Quick intro, Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer and Andy Bell, all former members of the last incarnation of ‘the last Great British rock n’ roll band’ Oasis, along with live member Chris Sharrock formed Beady Eye, after Noel Gallagher left the band in August 2009 after a bust up with Liam.
Two years on, Beady Eye have released a fantastic record proper rock n’ roll record ‘Different Gear, Still Speeding’, many thought they’d fail minus ‘the greatest songwriter of his generation’ Noel Gallagher.
Another reason for wanting them to be great, was the fact it’s the first time a band I listen to have released their debut album while I was around to actually buy it!
I bought the tickets before the album had even been released, you could just *tell* they were going to be the business, thankfully I wasn’t wrong. From TV performances on Jools Holland and Live at Abbey Road, the band had hard rocking tunes and soft ballads.
Gallagher’s live performances over the last few years have been, well, below par for someone of his standard, the god awful Electric Proms performance with Oasis in 2008 was painful.
Critics claimed that the “Lennon meets Lydon” voice had disappeared down a bottle, had been snorted away and cigarette smoked away over the years, I was skeptic as to what his voice would sound like, so far it had been fantastic, but would it hold up in concert?
The band step on stage after a great bunch of songs on the ‘Beady Eye mixtape’ consisting of The Beatles’ ‘Revolution’ the Trainspotting song ‘Lust For Life’ by Iggy Pop as Ewan McGregor runs off down the street, the police in pursuit.
Followed by a fantastic sing song of “That’s Entertainment” by The Jam then the best for last, “I Am The Resurrection” by The Stone Roses, large number of people screaming until their lungs burned out.
The opening didn’t take much guessing, the rocking “Four Letter Word”, Gallagher sounding better than ever, the crowd loving it already, waves of people flowing back and forth.
Highlights through the night was what I shouted out “The new Songbird!” in the Liam penned “For Anyone”, one of my new favourite tunes, in which we can all relate to the top class lyric “forever in my heart, I’ll see you in my dreams” and the promise of “forever I’ll be by your side”
“The Roller” was met with massive applause, many audience members pointing to Liam as ‘The Roller’ as Gem smashes away at his Rickenbacker guitar. The opening line still gets me “You didn’t know what to say, it all came at you today...” and the even better and emotional “I’ll give you something, you never knew you’d feel, the only thing is everything is real, tonight”
“Bring The Light” was a great sing a long, the countless “baby c’mon!” from Liam and the crowd set a great high to the piano driven rocker, another wave of people jumping to the heavy 60’s groove piano.
“Kill For A Dream” is one of my utmost favourites since the very first listening, with music a song can ‘transport’ you to a memory, a place, a feeling, etc. The song instantly puts me in the back of a taxi in London, Mischief Night, dressed in fancy dress, with an adoration for a fantastic person, having the time of my life, whole surreal type thing.
“I'm here if you wanna call, I’m staring at the spot on the wall, it's a beautiful world when you know who you are, you're moving too fast in the back of the car, you're giving in another try, staring at the deep blue sky, and you say to the driver "just drive" 'Cause you never felt so alive”
If I had a lighter I would have held it aloft, my arms were aching, I was speechless, such a ‘beautiful’ thing.
“The Beat Goes On” almost reducing my dear self to tears, Gallagher giving it more than his all, even late into the concert, belting out “thought that I had died today, walked off the stage, faded away through the clouds, the angels were singing a song, yeah you know the one” absolutely fantastic.
The chorus of “somewhere in my heart the beat goes on” and Gallagher’s heart wrenching “I’ll waste it all money and fame, I’ll throw it away to prove that I can, I’m the last of a dying breed”
The final song “The Morning Son” is their ‘Champagne Supernova’ aching arms saluting Liam throughout the beauty of a song, where the latter asked “where were you while we were getting high?” we now have the eye-filling-with-tears line of “I stand alone, nobody knows, the morning son has rose”. From the opening guitar which sounds so heartbreaking, to the echoing voice was undeniably the greatest experience at a concert I've had.
With that the band left the stage to massive applause.
The band returned to the stage 5 minutes later and played the psychedelic ‘Wigwam’ which had been absent from past setlist’s until recently. Liam’s voice was amazing, it’s a great crowd sing a long, with the “I’m coming up!” throughout the song.
Though the opening line wins it “The chips are down you’re in the game, win or lose, you feel the same...” Beady Eye completely nailed it. The 2nd song of the encore was the World Of Twist song “Sons of the Stage” which features some of the best rock n’ roll lyrics ever, “we’re out of our minds on the stage”
With that, the band left the stage, Liam promised ‘they’d be back’ and I’m a million percent sure I’ll be there.
Throughout the concert there was the constant chants of “Beady Beady Beady Fucking Eye” followed by the dozens of shouts out of “Liaaaam!” and a hilarious rendition of “Oh Manchester (Is Full of Shit)” having a pop at Gallagher’s (and Liverpool’s rivals) home town.
No chants for Noel, no chants for ‘Wonderwall’ or any other song of their former band.
Nothing; just sweat and beer swilling; proper rock n’ roll.
The bar has been set for Noel. Thank you to Liam. The 'voice' of my life time, so they say.
