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Blast From The Past.......



10/08/1996 & 11/08/1996

Ten years ago 250,000 Oasis fans were at Knebworth for the band's record-breaking concerts.

" "This is history! Right here, right now!" For a few rare seconds, Noel Gallagher appears genuinely moved. The mask of nonchalalnce slips for a moment as he looks out on a vast ocean of heads and realises just how huge this thing is. "No it fookin' isn't, yer daft twat, this is Knebworth!"

Liam saves the day again. Bringing the grand gesture crashing down to Earth, he gurns into the camera, swears, and we can all relax and sing the first hymn. "I can't tell you the way I feel because the way I feel is oh so real to me". Exactly. Absolutely meaningless, but we all know exactly what he means. This is beyond rational explanation.

When 120,000 people are feeling the same as you, it's gone beyond rock 'n' roll. Beyond Oasis, beyond Knebworth, and beyond yourself. Whats the ultimate stadium fantasy? The 'Radio Ga Ga' video? England 4 Holland 1? The Beatles at Shea Stadium? Well, at fleeting moments here, that surreal magic hits you. If only because of the size of it, and the collective volume of human emotion filling the air. They can't fail to connect, with universally accessible tunes, simplistic truist sentiments and every populist trick in the book, but who cares when it feels this good?

So let's suppose we've reached the top. It doesn't get any bigger or better than this. Ok, so they don't have any mystique, the shamanistic aura of classic rock stars, the aggressive sexuality of great rock 'n' rollers, the glamour or grace of traditional pop icons, the black music lineage, the radicalism or even the rebel tribal attraction any more. But they make their audience fell pretty damn supernatural, with that anthemic quality they've bottled and sold, that picks you up and makes you walk on air. The ultimate rock 'n' roll supersonic (gin'n') tonic.

'Acquiesce', 'Live Forever', 'Some Might Say', 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', 'Wonderwall', a couple of other great B-Sides that should have been on the album, 'Don't Look Back In Anger' - I don't need to tell you how they went. For the encore, John Squire, rock star from a previous generation, comes onstage to guest on guitar. No one notices, because our own singing has all but drowned out the sound from the stage. There's an impressive fireworks display and we float off home, Champagne Supernovas every one of us.

Is that it, then? Is the feel-good factor the be-all and end-all of rock 'n' roll? Is a nice tune where you can hear the words and sing along with your neighbour all we need anymore? No, maybe it's not such a great idea, our kid. See, if Oasis are approaching the point where, in Britain at least, they're as big as The Beatles, then they're getting less likely by the minute to ever occupy a similarly important place in history.

Oasis' popularity has got to the point where it's perpetuating itself and propelling itself onward. But if they made a 1996 equivalent of 'Sgt Peppers...' tomorrow, their popularity would nosedive. They're not going to, because their inherent conservatism has been completely vindicated at every step. And unlike the Beatles in the '60s, they don't have to find their identity and their soul amid the whirlpool of pop fame, they had it all along. They can only lose them now, or sell them for a song. Or if they've got any sense, they'll help it to evolve in order to survive.

Everyone's given up predicting doom for Oasis, whether through drug blow-outs, sibling splits and backlashes. They'll be the biggest band in Britain for the next five years at least. And they'll be remembered in 20 years' time. Whether that's for a few great tunes buskers play, and a small paragraph in the Guinness Book Of World Records, or for shaking the world, is a question only they can answer. Meanwhile, we'll just carry on singing. All together now."

Source: NME

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