Day 174 - Sunday 12th March 2006

I wanted to return to Argentina on the following day, which left me about 8 hours to see Santiago before the Oasis concert began in the evening. Whistlestop tour it would have to be, but that is better than nothing. As I walked along a street leading to the city centre I came to a blocked off area and saw a lot of police milling around. I asked someone what was going on and was informed that there would be a parade in honour of the new President, and it would be taking place in a few hours.

I ask you, what could be better for getting to know a city than seeing a parade in honour of its first female President. I filled the next few hours by taking up my location for the events and sampling some Chilean cuisine. In the middle of the parade the President was to attend a special ceremony in the Cathedral. I stood and watched the big cheeses of Chile and some foreign dignatories as they arrived for the service, curious to see who - if anyone - Britain would be sending along.

As the crowd swelled and more and more cheeses arrived, the media began to feel the pressure of the event. As time went by I saw the Swiss ambassador arrive, and also tohse from a few unknown (to me anyway) African countries, but there was no sign of any British envoy. I can only assume that either (a) they arrived in an unmarked car, or (b) they didn’t come at all. One way or the other, I didn’t see them.

It was obviously a proud moment for Chile, and the country marked the occasion with a full military parade. The president arrived in an open topped limo waving amidst a flurry of confette, and headed straight into the cathedral. Emerging about 90 minutes later, she departed in much the same manner, surrounded by mounted troops and band.

Once the commotion had ended and the crowds dispersed I went back to my hostel to get myself sorted out for the concert, before catching the Metro over to the National Stadium, where Oasis would play in the Velodrome later that evening. I picked up my ticket from the Box Office and fought my way through the mad rush to get into the stadium. I decided against the mosh pit right in front of the stage and settled for a viewpoint up in the stands, about 40m away from the stage.

Once I had chosen my position I sat down, watched the people flooding into and filling the stadium, before finally at 8pm the lights went down and the support band came on. They were a Chilean outfit and although I didn’t catch their name they went down pretty well with the crowd who sang along to every word. Obviously they are a big deal in Chile. I suppose to support Oasis they would have to be fairly decent.

When Oasis finally came onto stage, they came on to an awesome reception. Liam looked the boy in a white suit jacket and strutted about like he owned the place. They started out with Lila and a few songs from the new album before they went back to playing the old stuff. They dedicated Cigarettes and Alcohol to “the English” in the crowd, Wonderwall went to “the chicks”, and Whats the Story, Morning Glory to “the Old Cockers”. The best was Champagne Supernova which was dedicated to “the nob head who threw the glass bottle. Oh yeah f#ckin’ come on.” That made me chuckle.

All in they played about 15 songs and were really top class. I was wondering whether it would be any good and if they’d put on a good performance, but in the end it was well worth the entrance fee and the 24 hours on a bus to get there.