Believe the truth: British rock gods arrive for Seoul concert

In the 1990s, they ruled the world. And they still own a part of it. One of Great Britain’s greatest bands, Oasis, is coming to Seoul tomorrow for the first time.
Some jaded Koreans may scoff a little, saying that the one-time “suns of the world” come to Korea only when they are on their downslope, but these guys still seem to believe they will be the only rock band remembered decades from now, and will never be rolling downhill.
They may well be right. About 5,500 tickets to tomorrow’s concert were sold out by Feb. 11, while “royal” seats, the priciest available, were snapped up within a week, although that pace was still a bit slower than ticket sales in New York, London and Paris.
The concert promoter, Yellow 9, put up another 100 “audio” seats beginning on Feb. 15. From those seats, the stage is nearly invisible and the sound is not really so great. Yellow 9 promised, though, that more speakers will be set near those seats for better sound.
Oasis was formed in Manchester in 1993, and struck gold immediately with its debut album, “Definitely Maybe.” The band was immediately compared to the Beatles, and they soared even higher with their second album in 1995, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” That made them pop heroes around the world as well as in the U.K.
Although their later albums, “Heathen Chemistry” and “Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants” were a bit disappointing, their newest album, “Don’t Believe The Truth,” proved that Oasis is still alive. In the album, Zak Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr of the Beatles, is the featured drummer ― the bloodline seems to be true. Over 40 million copies of Oasis’ albums have been sold worldwide.
One thing to note about “Don’t Believe The Truth” is that Noel Gallagher didn’t write all the songs. He joined the band, reportedly, on the condition that he would be the group’s sole songwriter. Perhaps his muse took a break after realizing “the importance of being idle” (the title of one of his compositions). Whatever the reason, his songs are still good and the other members’ are great, probably greater than Gallagher would have expected.
Gallagher will meet the press tomorrow, alone, and his younger brother Liam, who handles vocals, will talk with the cable channels. The Gallagher brothers are notorious for their inability to get along with each other. Liam in particular has a short fuse, so the promoters probably don’t want to put them together in front of the media for fear that the bad chemistry will show through. In December 2002, Oasis’ members fought publicly and physically in a club in Munich, and the upshot was that Liam was arrested for assault on club patrons and police. He wound up with sundry injuries and a few fewer teeth. The rest of the concerts in Germany on that tour were cancelled. On the band’s Web site, they claim that they were “the victims of an unprovoked attack by a group of youths.”
Oasis picked Biuret, a Korean modern rock band based in the Hongdae area of Seoul, as the opening act for tomorrow’s concert.
The show begins at 8 p.m. in the Olympic Hall at Olympic Park.

by Park Sung-ha