by Tom Rocco
I love music, mostly rock, but I delve into other genres to expand my horizons. This year marked 50 years since I attended my first concert, Valentine’s Day 1975, Led Zeppelin, a pretty darn good start. As some of you know, I recently completed writing a blog of my top concert memories (Medium posts them in most recent order, so you would want to start at the bottom). A couple of years ago, after joining MenLiving, I joined the Marco Polo music channel coordinated by Jeff Tress, which is lots of fun. Shortly after, Todd Adams asked me if I’d facilitate a regular Zoom meeting, “MenTalking About Music.” I’ve been doing that for a year and a half now. We’ve had some really great conversations. I do it every other month. Our next Zoom meeting is Tuesday, November 18. Please consider joining us. It’s a chance to have a lighter conversation with a bunch of guys on something many of us enjoy. We usually talk about concerts we have recently seen or have tickets for, what we’re listening to, random topics that are top of mind, like what we think of the Super Bowl halftime performer, or whatever is on anyone’s mind musically.
I find music such a bonding experience, whether it’s sharing stories or preferences, but nothing beats seeing a show together, which is why I love doing it with my two sons, Jared, 34, and Nate, 29. This past September we saw the Oasis reunion. Pulling pieces from my blog: This show was one of six in the US, two each at MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey, just across the river from Manhattan, two in Chicago, and two in Los Angeles. With no Boston show (despite early rumors) this was a must-see for us, after the 17 year hiatus due to the cold war (or maybe hot war) between the Gallagher brothers.
We rented a small house in Connecticut, three hours from home, and an hour or so from the Stadium. The location worked out wonderfully. We arrived at MetLife early for some tailgating and chatting with other Oasis fans. There were three bands on the bill, I don’t even recall, nor did we see, the first one, but Cage the Elephant was the second. Sort of appropriately, we saw them on our first trip a dozen years earlier. I liked them when I first saw them and didn’t want to miss this performance, so while my sons were still at the merch table outside the stadium, I sprinted inside to near our seats for when they hit the stage. Jared and Nate caught up with me a bit later, we took our seats, and enjoyed their set.
After resetting the stage and the requisite break for people to buy more of everything, Oasis took the stage to “Hello” with the perfect lyric, “It’s good to be back!” According to Wikipedia, the capacity for a concert at MetLife is 82,500, the same as for a football game, which means that all the behind the stage seats that they don’t sell are exactly made up for by the people on the floor. Sounds suspicious, but I think about these things. So, however many people were at this soldout show, just about everyone I could see stood for the whole show, pretty amazing at a venue this size. Oasis was great, feeding off the frenzied energy of the crowd, who sang along for much of the night. The energy was electric. I’ve included a short clip of the three of us singing below, there’s more, but I’ll keep it to just one! The set list was dominated by the first two albums with classic after classic. The place was rocking like crazy for a solid half hour plus with the first six songs, until people caught their breath with “Fade Away.” still a good song. But then the energy went right back up with “Supersonic.” After “Roll With It” Noel sang lead on three songs, concluding with the crowd favorite (and certainly one of ours (see video) “Little by Little.” Seven more songs brought us to the end of the main set, finishing with “Rock ‘n Roll Star.” The four song encore began with two more with Noel on lead vocals, the second, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” began a three song sing-along, as it was followed by “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova.” which ended with fireworks. What a show and a great new memory! Music is such a wonderful bonding catalyst.
