With that in mind, we decided not to go the festival until later in the afternoon. The earliest gig that we wanted to see was Tegan & Sara, but they cancelled their appearance. Thank goodness! So, Death Cab turned out to be the first band of the day.
Death Cab for Cutie -- Cingular Stage
The Cingular Stage is the second biggest stage in the entire festival and everyone and their mom packed that area to see O.C. favorites Death Cab. It was really hard to get a decent spot in that stage. It didn't help that the temperatures were so high that we lacked any motivation to go see them and to even attempt to crowd and push around others. So, we opted to stand way stage left, near all the portable seat people.
Death Cab is a great band, but I never found their live performance to be that jolting or riveting. It has that potential, but I just couldn't make myself do it. So, I was content on being far away.
The first song they played was "Marching Bands of Manhattan," my favourite song off their new album Plans. That song live is something else, and I'm sure it's even better live in a more intimate venue.
Throughout their set, they played a good mix of songs from Plans ("Soul Meets Body," among others) and their other releases. They played "I Was a Kaleidoscope," which surprised me since that's such an "old" song by their standards. Songs that were expected off Transatlanticism such as "New Year" and "Title and Registration" were also played.
However, I was just not into their set. I was far, it was hot and the sound was being drowned out by all the people talking all around me. I wish I could have enjoyed their set, but I didn't.
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The next band after Death Cab was Bloc Party. However, we opted not to watch Bloc Party but instead go back to Downtown Austin to get some BBQ and watch bats fly from Congress bridge. The BBQ was alright, but the bats were a complete disappointment. Those bastards didn't come out until after 8pm, and we waited since 5:45pm for those guys. We did see a few bats fly close by, but it was so dark outside that it was hard to see whether what you're looking at was a bat or a black bird.
We left TGIF (its viewing deck is perfect for bat watching), we took cabs and hurried up back to Zilker Park to catch Oasis.
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Oasis - Cingular Stage
We barely made it just in time to see Oasis. When we walked in, "Fuckin' in the Bushes" was on. It was still packed in the Cingular Stage despite seeing a lot of people walking out. It's amazing that there's still a huge following for Oasis. Even kids in their teens were amused and sang along to Oasis.
Their set list is the same as any other show, with a few notable omissions such as "Bring It On Down" and "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel." Otherwise the setlist was the same as the previous three times I saw them this year.
Liam was wearing shorts during this gig, which is the same shorts he wore for the SPIN photo shoot last month. Liam wasn't looking too good that night, clothes wise, but he made up for it with his siganture cheekiness and playful nature. He again dedicated "Live Forever" to the people in New Orleans and again incited the crowd with his banter.
Noel was perhaps the most talkative and active of the group. He talked to the crowd about various things. Like, what the translator lady was doing and how she can translate what Noel's saying into sign language. I think before Noel played "Don't Look Back in Anger," he commented that he was freaked out by the Snow Bank building because it looked like an owl. He also told the crowd a story about how two cockroaches were fighting in his room and how he demanded room service to come up and get rid of them.
"Don't Look Back in Anger" was the song of the evening. Everyone singing along and just re-living their youth. Although some of the youth were singing along too. It's surprising to see that this song has eclipsed all other Liam-led vocal songs such as "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall," but Noel does have a knack for touching the hearts of people through words and song.
This doesn't top any of the prior Oasis gigs I've been to, but it's a memorable one.
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