Notes

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It's stunning just how quickly Oasis lost the plot. Sure, they always indulged themselves, but that was part of their charm, yet all their excess and hubris led to the ugly implosion on the Be Here Now tour. Once they lost momentum, it was inevitable that the group would start to splinter, with Bonehead and Guigsy leaving for saner territory prior to the release of their fourth album. Now, the Gallaghers ruled the roost by themselves and, like any insecure megalomaniacs, they surrounded themselves with average musicians — musicians that were technically better than the Mancunian mooks they replaced, but had less character. And that may be the reason why the double-live Familiar to Millions, documenting Oasis' Wembley Stadium show in the summer of 2000, is satisfying without being transcendent, the way they were at their 1995/96 peak — it finds the group just after they firmly entrenched themselves as professionals. Well, almost all of them. God bless Liam, who remains unbelievably obnoxious, slurring and swearing incomprehensibly, picking fights with audiences, exhorting the gals to get their tits out, and, above all, singing like a bastard. He does his best to keep the music alive, trying to make it something more than solid hard rock. Occasionally, he pulls it off, but he's constrained by the dogged professionalism of the others, plus the group's insistence on playing the 2000 set list, from the off-stage intro of "Fucking in the Bushes" to the encore covers. Yeah, it's pretty good but it ain't great, either. It's fun, but it's cheap fun — and, at their best, Oasis gave great fun.