Oasis
Finsbury Park (05.07.02)

This was my first ever Oasis live experience, and it was an experience which I came away wanting more of. Being only a young lad of 16, I wasn’t sure what to expect; perhaps it would be a pleasant atmosphere, full of gents and music lovers who were there to make the most of the summer sun and listen to some fucking great music. Or maybe, there would be lots of like minded kids there, who were equally as exited by just the prospect of seeing Liam, Noel and the others in the flesh as I was – oh, and they were meant to play some songs too, what more could you want?

Me and my mate arrived at Finsbury Park station at 10.30am – yes, very
early, but I was exited, plus I wanted a good standing position. And yes, it made sense at the time. As we walked out of the station we were instantly surrounded by a huge crowd of mostly lads, hanging around outside the various pubs, hmm, we were meant to the only ones here at this hour, fuck it – these lot are more interested in getting tanked up than going to the gig, they’re not real fans you see!

Enter Finsbury Park gates, yes it’s packed. Dammit. Anyway, never mind, we joined the masses and started queuing. As more people arrived after us, we were soon quashed in the middle of everyone. Just eaves dropping on people’s conversations, the most interesting one was probably some lads talking about a house party where they put a cat in a microwave for 6 seconds, how could I possibly match that?

As the crowd became too big for the security to contain – everyone made a run for it. What chance did a few helpless security guards have against this crowd? No, not quite what I anticipated - mostly 20 something’s, all with shaven heads and a can of beer in hand. As I contemplated what to do with my slightly pathetic looking packed lunch which my Mam had so kindly made for me, we managed to make it past another set of barriers. There we were – in a vast space, at 11.00am in the morning, half exited, half wondering what the fuck is going on.

Ok, so we’ve kind of managed to make it near the front, not ideal but it’ll do. Now let the show roll on! The Coral were the first band on stage, who at the time were almost unheard of. I recognised ‘Goodbye’ but that was it, ah well – they’re just support. Next up were the Noel Gallagher managed Proud Mary. They were abysmal, no surprises then when perhaps a year later, I heard they had been dropped by their record company. The crowd is really gathering now, and yes, to my surprise we are getting pushed back by other people who are pushing in front of us. How rude. The idea of coming early had slightly backfired. But so far so good.

We’ve met some fellow Welsh people. A couple with t-shirts which read ‘I
don’t believe in God, I believe in Oasis’. Excellent. They tell us that theyslept under a lorry the previous night, personally I’ve always been more of a hotel man myself, but each to their own. We were getting on quite well, and then out of the blue, one of them starts snorting coke right in front of us…I’ve never seen this. Fancy that! Anyway, we’ll see you later. Soundtrack of Our Lives were worse than Proud Mary, the only highlight was seeing their frontman almost getting hit by a bottle of piss. I was very hot by this point, I hadn’t anticipated being in such a compact environment, who cares – only about 6 hours ‘till Oasis.

It soon started to really piss it down with rain, and unfortunately I mean that in a literal sense too – dirty bastards. I try not to think about what exactly it is landing on my head, consoling myself that I’ll have a long shower when I get home. Anyway, BRMC are about to come on! Now, I really like this band, and I’d got their album a few weeks beforehand. It’s so fucking loud, and not in a bad way either, this was damn good. The only problem was that it was getting ridiculously packed, to the point where I was feeling uncomfortable. ‘Spead Your Love’ – C’mon! This is what people have come to see. Fuck this, we can’t cope anymore, as great as BRMC were, we decided to give up our place in the ‘mixer’ – we’ll leave it to the big boys.

I’m hungry, so off we go to buy a burger. We’re only missing the Charlatans, who at the time I wasn’t at all arsed about. And it’s still pissing it down.

Right, here we go…its Oasis time! As we politely push our way in to some
sort of decent standing point, the Charlatans are just finishing their set. I can’t explain how amazing it is when you first hear that drum smash at the beginning of ‘Fuckin’ In The Bushes’ – utterly amazing, and it still is. Everyone erupts; this is fucking noise and confusion right here, right now – loving it!

Seeing the band in the flesh was brilliant, though we were quite far away.
Standing in the rain was shit, but worth it. Liam added a lyric for us in ‘Morning Glory’, “Another sunny afternoon, you must be fucking joking mate”. Well done him for noticing. The gig passed by in standard Oasis fashion, a bulk of the Heathen Chemistry album was played, to which I was quite unfamiliar with at the time since the album had only been out for 4 days. I must say a highlight was ‘D’you Know What I Mean’, with Oasis, you can usually guess what they’ll play, but even I hadn’t anticipated this one.

As the final bits of feedback screamed out of Noel’s guitar following a rollicking ‘My Generation’ we made our way home, reflecting on a long, wet but ultimately great day. We couldn’t mix it with the big boys, but never mind – I’d be back stronger for the next tour! But Finsbury Park 2002 my first of many Oasis experiences, and that’s why it’ll always be special.


+ Review by Arfyn

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