Don't Look Back in Anger

Perhaps appropriate words to summarize Sunday night's Oasis concert at the Virgin Festival.

The Manchester lads lived up to the hype - perhaps the best modern rock anthem band of all time. I don't recall a concert (yes, even Coldplay) where everyone was singing along with the multitude of big hits. I wasn't at the front, but close enough to be jammed in and swaying and high clapping along with thousands of other fans. I admit I was much older than the average and at times I felt it, but the songs seemed to unite the whole crowd and we were all in it together.

I did get close to enjoy the big Brits Stereophonics and Paul Weller and along with some independents they definitely added to the great festival atmosphere, but I was there to see Oasis. The only small disappointment was not getting to see Moby's DJ set in the lineup tent. Although I wouldn't call myself a huge Oasis fan, but I do love some of their hard rocking tracks and ballads, plus I'd heard they were great live.

As I've already mentioned here in the fine print and on Facebook, the night wasn't without some drama. A guy managed to get on stage and push Noel down which of course caused all kinds of panic and confusion. You could sense that half of the audience immediately had the feeling of being cheated, expecting the moody lads to chuck it in. But the relative good mood witnessed earlier in the set won out and the lads returned to the stage 5 mins later to finish off, albeit an abbreviated set. My feelings could have been a lot different if they hadn't returned. They won a lot of points in my book.

So the real highlights were Liam's famous stage stances, the compliment of Noel's ballads, psychedelic video backdrops, Cigarettes and Alcohol being dedicated to all of us from England and everyone singing along to almost all the songs. The loudest singalong was probably my highlight, although Liam was offstage as his brother sung Don't Look Back in Anger.

The night was clear, but mud was underfoot, the sweet smell of marijuana was in the air, the bodies were moving and the sound quality was spot on.

A very memorable rock show.