The “In The Park” event has been taking place every year for quite a while already now. This year Loud’n Live brought a really interesting international line-up to Kaisaniemi park in the center of Helsinki. You could say it was somewhat of a “Britpop” day with big names like Liam Gallagher formerly from Oasis and Richard Ashcroft formerly from The Verve. Throw on top of that the Scottish upbeat rockers of Franz Ferdinand and a young up-and-coming singer-songwriter under the form of Jade Bird and you know you’re in for a good night!

Sadly Jade Bird had to cancel her performance due to illness. I was actually almost looking forward to seeing her live more than the more established artists. Let’s hope that she manages to come back to Finland some time in the nearby future!

Richard Ashcroft (***)

So, first artist ended up being Richard Ashcroft. Even though there was no one performing before him, they still managed to start their show late. In any case, Ashcroft and his buddies played a nice mix of old work from his time with The Verve and tracks from his more recent solo work. He seemed to have stepped through a portal from the heydays of that band, looking like he didn’t change one bit of his hairstyle or the classic sunglasses.

Everything was played adequately and the nineties seemed to be back for a bit. Personally I thought that a lot of the songs sounded very much the same. It was a nice show though to have playing while you were sitting down with friends having some drinks. I must say that more towards the second half of the set, the music seemed to be getting a bit more balls, there were a couple of songs I recognized and my attention was floating back more to the show. And when they closed their set with the classic nineties’ hit ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, everybody truly got into the right mood!

Setlist:
Sonnet (The Verve song)
This Is How It Feels
Space and Time (The Verve song)
A Song for the Lovers
Music Is Power
Lucky Man (The Verve song)
The Drugs Don’t Work (The Verve song)
Hold On
Bitter Sweet Symphony (The Verve song)

Franz Ferdinand (****)

With Franz Ferdinand I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Their top years when they broke through have come and gone and to be honest I haven’t really kept track of their newer songs that much. Well, I can tell you that whenever you get the chance to see them, you should not hesitate! What an energetic and fun show was that! A true rock party from start to finish. The tone was immediately set by them kicking off with the classic ‘The Dark of the Matinée’.

The newer tracks honestly didn’t stick out too much. They sounded as much fun and as groovy as their early work! Besides vocalist Alex being all over the stage, seeking connection with their fans and jumping around like there was no tomorrow, keyboardist/guitarist/backing vocals Julian was a pleasure to behold with his expressive faces and hilarious demeanor.

Somewhere halfway the set, suddenly a second drum set appeared and they seemed to play every single song on 2 kits. Why, I have no clue, but it was interesting to see 2 drummers managing to beat the skins in absolute unison. As said before, the whole set was an absolute pleasure and party, but the party exploded even further with a powerhouse trio at the end of their set when playing ‘Love Illumination’, ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘This Fire’ back to back!

Setlist:
The Dark of the Matinée
No You Girls
Walk Away
Right Action
Lazy Boy
Do You Want To
Darts of Pleasure
Ulysses
Always Ascending
Outsiders
Michael
Black Tuesday
Lucid Dreams
Love Illumination
Take Me Out
This Fire

Liam Gallagher (****1/2)

To be completely honest, I’ve never been a huge fan of Oasis. Yes, they’re a rock institute. Yes, they have some iconic songs. And yes, they’ve left a huge influence on today’s rock music. But in the debate between Oasis and Blur, I was always rather on the side of the latter. So only seeing half of a band I never really truly liked, left me wondering how I’d experience this.

Well, consider me surprised. Pleasantly surprised, that is. The band showed up, some intros were being played and right on cue mister Liam Gallagher showed up. Just like with Richard Ashcroft, seemingly having stepped through a portal from the nineties to now, still rocking the same hairstyle, the raincoat in which most of the time one of his hands was hiding in and the same pissed, annoyed, on the verge of dangerous vibe radiating from him. If you looked attentively throughout the set, you could see moments where him being pleased of what he saw slightly shimmered through his tough exterior…

Talking about the music, it absolutely kicked ass. Straight from the start hitting hard with 2 Oasis classics under the form of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ and ‘Morning Glory’, showed that he doesn’t necessarily need his brother to rock the place. Though honestly, despite the whole show being surprisingly great, the really strong and shining moments was when they played those Oasis tracks. The rest of the songs didn’t hit home as hard with me. Though maybe that was just because I didn’t know them yet. Especially at the end of the set, the strongest part came with 5 Oasis classics in a row: ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Supersonic’, ‘Champagne Supernova’ and ‘Be Here Now’. What an explosive way to wrap up your business!

Setlist:
Manchester City Champions Chant
Fuckin’ in the Bushes (Oasis song)

Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (Oasis song)
Morning Glory (Oasis song)
Wall of Glass
Greedy Soul (acoustic)
For What It’s Worth
Bold
Shockwave
Columbia (Oasis song)
Slide Away (Oasis song)
Lyla (Oasis song)
Once
The River
Cigarettes & Alcohol (Oasis song)
Wonderwall (Oasis song)
Supersonic (Oasis song)
Champagne Supernova (Oasis song)
Be Here Now (Oasis song)

For more pictures of the night, go here:
https://www.grimmgent.com/in-the-park-2019-24-8-2019