Reports from the ACL Festival

By Jedd

September 25, 2005 08:36 AM | Link to this

Oasis, Oasis! Wow, Oasis at ACL. Gotta go to that. Unfortunately, the sound (expletive). At the beginning of the second song, people were streaming out like there was a grass fire. I was near the sound check stage, so maybe it was better right next to the stage. I have noticed that the sound this year has bled over much more from last year. Hopefully, the people enjoying the WSP show did not have to hear the horrible vocals coming over the speakers from the Oasis show. I have to fault the sound guys as well as Oasis. They did not sound like they were 100 percent into it at all. Maybe the heat got to them. Long story short, if you want to clear out a crowd at ACL, put Oasis on at 8:30.

By Thien

September 25, 2005 09:30 AM | Link to this

I thought the show was amazing tonight. I would like to know if Oasis will ever play any songs from “BE HERE NOW”?

By ecorder

September 25, 2005 03:32 PM | Link to this

Are You Kidding Me? I’ve been to hundreds of rock shows…and that was one of the most boring shows I’ve ever seen. The crowd was obviously bored. Liam acted as though we were bothering him by showing up. He sang terribly. Had zero stage presence. And mumbled through the performance like the guy on “King of the Hill.” Noel was pretty good. But the song choice for the first half of the show was terrible. In comparison to the Black Crowes the night before, The Crowes looked like rock stars, Oasis looked like a junior high garage band.

By Charlie

September 25, 2005 05:28 PM | Link to this

Oasis was disappointing. With all the venues running with clock-like precision, these guys show up almost 15 minutes late. Noel seemed drunk on stage and at one point, as I watched with binoculars, he appeared to step behind the bass player, put his hands on his knees and throw-up. If this was bad enough, he sounded terrible and could barely carry a tune. When he walked offstage a couple of times between songs, his brother tried to pick up the slack and engage the crowd, but there was no connection. No energy. Only when they finally played “Champagne Supernova” did the crowd respond a little and by then it was too late. We saw terrific acts by Aqualung, The Frames and Jet who all represented very well current and former members of the British Empire. Oasis was disappointing and their attempt at resurgence ain’t gonna make it. Compared to the Beatles? The Who? Not in this life. Put a fork in them, they’re done.

By Charlie

September 25, 2005 05:36 PM | Link to this

Oasis was very disappointing. With all the venues running with clock-like precision, these guys come out almost 15 minutes late. Noel seemed drunk on stage and at one point, after slugging down several bottles of water, he stepped behind the bass player, put his hands on his knees, and appeared to throw up. If this wasn’t bad enough, he sounded terrible—off key, raspy and couldn’t carry a tune. There was no energy. Even the times when Noel left the stage between songs and his brother attempted to get the crowd engaged, there was uncomfortable lack of resonance as he tried to get the crowd to parry with him. We enjoyed terrific high-energy acts by Aqualung, The Frames and Jet. They each well represented current and former members of the British Empire. Oasis was embarassing. A headliner? Compared to the Beatles? The Who? Not in this life. The “resurgence” is over. Put a fork in these guys, they’re done.

By Amy

September 25, 2005 05:46 PM | Link to this

No comments on Bloc Party? They were fantastic and had a great turnout. You weren’t so kind about Keane, which I think were great. Yes, their music is low key, but anyone who has heard their CD knows that.

Waiting for a write up on Bloc Party.

Thanks.

By Brad

September 25, 2005 11:08 PM | Link to this

You guys must be kidding me. The crowd was by far more into this show than any other at the fest (I was up there pretty close, though). For the poster who is mixing up Noel and Liam…get it right. To compare Jet to Oasis is like comparing the Baylor football team to UTs…no comparison. Jet was OK, but they sleep walked the performance much more. Oasis never sounds record-like live, but they do bring it with more energy (often in the form of sheer decibal levels) and many more great songs than almost all other bands out there. Oasis rocked, played the new and the old, and at least where I was, everyone around us was “mad fer it”. If you didn’t feel it, then you must be a poofter anyway.

