Blimey, that was a lucky escape for my credibility. On Sunday, I nearly wrote a blog extolling the positive power of music and how Oasis reforming would give us all a lift. I got sidelined and decided to write a completely different blog. I am so pleased that the Good Lord intervened and distracted me. I'd look like a right Barclay Hunt this morning.
Yesterday, I was bombarded with emails asking what I thought of Oasis, were the Gallagher brothers gready B*****ds, is surge pricing appropriate to concert tickets. Firstly let me say I didn't even try and get tickets. I'd go if I got them for free, but I don't really like mega gigs and big venues. I loved Oasis first two albums, but it seemed like ever diminishing returns after that and it sounded like they were trying to bake the same cake, with the same ingredients a year after their sell by date.
I initially felt that the Oasis reunion would be good for the UK music scene, possibly reigniting interest in guitar based music. Now it seems they've just put into stark focus the fact that many top level music stars are not only out of touch with their audience, but greedy and lacking in any sort of admirable set of principles. The use of surge pricing for tickets, meaning that you wait two hours and then find out that the ticket is £200 than the £150 pricetag. You have a short period to decide whether you want to pay. It is tantamount to extortion. I feel robbed paying a 'booking fee', let alone a ridiculous surcharge. To me, it is totally against the ethos of rock and roll. I initially justified the reunion, as why shouldn't they. Now I feel they've let us down.
As a musician in a band playing 4th/5th tier venues (recognised pubs and clubs on the circuit) it appalls me. When the False Dots play at the Dublin Castle, for instance, you pay a tenner to see us. There are usually 3/4 other bands on, most of which are brilliant. You can have a beer with us before and after the gig, buy a t shirt for £10-£15 and boogie till three in the morning when we are done. We do it because it's fun. At gigs this year, we've sung Happy Birthday with the audience to a couple of fans, given ourt "No 1 Fan" a present and had an absolute blast.
When we played at the East Barnet Festival, there was a crowd of people with special needs having a proper old boogie, right at the front of the stage. It was a joyful sight and for me reminded me why I do it. For us, another joy is writing and performing new material. In our set, 18 of the 23 songs we may play are less than 3 years old and the audience love them. We added a trumpet to our sound last year, there were no howls that the sound had changed.
So why do the Gallaghers do it? Well first of all, I must note that like most musicians playing our level, it is not our main source of income. Most of us have other jobs. Only tier 1 /2 bands are genuinely minted. Once you start playing stadiums, it is almost impossible to enjoy a gig with the audience. You are ferried around from gig to hotel to gig. A few lucky fans may be brought back to see you. Often these days, they pay for the privelege. Maybe a few stars of a similar level get a prawn sarnie and a beer at an aftershow party. Your crew set up your gear and break it down, whilst you chill out. If you are the headliners, you may or youy may not have a chat with the support bands, depending on your mood, but it is almost unheard of for a headliner to watch the show. Generally you are constrained to play the hits, often songs you wrote decades ago. God help Oasis if they decided to play a reggae track with trumpet in at Wembley. So where is the fun. It is great seeing an adoring audience, but the difficult truth for Liam and Noel is that they only want to hear six or seven tracks. So long as they can join in with the chorus of Wonderwall in the encore, they will go home happy. They both had cracks at doing stuff that's a bit different and the hardcore fans may appreciate a bit of this, but the lot who paid £350 a ticket to take selfies for their mates won't. How many times can you play the same set to an anonymous crowd at a stadium and genuinely enjoy it? They can't freshen the set up because that's not what they are paying a weeks wages for.
Maybe they feel they have an itch to scratch, maybe they will release a blinding new album and play it, to universal acclaim. Or maybe the real fun will be knowing that, divorces permitting, they will never have to do it again to make ends meet. I don't begrudge them a penny. If they do it properly, hundreds of thousands of people will go home happy. As for me? I'd rather be down at the Dublin Castle for a tenner watching 999 or a Ska band. Here's a little reminder of what it's like to see The False Dots live. It won't cost you £350. We launch our album there from 2pm on Sunday 17th November, with two other amazing bands
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