I’ll level with you, I don’t normally bother with tribute bands, I’m not sure what it is but the thought of watching people on stage pretending to be someone else just doesn’t cut it for me. I saw a Doors tribute act a few years ago and they were AWFUL, couple that with a night out watching someone scream into the microphone trying to emulate the vocal raspings of a certain Axl Rose and you’ll appreciate why these types of shows aren’t very high up the pecking order for me.

I saw that an OASIS tribute act called OAS-IS were playing a handful of dates including one at The Lemongrove, part of the Exeter University campus, as it was a Friday night, I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring and see what all the fuss was about!

As we approached the venue, I was surprised to see a good mix of people lined up ready to enter, there was a healthy amount of bald/balding OASIS fans from the early days, obviously a ton of students and also a few father/son combos (where the kids looked like they’d rather be at home, in the warm, playing Fortnite (or whatever kids play these days!)

I often wonder with tribute acts, are they ‘look-a-likes’ or a ‘sound-a-likes’, it’s very rare that you ever get treated to an act that cover BOTH of these, I’d rather they apply more effort to getting the sound right instead of the haircuts but it is what it is and with a ‘glass half full’ attitude to the evening, I waited for the music to kick off.

First up was Plymouth based indie quartet SITTING PRETTY, for a moment, I thought that was the name of Liam Gallagher’s clothing label but I was corrected by a friend as that is ‘Pretty Green’, I guess it was the similar looking logo that threw me! Their set consisted of some solid indie bangers which proved they had the material to keep the room engaged whilst waiting for the main act.

Tracks such as ‘Breaking Down’ kicked off with a healthy dose of swagger and some solid guitar licks. They closed with ‘Rainmaker’ which saw the vocalist pulling out the Gary Stringer from REEF card, his vocals really adding to the overall delivery.

Chatting to the singer after their set, he told me that they are about to release an album and are just working on the artwork and the finishing touches, expect this in early 2020.

After a short break and enough time to refresh drinks and empty bladders, it was time for OAS-IS to hit the stage, with the dying embers of Fat Les’s ‘Vindaloo’ echoing out across the room, they strode on stage and kicked out some absolute classics including ‘Some Might Say’, ‘Roll With It’ and ‘Stand By Me’.

I said at the start of the piece that I had hoped that they had spent more time and effort honing the sound of OASIS rather than the ‘look’, I guess I was wrong as when Liam first walked on, he had it off to a tee, the mannerisms, the garbled comments spat into the microphone, the green parker jacket and the tambourine shaking all made me think that the singer had clearly done a ton of homework when researching his part.

With ‘Champagne Supernova’ ticked off the list (which sounded as good as the original version I might add), Liam left the band to it as Noel kicked into ‘Little By Little’, proving that he too had the ability to knock out a tune on the guitar as well as sing, very impressive it was too.

With Liam back on stage, they introduced Definitely Maybe and launched into a stellar version of ‘Rock ‘n Roll Star’ which saw the room really come to life. Other standout tracks from the set were ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’, ‘Slide Away’ and ‘Married with Children’ which closed the album and saw Liam once again, leave the stage. With him gone, Noel took to the microphone again and asked if the audience would like to have a bit of a sing-a-long prior to playing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ which heralded the biggest reaction of the night so far from the healthy crowd that had formed to remember just what all the fuss was about back in the 90’s!

After a two song encore including ‘Acquiesce’, they bid Exeter a fond farewell and returned to their dressing room to no doubt party the night away with groupies, consume a mountain of cocaine with their ginger headed Glaswegian manager who was slowly losing the plot…..

So, did I enjoy the show? was it worth heading out on a cold November evening? You bet it was, they sounded as good as, if not better on some tracks and to think that I have seen the real deal about 6 times, ranging from their early days, countless gigs on their ‘What’s The Story’ tour, Knebworth on the Sunday night and a few times on their ‘Be Here Now’ tour which I seem to remember them entering the stage through a massive lemon, or was it a telephone box, oh god, it was the 90’s, how the hell am I meant to remember?

If you’re a fan of OASIS, you’ll struggle to find a better sounding tribute act out there and there are still a few kicking about!

Will the Gallagher Brothers kiss and make up in time for the 50th anniversary Glastonbury festival? 2020 also coincides with the 25th anniversary of ‘What’s the Story Morning Glory’, so I guess it would be a cause for a celebration, I guess we’ll just have to watch this space and keep everything crossed. if they DON’T, keep an eye on the OAS-IS facebook page for your chance to see the next best thing!

Words by Steve Muscutt

Pictures by © Simon Hammett