Oasis At Croke Park: The Triumphant Return of Gaelpop

Finally, the Gallagher brothers made a return to their country by blood to play two back-to-back nights at Croke Park. You may remember from my article last year when the band announced their reunion that I was unable to secure tickets. Well, after pulling a few strings here and there, I managed to get my hands on one. I won’t say for how much, but let’s just say there were no 2 weeks in Ibiza with the lads this summer for Lanklet Dev! (Probably for the best, says you #carnage).

Sunday, 17th August was the day I got a ticket for and when it arrived, I was ready to rock with a brand new Oasis t-shirt from Next and a fresh pair of Adidas Courts that cost me a bargain 60 squid from Schuh.

The lads and I decided rather responsibly to get an early feed in with a day of pints ahead of us. We booked the Featherblade restaurant, which serves a bargain steak for €15.50! I highly recommend this place, folks, tell ‘em Lanklet Dev sent ye.

Once the steaks were digested, we began our pub crawl in sweltering conditions from Dawson Street all the way to Croker. We stumbled upon a fierce battle on Talbot Street, not between foreigners, shockingly as you probably guessed, but between The Celt and Morris Bar in who could play Oasis tunes the loudest. In my opinion, The Celt won, although I may be biased as The Celt was one pub that refused to entertain vaccine certs.

The atmosphere was electric in the final stretch to Croker, helped immensely by the local buachaillí agus cailíní who had stalls lined up along the way with speakers blaring Oasis classics. They sold various items such as bracelets, bucket hats, and flags. I would have purchased a bracelet but I didn’t have cash on me (damn you, Klaus Schwab!).

Before entering the venue, we headed to The Ref Bar where we sank some more stout and I posed for pictures with fans of my work.

We headed into the stadium early after hearing some horror stories about the queues the night before. When we got in the only beer on sale was Rockshore lager and no spirits?! We asked some of Pulse Security or Punjabi Security as they should be called as it was mostly Indians working for them if there were bars selling anything other than piss water, but they couldn’t give us a straight answer.

Thankfully we spotted an Irish couple drinking stout who advised us that the seated areas have access to full bars but we would have to sneak up like they did as those with seating tickets had a different wristband. Challenge accepted! We scoped out the stewards guarding each stairs and spotted one that was distracted talking to fans. We snuck by her and in we went to the proper bar. 

Once a couple more beverages were consumed, we walked onto the pitch, imitating our best Liam Gallagher-esque walk. It wasn’t long until the supporting act, Richard Ashcroft, took to the stage. He really got the crowd going with The Verve hits such as Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man, and Bittersweet Symphony. He was such a good hype man that I think we should invite him to speak at the next get them out protest.

Right before the Oasis intro, The Auld Triangle by The Dubliners rang out to make this really feel like a homecoming for the brothers rather than simply a return gig.

All hell broke loose once Oasis entered the stage with drinks being thrown in the air, and it felt like a lot of them were landing on me (lanklet problems). I even had some boomer aul wan tap me on the shoulder to ask me if I could stop bumping into her. I told her and her cuck husband where to go. 

Of course, there were no surprises in the setlist as it hasn’t changed since the first reunion gig in Cardiff. My favorite songs of the night were Cigarettes and Alcohol, Little by Little, Morning Glory, and Slide Away. It felt good and patriotic to be singing along to Oasis tunes in a majority Irish crowd, especially with the Erin Go Bragh flag displayed on stage. I wonder where all the nostalgia comes from for this band? Is it simply their music and their relatable lyrics, or do they remind people of a time before mass immigration (at least in Ireland’s case) when things such as housing were affordable, and overall the quality of life was better than it is today?

P.S. I’m sure we all saw Simon Harris and his bucket hat in attendance at the gig. It looked like he was seated quite high up. Thank God he didn’t have an accident and fall to his death like that poor man at Wembley. That would have been tragic, and I’m sure the nation would have mourned him dearly!