Oasis in Finsbury Park 2002

'They say British rock n' roll's dead. Not while I'm still breathing, it isn't.' Liam Gallagher, 5 July 2002
 
Here the fact remains. Whilst Oasis continue to include Liam and Noel, and their setlist continues to include 'Don't Look Back In Anger', 'Live Forever', 'Cigarettes And Alcohol' or any of twenty other classics, unless something incredible happens and The Coral, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, The Libertines or any of these other new pretenders suddenly write a classic album, Oasis will forever remain unchallenged as the living embodiment of what is great about British music, a  microcosm of every great band. An amalgamation of every ego, and every chord change.

Any album following Definitely Maybe and What's The Story (Morning Glory)? Will always be standing in the shadow of giants, and where Heathen Chemistry is no challenge for the latest Doves or Charlatans album, they prove today that in muddy sing along terms, it's as good as anything they've produced.

They make us pay for it though, and before the Gallaghers take stage a whole host of sideshow freaks are thrown at us, each with a novelty factor of their own. Witness The Coral. Musos. A whole litter of them, each only about nineteen years old. There's definitely something going on, and whilst 'Shadows Fall' and even their single 'Skeleton Key' wash over the heads of most people, there's the ingratiated hope that pretty soon they'll write something resembling a song. Y'know, one with a tune.

Proud Mary's only reason for being here is to make everyone else look a whole lot better. They succeed, not that Soundtrack Of Our Lives needed any of it. As jubilantly entertaining as they are hairy Scandinavians, they blister away the drizzle and set things up perfectly for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to sour down the whole tone of things to drub through 'Love Like A Fever' et al. They're nothing if not consistent.

Which is something one would find hard to say about The Charlatans. Having mauled their back catalogue at Glastonbury, all guns blaze and all eyes glaze as a finely tuned Tim heads a supersonic depth charge through ten years of tragic, magic dust and melody. 'Impossible', 'Weirdo', 'One To Another', 'You're So Pretty, We're So Pretty'; it doesn't really get any better than this.

The familiar roll of 'Fuckin' In The Bushes' heralds the end of the two year rush for Oasis' capital return. 'Hello' would have been a storming opener had Liam's mic not been turned down, but the hits follow as a playful yet slightly muted (sober possibly?) Liam full of usual lustre and swagger heads the biggest sing-alongs of the summer. In the terrace anthem stakes, there's little to separate new tunes 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out', 'Little By Little' and the fantastic 'Born On A Different Cloud' from vintage 'Acquiesce' and the rarely performed 'She's Electric' (sung by Noel).

Emerging for the encore, the band nimbly evade a final hurdle of predictability that might have ruined the overall effect, by neglecting to play Supersonic and Champagne Supernova. Instead, we are treated to a rousing rendition of 'My Generation', dedicated to the memory of recently deceased Who bassist John entwistle.

Oasis have never innovated and they're not about to start now. What they need to do is recognise that peaks have been reached and maybe set other ideals and strike different heights. Heathen Chemistry is a fantastic step in that direction, and as forty thousand people have it in the miserable mud of north London, Oasis are as vital as they have ever been, just in a different way, on a different cloud, man.

The full set list was:

Fucking In The Bushes
Hello
The Hindu Times
Hung In A Bad Place
Go Let It Out
Columbia
Morning Glory
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Little By Little
D'you Know What I Mean
Cigarettes And Alcohol
Live Forever
Better Man
She's Electric
Born On A Different Cloud
Acquiesce
Force Of Nature
Don't Look Back In Anger
Some Might Say
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My Generation