| MTV UNPLUGGED
Royal Festival Hall, London.
August 23rd, 1996
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| | The band was the most popular in Britain and everybody was mad for Oasis! Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger were big hits all around the world and Noel decided to go on MTV unplugged to show the world that Oasis was more than just electrified guitar sounds - he wanted to prove that his songs are good enough to be played acoustically.
The band and the additional musicians (including the oldtimers Mike Rowe and Mark Feltham) travelled to New York to perform in the Royal Festival Hall in front of 2500 special guests.
After the huge Knebworth gigs, the band, went into rehearsals for the MTV unplugged show. During the week, Noel and Liam came to blows, and the result was the singer refusing to take part in the show. Noel wouldn't give in and cancel the show, so he decided to go on and sing the vocals himself.
When the band appeared on stage Noel found himself compelled to explain why Liam was not up there with him. After sitting down behind the microphone he said to the crowd: "Liam ain't gonna be with us tonight he has a sore throat - so you're stuck with the ugly four". The ice was broken and the "liamless" gig could begin!
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SETLIST.
1. Hello
2. Some Might Say
3. Live Forever
4. Listen Up
5. The Masterplan
6. Don't Look Back In Anger
7. Talk Tonight
8. Morning Glory
9. Round Are Way
10. Cast No Shadow
11. Whatever
12. Wonderwall
Listen Up and Whatever were not broadcasted on the show.
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Noel kicked of with a stunning version of Hello, a song that for some reason was never played acoustically again. The band was very spread out on stage with Guigsy to the left, Bonehead in the middle and Alan White with his drums a little behind them. Noel looked isolated to the right of the stage where most of the light was concentrated. Behind the band members were Mike Rowe with his keyboards.
 | Next song was very surprisingly Some Might Say, a song which is not played acoustically very often. Thirdly came the crowd-pleasing Live Forever, which Noel sings better than Liam. Until now the presence of the lead singer was not missed. Listen Up was just as big a surprise as Some Might Say and Hello. This version of Listen Up was for some reason not a part of the MTV Unplugged show, maybe because the recording of this particular track was not equal to the other tracks in quality. Or maybe it was just cut out to make the show a bit shorter. The show was, of course, bootlegged later on, and this gave us the possibility to enjoy Listen Up, another song which Noel played superbly.
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Following The Masterplan Noel presented Mark Feltham, who backed up Noel on The Masterplan and later on Round Are Way and on Whatever. Then he played Don't Look Back In Anger which was another excellent crowdpleaser.
 | Throughout the concert Noel had a lot of contact with the crowd, which was seated only 4-5 metres from the stage. When Noel played the first cord of the intro for Talk Tonight a person in the crowd yelled: "YES!", which resulted in Noel pausing and asking: "Yes what? What did you think I was going to play?" The crowd was quiet for a few seconds before a woman answered Noel's question: "Talk Tonight!" Noel replyed with a smile that she was right: "A tenna' for the woman in black! - we actually planned to play It's Good To Be Free, but I guess this will do just as well" and then he continued to play Talk Tonight. This kind of interaction is one of the things that made the MTV Unplugged concert so special.
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Towards the end of the show Noel spotted Liam in one of the VIP-boxes above the stage. He was with girlfriend Patsy Kensit and he was smoking and drinking, despite his "sore throat". After a few comments from Noel and a bit of yelling from Liam, the show continued.
 | After the concert Noel reveiled that he was pissed at Liam because he had refused to sing, but also because he did not care that his brother was "dying on stage". This comment suggests that Noel was not pleased by having to sing the songs, maybe because he did not feel that his voice was strong enough.
The MTV Unplugged is a legendary Oasis show that shows the band's versatility and great talent. In my opinion Noel sung all songs superbly.
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written by Lars Kristensen 14.02.01 |
