Oasis x2

I hate to be a complainer, but after having just seen Oasis in Vegas, and knowing the potential their music has to transform into the best show I've ever seen, I was disappointed to see them tonight in Phoenix. Not that it was a bad show, it wasn't. The set was exactly the same and the lights and sound were amazing, but the venue sucked and the crowd was lame.

When the Phoenix show was announced I marked my calendar for presale and was online a moment after the presale tickets went up for sale. To my dismay, I couldn't get a ticket. I kept trying and trying to no avail. A friend was also buying presale tickets in those first few moments, so after he secured his tickets he was able to get one for me. We had 33rd and 32nd row, respectively. What the hell? These are what you get on presale?? Ah well, we were content to have Oasis tickets. But we were fools. Turned out a guy we talked to tonight walked up to the box office before the show and asked for a ticket, best available, and he ended up with a front row seat for the same price we paid. Screw that guy. Anyhow...

So, with our lame 33rd & 32nd row tickets we planned on ditching the assigned seats and rushing up to the front of the stage with the rest of the mad-crazy Oasis fans. Mistake #2. There were no mad-crazy Oasis fans. And the security people wouldn't have it anyway. We were scolded for standing in an aisleway by a railing behind the section we were assigned to. Apparently it's a fire hazard to have people standing in aisleways at a concert venue. Go figure. Okay, I suppose I've ranted enough on the lameness of the Dodge Theatre and their Nazi-esque employees. The show.

Kasabian opened with a short set. It was the same set they played in Vegas, which is really a great set. It's their most stand-out songs from the album, and a new song to get us excited about a forthcoming album. I really felt sorry for them, though, because they were playing to a bunch of duds. The venue was almost empty, and the people that were in the venue were just sitting in their seats. Ooops, I seem to be ranting again...

The set:
1. Reason is Treason
2. Cutt Off
3. The Stuntman
4. 55
5. Processed Beats
6. L.S.F.
7. Club Foot

This really was an excellent set. The band was great even though they were playing to practically no one, and their sound was right on.

Next up, we went outside in a failed attempt to con the ticket sales guy in the box office to release a few more front row seats. He wasn't having it. But, we did run into a guy that wasn't able to sell his two club level seats and he just gave them to us. Sweet! We really had no use for them since they weren't as good as our row 33 & 32, so I made a few calls and found a friend who'd be able to come down last minute to use one of the tickets.

By this time Jet had started their set. I'm not really a Jet fan at all since I find them to be a bunch of rip-off artists, so I wasn't in any hurry to get in and check them out. However, I have to say that when we finally did make it in, they weren't too bad. The crowd was clearly very into them, and they seemed to be putting on an entertaining show with a pretty decent sound. It was about this time we were scolded for standing in the aisleway so I went back outside to meet up with my friend to give her the recently acquired ticket. This is when the night started getting weird...

While I was outside waiting for her I started talking to a guy selling tickets. He had 15th row center stage tickets. He wanted $50 apiece. Hell no! But, I'd give him our tickets and $20 each in exchange for his tickets. We had a deal! So I went back inside to find my friends and see if they agreed. He'd wait for me outside. We all agreed it'd be a great way to spend twenty bucks, so we went back outside to find the guy. I told him we had a deal, we just needed to pull cash out of the ATM. No prob, he said. So we stood in line at the ATM. The guy behind us started in on a confusing conversation about where we were sitting and other random things. Then the strangest thing happened. A woman said to me, I know this is going to sound weird, but my husband has a cigarette butt stuck in his ear and I was wondering if you would get it out for him since I noticed you have fingernails and I don't. WHAT THE HELL?!?!? And she was serious. Whoa. She went on to explain that they had seats near a speaker and he had stuck the butt in his ear like a make-shift earplug. Weird. I checked out the guys ear just for curiosity sake, and that butt was barely visible. Gross. Anyhow, by the time we pulled out our cash we looked around for our ticket guy and he was nowhere to be found. We looked all over, but he was gone. Weird. We were resigned to our 33rd & 32nd row tickets once again. Meanwhile, I found my friend and gave her the free ticket. She had somehow come across a couple guys who were talking a mile a minute asking me if I worked for a radio station and if I had backstage passes. Huh? Weird.

Back inside we sat in row 33 and waited for Oasis. They came out and played a great set. It was the same set as Vegas, with plenty of song dedications and chatter with the crowd. I have to say, I was disappointed with Liam's voice. It sounded great on the first song and on the encore, but for most of the rest of the set it sounded scratchy and rough and forced to me. It wasn't terrible, but again, comparing it to Vegas it was disappointing. It was so spot-on and perfect in Vegas. But, the light show was amazing. The House of Blues is such a tiny venue that there is really no space for complex lights, but the Dodge did shine in this area (ooh, pun). The guys sounded great and Noel seemed more present tonight. There was a funny moment when he noticed that in front of him there was a man doing sign language for a (presumably) deaf person. He asked if he was, in fact doing sign language. Then he commented, only in America. Ha. Oh, and the crowd. I was just so shocked that all these thousands of people would be content to stand in their little assigned space and barely move whilst in the presence of great music like Oasis. Sad. They did seem to be into the songs though, including the old stuff, and I think lots of them were singing along, though it was hard to tell because of the acoustics of the venue.

The set:
--before they took the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
1. Turn up the Sun
2. Lyla
3. Bring it on Down
4. Morning Glory (for all the junkies)
5. Cigarettes and Alcohol
6. The Importance of Being Idle
7. A Bell Will Ring (for Mohammed Ali)
8. Acquiesce
9. Live Forever (for New Orleans)
10. Mucky Fingers (for all the deaf people)
11. Wonderwall (for the ladies)
12. Champagne Supernova
13. Rock 'n' Roll Star (for Jet & Kasabian)
--as they left the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
14. Guess God Thinks I'm Abel
15. The Meaning of Soul
16. Don't Look Back in Anger
17. My Generation

Okay, this post has gotten waaaaaaay too long, so I'm going to wrap it up. Did I have a good time? Yes. Am I happy I saw Oasis tonight in Phoenix? Yes. Do I think the Dodge Theatre is a lame place to see a rock concert? Yes. Am I even happier now that I saw Oasis in Vegas? Yes. Do I get to cross off #211 on my list: see the same band (Oasis!) twice in the same week? Yes. Will I pull a cigarette butt out of your ear if you stuff it in there as an earplug? No.