Don’t you just hate those people who offer you something and then either revoke the offer or moan about it afterwards. If so, you’ll inevitably dislike Noel Gallagher after he criticized the 20,000 fans who registered for the full refund from one of Oasis’ Manchester homecoming gigs. Why offer it in the first place if you’re then going to bitch about on your blog afterwards?

Oasis played three gigs at Heaton Park in Manchester at the beginning of June. The second and third went off without a hitch but the first was blighted by trouble. First of all, The Enemy pulled out as support, to be replaced by Reverend and The Makers. Then, during Oasis’ set, the sound system blew twice, causing the band to be off stage for a total of 40 minutes.

When Oasis returned to the stage, both Liam and Noel both apologized before offering everyone present a refund. Details of how to claim were then posted on the official Oasis Web site, and 20,000 people have registered their name and address to claim the full face value of the ticket. Which should please Oasis because there were 70,000 people in attendance, meaning less than a third of all attendants have asked for a refund.

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You can say a lot of bad things about Oasis - they’re past it, they’re full of themselves, they’re a decade out of date - all of which are true to a certain extent. But you cannot fault them for the loyalty they show to their fans, who return it in droves, or their willingness to go beyond the pale in order to please their fans.

Thursday saw Oasis play one of their biggest shows since Knebworth. Everything was set for the Heaton Park gig; the tickets were all sold, and six months of planning were in the bag. What could go wrong? Quite a lot as it turns out. First The Enemy had to pull out as support, to be replaced by Reverend and The Makers. Then the sound system blew not once but twice during Oasis’ set.

In all, Oasis were off the stage for 40 minutes during their 23-song set, having been forced to walk off twice due to “technical difficulties”. But the band still played their full set, running well past curfew in order to achieve this. So everyone there got the show they’d paid for.

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Today (June 4) sees Oasis play the first of three huge concerts at Heaton Park in Manchester. It’s a bit of a homecoming for the band as the Gallagher brothers are originally from Burnage, just up the road from the venue.

The concerts, which are today, Saturday (June 6) and Sunday (June 7) are all sold-out, with 70,000 fans attending each night. The gigs have been planned for the last six months, with transport links, park and ride schemes, and road closures all organized in advance.

Unfortunately, something has already gone wrong, with The Enemy, one of the two main supports along with Kasabian, pulling out of tonight’s show. The official reason is that lead singer Tom Clarke has contracted serious food poisoning but you do have to wonder if the recent feud between the two bands has anything to do with it.

Tom Clarke gave an interview about the tour, on which The Enemy are scheduled to provide support for each concert, and one of his comments upset the usually-so-calm and mild-mannered Liam Gallagher. He then called Clarke a “little f**ker” in a Twitter rant, forcing Clarke to apologize for any offense caused.

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With all the in-fighting, arguments, line-up changes, and controversy surrounding Oasis, I’m personally amazed they have lasted as long as they have. Really, you would have thought something would have had to give by now, with the group falling down like stack of dominoes at the slightest touch. But no, 18 years after being formed, Oasis are still going strong.

So strong in fact that they still manage to sell out huge venues time after time. Oasis announce a tour or concert, and it sell out in a matter of minutes. The music may be generic, Liam’s drawl may now be considered more of an affectation than anything, and they may not be the biggest rock band in the world as they were considered to be a decade ago, but they’ve still got it.

However, one of the many former members of the group, Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs thinks Oasis are way past their sell-by date. The guitarist left the band in 1999, a few years after Oasis played their two Knebworth gigs, two of the biggest concerts ever held in the UK with an estimated combined audience of over 250,000.

Bonehead thinks that would have been the perfect time to bail out, while Oasis were still at the top of their game and known the world over.

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Oasis are currently on a world tour in support of their Dig Out Your Soul album, and things aren’t going too smoothly. While it may be all sweetness and light on stage, there seems to be a bust-up in progress backstage.

