (by myself since my friend didn't want to go with me). I thought I had found a pretty good spot, but then the people next to me were saying some things that led me to believe they weren't huge Oasis fans, so I decided to get away from them. I saw some people chanting for Oasis and singing Oasis songs (I think they might've been from England), so I started working my way towards them. I tried to be pretty polite as I cut in front of everyone, so I hope no one got very annoyed at me.
Anyway, when it was time for Oasis to come on stage I was in a pretty good spot and was surrounded by other extremely excited Oasis fans. I'll never forget how crazy everyone went when Oasis took the stage. The opening song was "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and everyone seemed to be jumping up & down, and singing along. Liam's voice sounded fabulous, the sound quality was nearly perfect, and the band played just wonderfully together. Everyone should stop mourning the loss of Bonehead and Guigsy and start celebrating the addition of Gem and Andy; they are tops!!
Oasis rocked right through their short set, performing crowd pleasing hits (Supersonic, Champagne Supernova, & Wonderwall). They finished up with an incredible cover version of the Beatle's "Helter Skelter", sung by Noel. I couldn't believe how short their set was and how quickly it went by. I was also a little annoyed that they barely spoke to the crowd, but Beck did enough audience butt kissing to make up for it.
Beck was the last performer of the night, and it was a bit misleading to have him headline, because there were more Oasis fans at the show than Beck, Moby, Stroke 9 and Foo Fighters fans combined. Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, but judging by all the Oasis shirts, stickers, & banners that people were sporting, it certainly looked that way.
I moved to the back of the floor for Beck's set, since I was pretty tired from gettting shoved around so much during the Oasis set. Anyway, Beck was quite entertaining. He is a great performer and his fairly long set (when compared to that of the other bands) was a fun way to end the night. I was just glad to hear him play Loser..it's clearly his best song.
As for Oasis, they're back and they sound better than ever. The new band members make Oasis sound better as a whole, and I can't wait for the new album and the 2000 tour. I was a little disappointed that their FEASTival set was so short; they could've and should've played at least two more hits. "Live Forever" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" were missed.
All in all it was a wonderful time and I really did enjoy being on the floor, even though I took a beating.
*In related news, Noel Gallagher performed an acoustic version of a new song, "Who Feels Love", for Y100. They've been playing it on the radio all weekend and many of you have probably heard it through real audio.
It's a beautiful acoustic song, but to use Noel's own words, "It drags on a bit." I fully expect the album version to be much more catchy and appealing, though. According to Noel, it will be the second single off the next album.
*If I can get a hold of a scanner I'll post some of my FEASTival pics, so check back for that.
Click here to read another Oasis fan's wonderful FEASTival memories.
Click here for Robin's FEASTival review.
If you were at the show and have any interesting stories you'd like me to post, e-mail them to oasis_dailyshow@hotmail.com