Deserted Palace No Place For Oasis

"Tonight," Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher sneered into the microphone at the Palace of Auburn Hills Saturday night, "I'm a rock and roll star."

That he certainly is. Gallagher was put on this planet for the express purpose of being a rock and roll star, and he remains a fascinating, antagonistic, combustible presence on stage. But within the confines of a more-than-half-empty arena -- the reported attendance for Saturday's concert was 6,200, but it looked to be even less than that -- do we need to shift the definition of what constitutes a rock and roll star?

The economy has certainly taken a toll on local rock and roll shows; the black curtains that section off the upper deck have become a fixture at shows at the Palace. But even at the height of its popularity in the mid-90s, Oasis couldn't sell out the Palace, so why was it playing the venue now?

The empty seats dampened the mood in the room, and Oasis didn't go out of its way to heighten the crowd's spirits. The band members tend to be rather aloof on stage -- guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell pretty much just stand there, as does Noel Gallagher, the band's songwriter and leader -- so eyes tend to fix on Liam, who seems ready to storm off the stage at any given moment. He creates an odd dynamic with the audience, whether blankly staring down members of the crowd or proudly standing with his back to them, but damn if he doesn't do it with iconic style. To paraphrase M.I.A., no one on the corner's got swagger like Liam.

Even that tends to wear thin, however, and it wasn't enough to carry the show through the laborious sections of Oasis' one hour, 45-minute set. While new song "Shock of the Lightning" fits in with the band's most explosive material -- it will likely remain a fixture long after touring behind the band's current album "Dig Out Your Soul" is finished -- other new offerings dragged, including "I'm Outta Time" and "Waiting for the Rapture."

The opening suite of "Rock & Roll Star," "Lyla," "Shock of the Lightning" and "Cigarettes and Alcohol" kicked off the evening on a high, but the band droned its way through sluggish renditions of "Morning Glory," "Supersonic" and the crowd favorite "Wonderwall." Luckily, "Champagne Supernova" cut through the clutter, soaring to the great highs it does on record, while closer "I Am the Walrus" -- an Oasis standby for years and years -- delivered in typical fashion.

The brothers Gallagher were in amiable spirits, with Noel lightly chiding a fan for throwing a shoe on stage and Liam pantomiming sexual acts to several crowd members. But you couldn't shake the feeling the show would have played better in a smaller setting, as Oasis' arena days seem to have long since expired.

Openers Ryan Adams and the Cardinals were, too, dwarfed by the size of the Palace, though the band's electrifying one-hour set hit all the right notes. Half the material came from the band's recent "Cardinology," and the set shifted comfortably from bluesy country ("Two") to swirling rock (a ramped-up "Off Broadway").

Adams, who is as famously testy on stage as the evening's headliners, joked around with guitarist Neal Casal, with the free-flowing conversation ranging from Journey's Steve Perry to a 1989 Cinderella show at the Palace to the days when the Detroit Pistons were known as the Bad Boys.

Source: www.detnews.com