Noel Gallagher and Gem from Oasis

This post of for Andy Pennington, and old Uni friend - in fact, the only one I am still in contact with.

Last night H and I went to see Noel and Gem from Oasis, with seven other mates, at the excellent Enmore Theatre here is Sydney.

I’ve always been able to get the tickets I have wanted for all the gigs I have been interested in, but this one proved the most problematic. By that I mean it took me about twenty minutes to get into the website and get them, as opposed to the first few seconds after a release date and time. Anyway, the system went into melt down but it all came good in the end.

Andy P had been reliably informing me about this little tour of Noel and Gem’s, how amazing it was, what the set list was and how lucky I was (and jealous he was) that I got tickets. I’ve always liked Oasis but have only seen them once before, at Knebworth 10 years ago.

So I was really looking forward to this semi-acoustic gig. The thing about Oasis though is that they attract a lot of scumbags. I have seen one chav in all my time in Sydney (and that was at the football). Last night I saw three. But you can tell that most of the mainly male, Henry Lloyd, Hackett, Le Cock Sportiff, Elizabeth Duke, Polo shirt with-collar-turned-up wearing brigade had made a special effort and drank their way through a fair few schooners of the old wife-beater before, and during, the gig.

Noel and Gem took the stage without any airs and graces and just got on with the music for an hour and a quarter. Noel seemed to spend most of the time staring at his feet, and when he did speak to the crowd, it was more of a mumble into the microphone. Anyway, it was an amazing gig to be at. But for some reason most people seemed to want to talk all the way through. They’d no doubt tell their mates back home that is was the best thing since glassing their bird in some hell hole boozer back in scummersdale, when in actual fact they probably didn’t hear any of the gig, let alone remember what songs were played. I think there would have been a lot more worthy people out there who would’ve enjoyed the experience for what it was (like Andy P, but he is back in Blighty where tickets for this tour were non-existent). After all, it’s not like Noel is likely to do this tour again.

Anyway, I am quite good at zoning out when there’s lots of stuff going on around me. It’s a bit like being in a cinema when people talk, answer their phone or rustle sweet wrappers. Tossers.

The set list was ace. It included beauties like' Cast No Shadow', 'Half The World Away ', 'Talk Tonight', 'Wonderwall', 'Talk Tonight', 'Whatever', 'Strawberry Fields', 'Don’t Look Back In Anger' (which, rather surprisingly, got the biggest reaction of the night) and 'Married With Children'. But for me, the deal clincher was a stunning acoustic version of my most favourite Oasis song in the world ever (closely followed by 'Columbia' and 'Take Me Away') – 'Slide Away'. I have caught all but the very first ten seconds of the song on these two videos (here and here). And I guess I should apologise for all the people walking in the way, the people around me who were chatting, and for my very bad singing, which I'm afraid you can hear on some of these videos.

Our friends seemed to enjoy the gig. Well, kind of. Four of them had to put up with a lary seven-piece Irish tribute band singing badly, and pouring beer everywhere, behind them. Nice!