CONCERT REVIEW: Oasis Live in Toronto, CA March14, 1995

- John Walker

One of the saddest aspects of the current North American rock scene is its absolute disrespect for the current crop of Anglo exports. Perhaps the overwhelming hype of undeserved acts in the past by the British rock press (anybody remember Birdland?) is to blame here, but hey, anybody can make a mistake. We cling to the Stones and the Beatles as paragons of a past Brit rock greatness gone forever, yet right beneath our noses the real (current) thing goes unnoticed: Suede, (The) Verve, Primal Scream, and of course, Oasis.

North American rock xenophobia needs to be destroyed, and Oasis, on this current tour, are doing their best to oblige. On this unseasonably hot March night in Toronto, a sweaty band and audience consumed vast amounts of suds, paid homage to the rock gods of the past (the Beatles, the Jam), and looked with relish toward the misty horizons of the future. "You and I, we're gonna live forever" sang Liam Gallagher with an intensity that made you almost believe him.

Oasis in concert live up to the hype, unless you are looking for a circus on the level of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This was straight-ahead, no-frills, melodic Brit-rock, lacking in the melodrama of Eddie "I can't stand being a star" Vedder or the "let's pretend we're the Clash" buffoonery of Green Day. Oasis doesn't imitate--they extend the tradition of great British rock, from the Beatles to T. Rex to The Jam, into the context of 1995. Therein lies the difference.

If you're familiar with Oasis' classic 1994 album Definitely Maybe you'll know what I mean when I say that all the hits were rendered in a kick-ass fashion. "Rock N' Roll Star" led off the show as it does the album--in fine style--mapping out the band's carpe diem philosophy. Oasis want to live fast, but unlike Mr. Cobain, they don't necessarily want to die young. The objective, it soon becomes clear, is not to plumb the depths, but, as Lou Reed once said, to fly into the sun. Kicks are to be had here and now: damn self-conscious rock martyrdom a la Vedder. Liam and company "don't care, because [they're] living fast," as proclaimed in another of the evening's most visceral numbers, "Bring It On Down," which hit with the fury of the Sex Pistols while remaining stylistically quintessential Oasis.

"Cigarettes and Alcohol," the huge British hit with the mega T. Rex riff, was also delivered in all its PC-baiting glory: "You can wait for a lifetime / To spend your days in the sunshine / You might as well do a white line . . . You've gotta make it happen" sneered Liam as the sweating throng both lit up and poured back. During both this song and the majority of the concert, Liam resisted engaging in the David Lee Roth type "hey hey hey let's party" moves that might have made such lyrics into a mere joke, retaining the aloofness suggested by his working-class dandy demeanour (the immortal dandy suggested by "Live Forever"), thus affirming the song's humourous yet subversive edge. Even when Liam slugs beer onstage, he does it with a singular sense of style.

Oasis are the potent anecdote to "victim-rock" of the North American variety, suggesting that while you're sitting there whining, the smart people are out living intensely. For that alone, and for much more, they deserve praise.