Last weekend saw tribute band Definitely Oasis headline at the 02 Academy. This was was new territory for me. Not the venue, however, as I have previously been here to see Deacon Blue and Whitesnake. Definitely Oasis were the final band to appear on Saturday in an all-day marathon of 1990s tribute bands and, if truth be told, they were the only band whose music I was familiar with and wanting to see. I caught 30 minutes of The Complete Stone Roses and I recognised that, to those present, this was a performance that meant something to them, triggering an outburst of nostalgia from the audience.
I am a child of the 70s and 80s and rarely have I bought music from bands who came to the fore in the crucible of the nineties scene. Oasis are the exception. I first became conscious of their music when I heard their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, being played repeatedly via portable CD player whilst sitting on a bus with a squad of teenage footballers from Lanarkshire, heading to a tournament in England. I was hooked. The music had me at ‘Hello’.
Whilst I subsequently bought and listened to all the Oasis albums, I never felt the urge to attend any of their concerts. That was for a different generation.
Consequently when I turned up at the O2 Academy on Saturday night to see and hear Definitely Oasis I had no previous experience of seeing the real Oasis to call upon. Thus, I brought along my 28 year old son to the gig, who had seen Oasis in the flesh on many occasions, to make a more informed assessment of the tribute band’s
performance.
The less informed jury (me) and the more informed jury (my son) reached a unanimous verdict. Definitely Oasis nailed it. They were found guilty of recreating the real thing. If I closed my eyes and listened to what was on offer I would have taken it that it was actually the Gallagher brothers who were on the stage.
We were impressed with the supersonic performance in terms of music and attitude. Recently Cop26 was held in Glasgow to discuss and debate issues around the energy crisis. If the energy created by Definitely Oasis and by those in attendance on the night could be harnessed in some way then we’d be well on our way to weaning the world off fossil fuels.