A week ago, the current row between the Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel seemed to reach fever pitch. Both went public with their feelings on the tour and how relations were strained. And things don’t seem to be getting any better.

The problems seemed to begin when Noel expressed a desire to record and release material as a solo artist rather than as a part of Oasis. Liam clearly isn’t too happy with this idea and recently told Canal Multishow his thoughts on the idea.

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To say Oasis have had a troubled past would be akin to saying Adolf Hitler was a naughty boy - it’s an understatement of epic proportions. And it looks like another bust-up is on the way, with the Gallagher brothers seemingly at each other’s throats yet again.

Oasis as they are today are very different to what they were years ago. There has been numerous line-up changes with the only original members of the band left being Liam and Noel. The rest have either been fired, got bored and moved on, or left after getting fed up of the rows.

Bizarrely, the two brothers still in the group are the root cause of all the aggravation. Siblings often argue, but the Gallaghers have taken the art of rowing to a whole new level, and many a tour has been ruined by their bickering.

The last couple of weeks have seen the situation flare up yet again. The band are currently on tour to support Dig Out Your Soul and the whole rigmarole of gigging night after night seems to be taking its toll on Liam and Noel.

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I regard Oasis as more of an albums band than a singles band. They’ve had some fantastic success with singles, and I’m sure people who love Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova while hating the rest of the band’s output will disagree with me. But their albums are generally where it’s at.

Which makes reviewing a new Oasis single a tricky thing to do. Especially when the song works much better as part of the Dig Out Your Soul album than it does on its own.

Oasis’ new single, the third from Dig Out Your Soul, is Falling Down, a Noel-sung slice of indie that doesn’t quite have the power of previous releases, The Shock Of The Lightning and I’m Outta Time.

Music video and review after the cut.

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Last September, Noel Gallagher was attacked on stage during an Oasis concert in Toronto, Canada. The guitarist and songwriter fell awkwardly after being pushed violently from behind, breaking several ribs and forcing the group to postpone several gigs.

The attacker was immediately apprehended by venue staff before being handed over to the police. He was actually lucky that security were there because Liam looked set to smash the guy’s face in following the assault on his brother.

The attacker, Daniel Sullivan, 47, was charged with assault over the incident, but the NME is now reporting that the charge has been upped to the more serious one of aggravated assault. This means his maximum sentence has risen from five to 14 years in prison.

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Robert Plant is/was the blueprint for every rock singer that has come since. His style of singing while with Led Zeppelin has inspired generations of vocalists. So it’s fitting that Plant has topped a poll to find the ‘Greatest Voice In Rock’.

The survey was undertaken by Planet Rock and the top 20 list has some fine vocalists on it. Plant beat Freddie Mercury to the top spot, although I’m sure some people would have liked to have seen the Queen front man at number one.

I personally wouldn’t have had Bono, Jon Bon Jovi, or Peter Gabriel in the list. But that’s just because I’m not a fan of any of them. The only notable omissions from the list that I can think of are Liam Gallagher, although maybe Oasis aren’t considered rock, and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters.

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To celebrate the release of Dig Out Your Soul, Oasis‘ new album, I asked the question “What is the best Oasis track to date?” 100 people responded between September 15th and October 6th, and the results made for interesting (if not a bit predictable) reading.

The winner was clearly always going to be Wonderwall, as it’s the one song that everyone knows by Oasis, even if they hate everything else the band has ever produced. Live Forever, Champagne Supernova, Don’t Look Back In Anger, and Stand By Me all deserve their places in the top 5 as well.

Those results in full:-

Wonderwall - 32
Live Forever - 22
Champagne Supernova - 14
Don’t Look Back In Anger - 12
Stand By Me - 5
Cigarettes and Alcohol - 4
Acquiesce - 4
Shock Of The Lightning - 2
Half The World Away - 2
Oasis Make Me Gag - 2
Don’t Go Away - 1

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