I read the news today, oh boy. I read the news in today’s Guardian that Liam Gallagher’s solo tour had kicked off. Out of interest, I searched a few sites to check out the setlist. And though the news was rather sad. Well, I just had to laugh. I saw the photograph. (See what I did there?) And the photograph was off the lesser talented Gallagher dusting off old glories. The show went like this:
1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (with Bonehead)
2. Halo
3. Shockwave
4. Wall of Glass
5. For What It’s Worth
6. Morning Glory (with Bonehead)
7. Columbia (with Bonehead)
8. Stand by Me (with Bonehead)
9. Once
10. Now That I’ve Found You
11. One of Us
12. The World’s Not Set in Stone (Beady Eye song) (First time as solo artist)
13. Greedy Soul
14. Be Still (live debut)
15. The River
16. Gas Panic! (with Bonehead) (First time by an Oasis member since 2002)
17. Wonderwall (with Bonehead)
Encore:
18. Acquiesce (with Bonehead) (First time by an Oasis member since 2006)
19. Roll With It (with Bonehead)
20. Supersonic (with Bonehead)
21. Champagne Supernova
I can imagine the 50-somethings of the 1990s gleefully gulping down some of the best selling rock and roll of the time. And Liam’s brother wrote them all. Whilst Noel’s lyrics have always been pitifully bad, the tunes were often very good, great in the case of Acquiesce in my humble opinion. Liam didn’t play all of them – Don’t Look Back in Anger and Live Forever were notable omissions, the latter more obviously so – but he played safe, almost certainly showing up the sheer mediocrity of his solo work, by stepping into the past.
But Liam lives in the past. A human rock and roll karaoke machine who has literally nothing to offer apart from the pick of someone else’s songs. The capacity crowds packing arenas obviously don’t care and why should they? If Liam’s music had barely changed into the new century, why should they?
Unarguably, he remains a great frontman and, I read, his voice is in half-decent shape again, even managing to stay in tune for most of the set. If he had his way, he’d be upfront in a reformed Oasis, living forever, yet staying in 1994. He’s a lot better than the tired and empty has beens who appear in the annual ‘Let’s Rock’ park shows every summer, not least because Noel’s tunes are better and his stardust, though undoubtedly on the wane, still sparkles. It won’t last forever, though, and more tours like this will hasten future appearances at Butlins, knocking out the hits to an increasingly elderly audience.