By EP

September 26, 2005 07:09 AM | Link to this

Oasis was horrible, especially in contrast to some of the more enthusiastic sets: Bloc Party, Coldplay, hell, even The Biscuit Brothers rocked harder than Oasis did. It was the most lackluster ACL show I’ve seen over the past four years; Liam was bored, incoherent, and sounded like he’d been smoking too many cigarettes. Noel’s leads were ok, but they were offset by Liam’s obvious disgust for the event. The crowd wasn’t as animated as some of the other performers, but it’s Oasis’ job to fire up the crowd, not the inverse. Awful performance.

By Katie

September 26, 2005 03:27 PM | Link to this

I guess I am too easy to please. I am also have never been a huge Oasis fan, but I thought it was pretty good. Everyone around me was singing along and we even got to see them fight! They sounded good, they played their parts, Liam the bad-a** and Noel the slightly less angsty of the two. I had a ball!

By john

September 26, 2005 08:33 PM | Link to this

OASIS ?? Who are they?? Oh that band that showed up late with the god complex. Yep, I remember them well. What a waste of talent. Don’t these singers understand that we are their employers, not just fans. Maybe the organizers of ACL should let these guys know Austin rescends it’s invitation!! And for future bands that think the “holier than thou” attitude is ok, well it’s not. On a final note, ACL organizers should put these singers in check by letting them know that late appearances or short acts will result in fines or penalties. Hey Liam, I hope you read this!! You’re nothing without fans!!!! Without us, your the wanna be that once was before Oasis ever happened!

By Ted

September 26, 2005 08:38 PM | Link to this

My wife and I saw Oasis play to a sold out crowd of 45,000 this past July, one of three such shows during a homestand in their native Manchester. Saturday night’s set was the same, though shorter (presumbably due to the late start) and tailored to a festival crowd versus a pure Oasis crowd. Gone were “Bring It On Down,” “Songbird,” “Little By Little,” “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel” and “A Bell Will Ring.” Gone too was “Acquiesce,” which would have made for a nice one song encore. Still, ten years’ worth of great music in one hour is nothing to sneeze at (the dust notwithstanding).

By Ed

September 26, 2005 09:53 PM | Link to this

Going to have to agree with all the other commenters. The show was terrible. I pointed out in the beginning that no one looked like they were into the show, and Oasis seemed to be suffering from some poor opening songs. As I said this I notcied the stream of people leaving. Did anyone catch the comment from one of them that went something like this “Here’s another one you won’t know. Not any of the cool kids out there anyway.” These guys think their shi* doesn’t stink. Well, I was there and it fouled up the whole place.

By dw

September 26, 2005 11:00 PM | Link to this

Oasis’ show on Saturday night was the weakest performance I’ve seen in three years at ACL. It was completely phoned in. There was no interaction with the audience or even each other. It was dull and their contempt for the audience was obvious. Once I got out of the crush up front and could see the stage from far away, the lights looked nice. My friend remarked it would be pretty, if we didn’t have to hear Liam droning on like that.

By spen

September 27, 2005 04:12 AM | Link to this

Some of you above posters have Noel and Liam mixed up first of all. I found some of their comments from the stage were repulsive but some were pretty humorous. We got to see the real Oasis (cocky, outspoken, boozing) which might not appeal to some but I’d rather see that than a fake performance where they wear fake smiles and say things they don’t mean just to please the crowd. If you didn’t expect what we got from Oasis then you don’t know Oasis. I was pleased to get to see the brothers bickering at each other and was amused by his continued mispronounciation of the word “champagne”. If you can’t handle the fact that Oasis performed the show the way they wanted to and the way they always do, get a life and go see some real bands, not the over-commercialized azz-kissers like Coldplay or Aerosmith who feel like they have to hit every note and say all the right things.

