Noel Gallagher and the Cardinals

Last night, after waiting since I was 13, I saw Oasis live. In an epic moment of glory, I watched as my childhood rockstar phenoms took the stage after a well timed rendition of "F'in in the Bushes". This moment would soon blossom into a night full of old hits and new wonders. The opening band, Matt Costa, was nowhere to be seen as we, my brother Joshua, Ryan Heagy, and Ryan Healy and I, arrived on time but were forced to wait to get through the security pat down. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals were on stage as we found our seats and "Good Bye Rose" was pounding from the stage. Not only did we have a great view of the whole stage, but I brought my binoculars with me and was able to see Ryan all up close and personal. His pants were captivating even from afar as the epic plaid echoed through the whole Saddledome. Ryan's set was excellent, some old standards as well as new and fresh tidbits of the forthcoming album. After Ryan had ended a powerful early Oasis type riff he told us to wait as one of the most glorious bands of all time was about to grace the stage. He was not kidding. Noel, Liam, Gem, and Andy sauntered out and took their places and proceeded to rock hard for a good length of time. They played all the songs I wanted to hear including Wonderwall. That's right. After the first few notes were played I lifted my rock fist and pumped the air as my brother yelled in joy at the moment I have been dreaming about for what seems like decades. Live and in concert Wonderwall. It made me emotional, as I have listened to "What's the story morning glory", their second album, more times then I can count, and to hear a song like Wonderwall just blew my mind. They also played some new songs from their forthcoming album and they were solid Oasis type jams. Heavy on the rock, light on the not rock. As the set was coming to a close I had still not heard Don't Look Back In Anger, another of my all time favorite ballads. As they came back to play the encore, Noel came and picked up an acoustic guitar. He told the crowd that they would play some new stuff in a moment, but that they would play another first. He started into Don't and the entire crowd erupted with joy. At this point every single person in the stadium was standing and singing. Noel had turned this fairly rowdy crowd into an Oasis sing-along and I was happy to be involved. Lighters appeared and everyone was singing and swaying back and forth to this well known and well loved song. My life was complete. I had seen Oasis, they had performed Wonderwall, I had witnessed the Gallagher brothers with my own eyes. It was a marvelous eve. Oasis and Ryan Adam's, I could not ask for something so excellent. Also, earlier in the day my car, Gertrude, grazed past 400,000km, but thats another story for another time.

Humanity

This week has seen my faith in humanity take a beating. The senseless killing of an Albertan on a greyhound bus compounded with the release of a ad campaign by PETA relating this tragedy with the slaughter of animals compounded with the Westboro Baptist Church's activism against Canada by the picket of the funeral of the unfortunately departed Albertan. I find myself wondering how humans can take such stances without any thought to the nature of their actions and the toll it will take upon the family and community of the deceased. Why and how are decisions like this made? Is there no sound mind apart of the decision process? Is the world so twisted and so skewed that this is somehow alright by even a minority?

My initial response was to go and picket the picketers, but after some thought I came to the conclusion that it in fact would be counter productive. To react would be exactly the response desired, and the distaste I felt would be mirrored in those involved in the original protest.

My week usually finds an event or a person that revives my view of a fallen humanity. Sadly this week ends on a sour note as the events have deeply shaken my soul. I now am on a search to find an enriching event or person that can bring my soul back to a positive light.