Oasis, Manchester review: A perfect, priceless homecoming

If last week’s grand reunion in Cardiff was a dress rehearsal for the world’s music press, then tonight’s show in Manchester – Oasis’s first on their home turf since 2009 – was the one real fans had been waiting for. There are five-star gigs, and then there are five-star gigs like this one, which you depart knowing you’ll be telling your children about in 20 years’ time.

It was never going to be boring, was it? Oasis back in Heaton Park; an 80,000-strong crowd decked out in their finest bucket hats and parkas despite the blazing 30-degree sun, ready to go “mad fer it” in the same corner of the country that gave us Joy Division and the Smiths before birthing these gobby kings of Britpop.

Manchester certainly got in the party mood: bars in the Northern Quarter blasted the band’s tunes all day; a giant mural of Liam and Noel Gallagher adorned a wall on the corner of Thomas Street; and thousands of fans milled about, pints in hand and logo tees on, in a state of near-disbelief that their favourite band was really back together.

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As in Cardiff, the ferocious instrumental march of F-----’ in the Bushes heralded the band’s arrival on stage at Heaton Park, giving way to Hello and then the emotional gut-punch of Acquiesce (a B-side, lest we forget. How many bands have songs like this as B-sides?). “It’s good to be baaaaaack” roared Liam, knowing all too well his city had been waiting for this every day since he chucked that fruit at Noel in Paris.

The homecoming concert was the band’s first appearance in Manchester since 2009 - Mike Gray/AvalonPep Guardiola, who was present on stage in cardboard cutout form (and in person in the crowd), received a personal dedication from City fan Noel - Mike Gray/Avalon

The brothers’ beloved Manchester City were celebrated in Cigarettes & Alcohol as everyone did “the Poznan” – requiring you to turn around, link arms and bounce (and Blues manager Pep Guardiola got his own shout-out later in D’You Know What I Mean?). Fade Away became an ode to their home estate of Burnage. Half the World Away was dedicated to The Royle Family’s “Caroline and Craig”. Slide Away still lays easy claim to being the best British pop song since Let It Be.

Only a band as incomprehensibly popular as Oasis could compile a setlist after two decades away from the stage and leave out five No 1 singles. They’re made up of an average singer, an above-average guitarist, performing songs built on simple melodies and age-old riffs. But that’s 99 per cent of Oasis’s magic. They’re everyman’s rock ’n’ roll. It’s not the talent nor the content – it’s the emotion it provokes in the people singing along.

Spectacular fireworks lit up the sky above the park - BIG BROTHER RECORDINGSPep Guardiola (second from right) joins Liam and Noel Gallagher’s children at the gig - INSTAGRAMAdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1ce4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2ce4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe

And with this being Manchester, there was a certain song in the back of everyone’s mind all night. Don’t Look Back in Anger, having taken on fresh poignancy when it was adopted as the defiant anthem of a city united in mourning after the 2017 arena bombing, was, quite simply, overwhelmingly brilliant. Everywhere I looked: grown men crying, teenagers with their arms wrapped around one another, couples busy wiping away each other’s tears. I can’t think of any gig I’ve been at where a crowd sang so loudly, with so much passion punctuating every word.

Bucket hats were mandatory in the 30-degree heat - William Lailey/SWNS

One bone to pick: there really should have been a younger band on the supporting line-up. Wunderhorse, Wet Leg, Big Special, Fat Dog… any of these would have gobbled up such a massive opportunity. Oh well – maybe at Knebworth next year?

At 29, I’m too young to have seen Oasis the first time around, so feel free to comment below on how much better they sounded in the Nineties. But tonight felt special: a homecoming for a band whose cocksure confidence – a middle finger to snobs who derided northern, working-class lads as nobodies – not only put their beloved city on the map but made them the face of it, redefining British popular rock ’n’ roll in the process.

Like many younger Oasis fans, I never thought I’d hear these songs performed live. Not by both Gallaghers, anyway. But there they were, on stage in Manchester, grinning and embracing and regaling us with Champagne Supernova like no time had passed at all. Perfect, and priceless.

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