Deafening and blinding, Richard Ashcroft was great
by sfgirl6 on 5/13/18The Masonic - San FranciscoThe opener, Richard Ashcroft, was fantastic. His set was an acoustic one and he poured his heart and soul into all of his numbers. His songs are still great 20 years later. Loved Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work. He performed for about 45 minutes, then a long break, and Liam Gallagher came on around 9:30pm. The music was louder than anything I had ever heard. I was sure I had lost about 50% of my hearing right there. I spent the rest of the concert plugging my ears with my fingers because I forgot to bring ear plugs - recommended for almost any big concerts, but especially this one. It was just unbearable really. I don't know how anyone survived this without permanent damage, not to mention you can't really enjoy it when your whole body is vibrating from the bass and drums. He did mainly Oasis songs which I love and they were brilliant but Liam Gallagher is terrible on stage. Hard to understand even for English people, barely coherent, barely aware that other people are present, no social skills to speak of. If you're considering his future performances, please bring earplugs! You will thank me later in life. The gig was also ruined by their use of strobe lighting which seemed a) completely inappropriate for this type of act, and b) totally destroyed the audience's eyesight.