"Oasis and Ryan Adams" Concert Review
by David Rosen (Originally Posted on www.lasvegasroundtheclock.com )

3 out of 4 Thumbs

The Pearl at The Palms Las Vegas was host to two amazing bands on Saturday, December 6th. World famous brit-rockers Oasis and the multi-talented, alt-country, singer-songwriter Ryan Adams & The Cardinals. It was an excellent show, full of incredible music and a lot of great self-deprecation.

“I’m not kidding,” Ryan Adams joked with the near-capacity crowd during his opening set. “How do you open for Godzilla?” Kicking off his performance with “Cobwebs,” from his new album “Cardinoligy,” Adams impressed both the dedicated supporters and the legions of Oasis fans who had no clue who he was (probably outside of his stirring cover of Oasis’ own classic, “Wonderwall,” a version that the band themselves has said is even better than their own take on the song). Other songs in his set included the new singles, “Fix You” and “Magik,” as well as some fan favorites like “Blue,” “Go Easy,” and “It Takes Two.” Unfortunately, his hour long set didn’t allow him to dig too deep into some of my personal favorites. As a matter of fact, aside from the aforementioned “Blue” and “Magik,” he didn’t really do any of my favorite songs. “Here’s another totally depressing song,” he cracked. “It’s called ‘Fuck Me Part 79.’” I was hoping he’d play part 72!

With Ryan Adams as the talented but slightly timid and self-deprecating opening act, Oasis are the equally talented, but just plain ridiculous rock gods. Noel and Liam Gallagher are famous for being the prototypical drunken British rock & roll madmen.  That description is well deserved. It’s not that they’re so crazy on stage? It’s that they give off an aura that basically says, “We’re the greatest band in the world and you all suck.” Not that that’s a bad thing! It’s just so funny and hard to take serious. When they first came out in the 90’s with their now timeless hits “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova,” a lot of people compared them to The Beatles. It’s clear that if you made that comparison to their faces they’d call you any number of slurred British curse words and tell you how crappy The Beatles were.

Touring in support of their new album, “Dig Out Your Soul,” Oasis shows no signs of slowing down. Their new hit single, the hilariously titled “The Strike Of The Lightning,” has been written off by critics as a diversion into self-parody, but there’s no denying that the song rocks and keeps the crowd going just as good as any of their classics. Still, the band is at their best when simply being the “greatest band in the world,” who brought us the classics mentioned above as well as the sing-along, “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and opener “Rock & Roll Star.”

Both Ryan Adams and Oasis were excellent, and The Pearl was a great venue to see them in. I only hope that Ryan Adams will come back soon with his Cardinals and play a full length set so I can get to hear some of my favorite tracks. Oasis on the other hand was great to see live, but it’s just as fun to sing their songs in faux-British accents in Rock Band on Xbox360.