It’s strange how three months can change so much. Back in June Liam Gallagher was kicking off his Definitely Maybe 30 tour with a reunion with Noel seemingly as far away as ever. Yet here we are, in a seemingly new world (or a seemingly very old world), where large swathes of the country are set for enormous disappointment when Ticketmaster’s system crash on them in Saturday’s sale of Oasis reunion tickets.
Whilst Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds had occasionally hit the spot, Liam’s output since Oasis’s split had hardly been inspiring (okay, I’ll concede that Beady Eye’s Flick of the Finger was a lost gem). As such the only thing that would possibly have inspired me to see him live would be a playback of Definitely Maybe. Yup, it would be unnecessary backwards facing, but heck it would be fun.
So when the DM30 tour was announced in late 2023, with promises of celebrating all that was great about Oasis in 1994, I like thousands of others sat by my computer and suffered the disappointment of not getting tickets. But as 2024 ticked by and hype built up I somehow managed to pick up a ticket on Twickets of the morning of the tour opener in Sheffield, which being the first date of the tour had the added bonus of that little but of unpredictability and no setlist spoilers being available.
First up as support was Villanelle, featuring a certain Gene Gallagher as singer – yes, as you may have guessed from his name he is Liam’s son. Disappointingly the queues to get into the venue meant I only caught the last couple of songs of their set and as such it wouldn’t be fair to claim the musical output they mustered suggested they were only on the bill due to his famous parentage.
Following on from them were Cast, a gap of twenty eight years from the previous time I’d seem them, when they’d been one of the support acts the first time I’d seen Oasis live. And whilst the likes of Walkaway and Alright managed to create nostalgic singalongs the handful of newer songs performed failed to generate much excitement from the crowd.
And then the stage was decorated with props to recreate the iconic imagery from the Definitely Maybe album cover. The year 2024 appeared on the big screens, which rolled back a year each minute before the crowd landed back in 1994.
After a video montage of classic footage, out strolled Liam and his band, complete with fellow Oasis founder Bonehead, before launching straight into Rock n Roll Star. If there’s been an opening song on a debut album that better sums up a band’s raison d’etre then I’ve yet to hear it. Needless to say, the audience went slightly potty.
As the song’s psychedelic outro faded away the lights turned red before Columbia pounded it’s way through the arena. Shakermaker, Up in the Sky, a particular joyous Digsy’s Dinner and a thunderous Bring it on Down were thrown out to a rapturous crowd. Was Liam singing well? From what could be heard above the audience howling every word back at him he seemed to be on top form.
With half of Definitely Maybe already performed the focus then switched to the B-sides of the era. Whilst not quite as rich a vein of classics as those from the Morning Glory era there was still plenty to enjoy. Amongst the expected crowd pleasers of Fade Away, D’Yer Wannabe a Spaceman and (It’s Good) to be Free less known tracks such as Cloudburst and I Will Believe were given new life, Liam took over Noel’s vocals for Half the World Away and most surprisingly Lock All the Doors, only ever demoed by Oasis, made an appearance. Although for reasons I’m still to understand Listen Up failed to make the setlist
And then it was back to the classics, a string laden Whatever made a case to be Oasis’ best acoustic driven ballad (yes, it is better than Wonderwall) before things got down and dirty with pints were thrown in every direction Cigarettes and Alcohol before Married with Children brought the main set to a close.
So after all that mayhem what possibly could have been held back for the encore? Just the trio of Supersonic, Slide Away and Live Forever, three songs that perfectly encapsulate Oasis, that perfectly captured how good the band could be when it got things right. A second encore saw the show finish with a cover of I am the Walrus before the lights went up and the crowd returned to 2024.
It’s easy to be snobbish about Oasis, but the simple fact is that they wrote songs that mattered to huge swathes of the population. Possibly the mistake they made was that they achieved so much in the first two years of their career, where everything they touched turned to gold, that the twenty eight years since have often felt like a futile attempt to recapture the greatness they once had.
Will the reunion be successful? Yes, hundreds of thousands of people will go along, sing their hearts out and for a moment it will be the nineties again (with added mobile phones being held up to block everyone’s views). But as Liam proved, these songs were written to be performed live, they were written to be performed loud and there will always be an audience to lap them up.
Wish me luck in the ticket sales on Saturday!
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Liam Gallagher Performed:
Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
Columbia
Shakermaker
Up in the Sky
Digsy’s Dinner
Bring It On Down
Cloudburst
I Will Believe
Half the World Away
D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?
Fade Away
Lock All the Doors
(It’s Good) To Be Free
Whatever
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Married With Children
—
Supersonic
Slide Away
Live Forever
—
I Am the Walrus
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Youtube Highlight of the Evening: Is it predictable to go for Live Forever (courtesy of Adam Levi)? And has a mid song photo slideshow ever generated such a round of applause?
Alex Reviews Gigs 
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