Bands I've seen

After seeing Snow Patrol and U2 in recent weeks, it gave me an excuse to update the list of bands that I've seen live.

Sadly, I rank all of the bands I've seen and give them points whenever I go to a concert.

The headlining band gets 3 points, and the supporting band get 1 point.

At the top of the chart at the moment are Oasis with 15 points. I've seen them twice in Houston, and also at Wembley & Finsbury Park in London and Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester.

In case I happen to misplace my list, I'm posting the chart on my blog so I will have a record to update whenever I go to a gig.

So here it is in all it's glory.

Oasis 15
Gomez 12
Travis 12
Embrace 9
Doves 8
Shed Seven 7
Coldplay 6
Manic Street Preachers 6
Red Hot Chili Peppers 6
Snow Patrol 6
Charlatans 4
Happy Mondays 4
Ian Brown 4
Anechoic 3
Alan Jackson 3
Billy Bob Thornton 3
Brooks & Dunn 3
Celtic Woman 3
Christina Aguilera 3
The Complete Stone Roses 3
Fun Lovin’ Criminals 3
Hinder 3
James Blunt 3
Matchbox Twenty 3
Ocean Colour Scene 3
Paul McCartney 3
Paul Weller 3
REM 3
Robbie Williams 3
Rolling Stones 3
Scissor Sisters 3
Stereophonics 3
Toby Keith 3
U2 3
The Verve 3
The Who 3
The Magic Numbers 2
Proud Mary 2
ABC 1
Athlete 1
Badly Drawn Boy 1
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 1
Black Stone Cherry 1
Burden Brothers 1
Cornershop 1
The Coral 1
Chikinki 1
The Delgados 1
Dogs Die In Hot Cars 1
Electric Soft Parade 1
Finker 1
Franz Ferdinand 1
Groucho 1
Idlewild 1
John Squire 1
Kaiser Chiefs 1
Kasabian 1
Keane 1
The King 1
Maroon 5 1
The Mars Volta 1
Muse 1
OK Go! 1
Pete Macleod 1
Plain White T’s 1
The Pussycat Dolls 1
Richard Ashcroft 1
Mo Solid Gold 1
Ooberman 1
Razorlight 1
The Redwalls 1
Shack 1
Sheryl Crow 1
Tim Burgess 1
Toby Lightman 1
Toploader 1
Witness 1

Reading through the list now, I have no idea who some of the bands are and have no recollection of seeing them.

Most support bands I'd never heard of before the gig turned out to be terrible, with the odd exception. Cornershop were unknown to me when I saw them support Oasis in Houston back in 1998. The Magic Numbers were scary to look at but if you closed your eyes they weren't that bad actually.

My first experience of Keane was when they supported Travis at the Manchester Apollo. A mate of mine had seen them the night before and said they were good but I'd be surprised by how many people were in the band. I'd recently seen The Delgados in a support slot and they had about 20 people in the band so I was expecting the stage to be full of people on various instruments but there were just three members, and no guitars. This was the first gig I'd been to where the crowd were actually shouting for the support band to come on. As you're probably aware, Keane went on to become (and still are) huge.

Ooberman were an annoying cockney student band and the only memory I have of them is a daft song about 'going down to talk to the cows', which actually turned out to be about talking to the girls.

The Fun Lovin' Criminals usually put on a good show and always surprise with their choice of support. They had a Chinese Elvis impersonator called The King at one show, and the other time I saw them they decided to do away with a support band altogether and made a film in the style of Hawaii 5-0 in which the band members starred. They also stopped a couple of times during the show to re-enact scenes from their favourite films.

There are some good memories on this list!

U2

We're going to see U2 tonight.

It's at the Reliant Stadium in Houston so it should be a big show.

I've never seen U2 live before so I'm looking forward to seeing how they compare to other big stadium bands I've seen.

I saw The Rolling Stones at Wembley back in 1999 on their Bridges to Babylon tour. That was a fantastic show and even though I didn't know a lot of the songs they played it was one of the best gigs I've been to.

I've seen Oasis many times at big stadium venues, as well as smaller indoor arenas and they never disappoint.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers also put on an excellent show at The City of Manchester stadium a few years ago.

U2's 360 tour promises to eclipse them all with a monstrous stage known as 'The Claw' that gives 360 degree views of the band.

Muse are the supporting band and I've only heard good things about them too so it should be a blast.

I will let you know what I think!

Oasis split....again

So Oasis have split up. Or have they?

This time Noel has quit the band. A statement on their website says: "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis last night. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan."

And that was it.

One member of the band seems to quit every time they play a few live shows so you'll forgive me if I don't get too excited by the supposed collapse of one of Manchester's finest.

The band were playing the V festival last week and managed to play one show on Saturday before pulling out of Sunday's show claiming lead singer Liam Gallagher had 'viral laryngitis'.

Is it permanent this time? Probably not. Does anyone care? Probably not. As much as I love Oasis and will catch them live whenever they appear in or near the city I live in I just don't care about all of their petty little squabbles anymore.

Bank of Burnage

A nice move by Oasis.

After a recent show at Manchester's Heaton Park was marred by sound problems, they offered the entire crowd a refund, even though the problems were fixed and the show resumed.

That itself was a nice PR move for their home town crowd, but I was even more impressed when the refund cheques were mailed out this week.

Although legal tender, the cheques were printed as special souvenir items from "The Bank of Burnage", the small neighbourhood in South Manchester where Liam & Noel Gallagher, and of course me and our kid grew up.

Noel described the number of people who claimed the refund as 'cheeky' noting that he didn't see such a huge gap in the crowd that night and questioned whether fans were really disappointed but the cheques were issued in the hope that they will become collector's items and people would decide not to cash them. Everyone's a winner.

Smart move boys.

Pretty Green

One of the strangest things I’ve heard recently is that Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is launching his own clothing range.

Called Pretty Green, and made up of “key industry professionals” it is “an up front, straight talking, classic clothing range.”

Now, I love Oasis. I love their music anyway, and I find Noel Gallagher funny and intelligent when I hear him speak but I can’t say I’ve ever really noticed what they’re wearing.

I grew up in Burnage, Manchester, the same as the Gallagher brothers and we even went to the same school (St Bernards), although at different times so it’s pretty much required by law to be a fan and to have some link to them, however tenuous. We even lived next door to Tony McCarroll, the original drummer of the band.

Liam says “Clothes and music are my passion. I’m not here to rip anyone off and I’m not doing it for the money either. I’m doing it cuz there’s a lack of stuff out there of the things I would wear.”

Very noble Liam, and I might do the same thing myself if next time I call in to Target or Old Navy their shelves are bare.