Manchester has more of its share of arses. More on that later. But the lads who make up Oasis are alright by me.

It’s getting pretty rare to see an all out old fashioned rock and roll band these days. But last night I got to see one of the most honest working rock bands around at the MTS Centre. I was pleasantly surprised by just how good Oasis are live. Despite the sound being pretty muddy for the first half of the show, they still rocked the ‘peg and got the usually docile Winnipeg crowd acting more like a soccer crowd. Admittedly more Notts County than Man City, but better than nothing. By the encore, the crowd was rocking, which I think the band appreciated.

Liam Gallagher is a cocky bastard but I have to say he pulls it off. I was surprised about how strong a singer he is. And brother Noel actually cracked a couple of smiles, which seemed to indicate they were having a good time.

With any Oasis concert you almost expect a fight to break out on stage or to be told to “fooock off” but last night all things seemed very civil. I think Noel was happy about Man City getting sold by that Thai bloke and them buying Robinho at the trade deadline. Then again i think this was only the third or fourth gig on the tour.

They started with a couple of more recent and new songs, which were OK although hardly groundbreaking stuff. The band kicked it up a notch with a great version of Cigarettes and Alcohol…pretty hard to go wrong with that crowd pleaser…and then proceeded to mix it up with hits and lesser known “b” sides. They wound up the set with Wonderwall and The Importance of Being Idle. The encore was a good mix of Noel and Liam with Noel doing great versions of Don’t Look Back In Anger, with lots of crowd support, and a song I’d never heard before..Falling Down. Just when you though Liam was pissed off or something and not making it to the encore, he showed up to render a great performance of Champagne Supernova and the Beatles’ I Am The Walrus.

It is a great loss to music that the Beatles decided not to tour after 1965. After watching Oasis nail I am the Walrus you get a glimpse of what it might have been like to see the Beatles do songs like that live.

Overall well worth it. And given that tickets were around fifty bucks it makes you wonder why Neil Young, who is from Winnipeg BTW, can’t tour for anything less than hundred and fifty bucks a ticket.