Twisted Wheel do Oasis proud at the Milano Urban Festival 30/08/09 (by Jane)

48 hours before the start of the Milano Urban Festival, came the news that Oasis had finally called it a day. Not exactly a surprise, but it did throw the festival into jeapordy, who would they get to be a good enough headline act at such short notice, and if indeed the festival itself could go ahead.

Just before I boarded my (budget airline) plane, came the news that everything was ok and that Twisted Wheel would be performing at the festival.

What can I say... Milan - a beautiful city with beautiful people (not counting certain taxi drivers tho) and beautiful posh hotels!

The day of the festival, saw a rather damp & cloudy start, but finding a local newspaper, I could not believe the headlines - Deep Purple to replace Oasis! Now, I never ever thought that I would EVER type these following words - Twisted Wheel supporting Deep Purple - who would have thought it???An hour before the lads came on stage, the sun came out, and boy was it hot. Much like the reception the Italian crowd gave the Wheel as they took to the stage, infact the whole place irrupted as they stormed into their first number 'Lucy The Castle'. All around me, people were singing along, and fans down at the front of the barriers jumping like crazy for Jonny's attention - which they duely received. Having left their own instruments back home in Blighty (due to the fact that they were playing a festival in Aberdeen the day before), their hired kit just about managed the job, infact, no one knew any different, as the lads know their job so well.

Twisted Wheel set list

'Lucy The Castle'

'Bad Candy'

'Shes A Weapon'

'Strife'

'Circus'

'Let Them Have It All'

'Oh What Have You Done'

'You Stole The Sun'

'We Are Us'

'Turnaround'With a different set today, I was totally surprised and impressed that they included 'Circus', they hadn't played this live for a very long time, but it was really good to hear it again. With Jonny telling the crowd ' oh quello che Lei ha fatto' the whole place went mental, and this is an understatement! The crowd surged forward whilst singing along, even mosh pits sprang up in several quarters of the audience, I even lost one of my shoes (twice) - the song in question was 'Oh What Have You Done'. The pace continued with crowd favourite 'You Stole The Sun' with Jonny saying back in England he'd be hearing the chants of 'wwwhheeeelll', to which the Italian crowd obliged. Oh my word, people falling on the floor, pushing n shoving, they certainly know how to enjoy themselves over in Milan.

all pix and txt by jane

Next up, 'We Are Us', with the whole place jumping and screaming, I was just taken aback as the crowd knew every word, once again. I can honestly say that Italy loves Twisted Wheel.

As the lads normally finnish with 'We Are Us', another surprise, 'Turnaround' was their last number, with a totally different arrangement, so different, that I wouldn't have recognised the song but for the usual opening chords. Definately need to hear this again, so Thursday night at the Monarch in Camden for the Radio NME gig would be perfect lads..

I must say, coming over to Milan, I honestly didnt know what to expect from the crowd, but the evidence was clear, they so loved Twisted Wheel and doubtless they won over many Oasis fans with their excitement and energy, with many, many people saying that Twisted Wheel are infact the NEW Oasis..!

Keep it up lads

I'd Just like to say that I was also impressed by Tom Meighan (Kasabian) as during their performance they dedicated 'Club Foot' to Twisted Wheel....

('Strife')

(Jonny's stage dive during Deep Purple's set)

Now, if you missed Twisted Wheel's fantastic performance in Milan - they are on tour in a few weeks time - check out their tour details in the side column on this site, with direct links to buy tickets... see you there.....

Jane xx