By Julia

September 27, 2005 05:50 AM | Link to this

Oasis was BY FAR the WORST SHOW at ACL. I went all 3 days and saw countless amazing acts and several bad ones, but Oasis made me want to vomit and question why ACL would choose these British wash-ups as a headliner for SATURDAY NIGHT??? The ego of the lead singer and his over-dramatic storming off the stage (more than once) made me regret ever buying What’s the Story Morning Glory and Definitely Maybe….These guys proved that they aren’t relevant anymore because they can only claim a half dozen good songs over the last decade!!! On top of all this they sounded terrible live; horrendous vocals, sloppy music and NO ENERGY. The guy next to me chanted “Spinal Tap” and I couldn’t agree more.

By Azpiri

September 28, 2005 05:00 AM | Link to this

Worst show of the weekend? Well maybe you guys weren’t there for bobby bare jr, spoon or deathcab for cutie.

Jet was alright, they got the crowd going.

Oasis.. well, their staff didn’t even tune zaks drum set, and liam was having problems with his mic, etc. a musician’s job is to play music, not interact with the crowd, thats an extra. If you need to be entertained by someone to enjoy a concert, check out the austin kiddie limits stage.

Oasis’ show was bad, but with all due respect, the given reasons weren’t at all valid.

By Spencer

September 28, 2005 09:15 PM | Link to this

Snotty British Rock. I love it. I thought Kasabian pulled off the attitude better and The Frames sounded better while putting on more enjoyable shows. Oasis has slipped in all departments and seems destined for the Texas State Fair. I did like the story about the cockroaches, though, and did Noel call out some girl wearing glasses and tell he she was ugly just before Wonderwall? Yeesh!

By jeff

September 29, 2005 03:21 AM | Link to this

i don’t wanna have a diatribe but oasis did well and i was very well pleased with their performance.

By Brad

September 29, 2005 06:56 PM | Link to this

“They can claim only half a dozen good songs over the last decade”

Lets see: Live Forever, Supersonic, Rock n Roll Star, Wonderwall, Acquiese, Champagne Supernova, Don’t Look Back in Anger, Some Might Say, The Masterplan…those are over 3-4 years time. The last 3 albums have a few average songs, but many “good” ones. I happen to think the latest album has great ones. But, you haven’t listened to those albums have you, so your review is uninformed and sad.

Its too bad that US radio and MTV

Liam is a rock and roll star, they can act however the hell they want, and the more cocky and bad a*s the better in my opinion. Do we really want all bands to be fronted by personalities like Chris Martin and Bono…hell no. Sometimes people just want to say screw it, lets get trashed and rock out…that is the Oasis magic.

By Brad

September 29, 2005 07:03 PM | Link to this

As for John, dude they started like 15 minutes late. Is that really a big deal? Have you ever been to a concert that started right on time? And, the set was slated to last and hour and 15 minutes and it lasted a bit longer than that. Chill out and realize that you saw one of the greatest bands of the 90s play some of the greatest songs from that time. If US radio and MTV had balls and wouldn’t have gotten so offened by Oasis’ rock n roll antics during that time, then we would all be familiar with their latest stuff. Too bad because its great also, and we are stuck listening to crap on the radio because people get their panties tied up in a wad if rock stars actually act like it.

By Brad

September 29, 2005 07:06 PM | Link to this

Noel once said, “If you want to see a bunch of guys jump around on stage, go to the circus. If you want to hear great songs and get slogged, come see Oasis.”

About says it all doesn’t it?

There is nothing fake and hidden about Oasis, and that is refreshing in today’s politically correct society.

By Kristyn

October 3, 2005 02:54 PM | Link to this

I love Oasis, perhaps that is why I thought the show was great. But, clearly I wasn’t alone. Everyone around me was really into the show and they were even singing along- something that even as a true die hard fan- I refuse to do in public. I’ve seen them before and this performance was not a letdown for me. I was just really surprised to see that so many people came out to see them play. I thought I was the last american Oasis fan. I’m happy that they came back to Texas and I was able to see them. Plus, they were really funny.