Oasis Takes Music Sharing One Step Further

Never one to let someone else shove in front of them, Oasis has challenged the recent trend toward free, Internet-wide song distribution with a gesture of their own.

Rather than allowing download sites to hand out their songs to the masses, they’re doing it another way: with real, live street musicians.

NME reported Thursday that 14 street performers, those kooky, guitar-wielding panhandlers who post up near subway terminals, will join forces in New York City Friday (September 12) to channel new, unheard Oasis material. The street performers will meet with Oasis for a quick rehearsal before scattering across the city to enchant pedestrians with the British band’s newest fare. The songs will include “The Turning,” “Bag it Up,” “(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady,” and the new single “The Shock of the Lightning” from the band’s new album, Dig Out Your Soul, due out in the US October 7.

It’s like the free Internet song giveaway made famous earlier this year by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, but cooler because the songs are performed live, and by random hobos. If free downloads became such a successful trend, I definitely hope this does, too.

A list of the street performers involved and their performance schedule is listed below, and a map of the locations can be found at NYCVisit.com.

Dagmar 2
Art/Performance Rock
Grand Central Shuttle platform
3–6pm

Eliano Braz
Brazilian Violin
14th St. A, C, E subway platform
2–5pm

Gabe Cummins
Jazz Guitar
Grand Central Terminal
2–4pm

J. Hill & Hartling
Hard Country Blues & Gospel
Penn Station–Long Island Rail Road subway corridor
6–9pm

Jason Stuart
Double Bass Rock
Washinton Square Park
3–5pm

Luellen Abdoo
Classical Violin
Whitehall St./South Ferry–Staten Island Ferry station
3–7pm

Luke Ryan
Blues Rock
59th St./Columbus Circle A,C, E subway platform
3–6pm

Majestic K Funk
Funk
Lexington Ave.–51st St. 6 subway platform
2–6pm

Michael Schulman
“Shred Violin”
Central Park (at Columbus Circle)
3–5pm

Next Tribe
World Hip-Hop/Rock
Penn Station–Long Island Rail Road subway corridor
1–3pm

Patrick Wolff Trio
Jazz
Astor Pl.–6 subway platform
3–6pm

Theo Eastwind
Singer/Songwriter
Times Square subway–42nd St. and Broadway opposite Shuttle entrance
12–4pm

Thoth
“Prayformance”
Central Park: Bethesda Terrace
6–8pm

YAZ BAND
Smooth Jazz
Concourse between E and 6 subways at Lexington Ave. and 51st St.
4–7pm