Liam Gallagher closed the Reading Festival tonight – here’s a recap of his highly anticipated performance.
- READ MORE: Reading & Leeds 2024 live blog: all the action as it happens
Gallagher’s appearance came amid growing rumours of an Oasis reunion – fuelled by the frontman himself on Twitter/X ahead of his main stage appearance.
So by the time his set began, fans had already spent the entire day waiting for a possible appearance by Noel Gallagher – a performance that would mark the end of their twenty-year public rift and the return of Oasis.
That’s not exactly how it turned out, but the set seemed to confirm that the band’s infamous break was coming to an end.
Gallagher played Oasis’ debut studio album in its entirety tonight, ahead of its 30th anniversary reissue on August 30. And to mark the occasion, he took a moment to thank his brother.
Before he started “Half The World Away,” he told the audience, “I want to dedicate this song to fucking Noel Gallagher.”
“I want to dedicate this song to Noel fucking Gallagher”
Nice stuff. pic.twitter.com/tInvMXWFla
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) 25 August 2024
Other dedications included the distribution of “Digsy’s Dinner” to “all vegetarians” and the introduction to “Do you want to be an astronaut?” with “Who still sniffs glue in Reading? This is for all astronauts.”
Gallagher also announced a mysterious date on his screens towards the end of his set, with some news supposedly coming at 8am on 27/08/24. The same image surfaced in Manchester after Blossoms’ homecoming gig in the city, and on Noel, Liam and Oasis’ official Twitter/X after the set.
— Noel Gallagher (@NoelGallagher) 25 August 2024
Oasis!? Video teaser for the long-awaited reunion appears right after Blossoms finish their homecoming performance at #livefromwythenshawepark @MENnewsdesk @CityLifeManc #oasismeeting pic.twitter.com/JuCdTla69s
— Aidan McCartney (@aidanmccartney) 25 August 2024
When he wasn’t fuelling speculation about an Oasis reunion, Gallagher took a moment to thank the people of Reading who attended their exam results initiation ceremony, changing the lyrics of “Cigarettes & Alcohol” to include the line: “It doesn’t matter how many bloody GCSEs you’ve got.”
He held this opinion to the end and admitted that he had prejudices about the audience before the performance. “They all think they’re smart, too cool for school and all that shit. ‘I’m going to be a doctor on Monday, screw Liam G and all that rubbish, his rock’n’roll nonsense,'” he said. “Well, you’ve actually become nice, like good kids.”
And with that, he said goodbye with a cover of the Beatles song “I Am the Walrus”, ending Reading for another year and possibly opening the door to a new era for Oasis.
The full setlist can be found below.
Liam Gallagher’s setlist for Reading Festival 2024 was:
“Rock’n’Roll Star”
‘Columbia’
‘Shakermaker’
‘Up in Heaven’
“Digsy’s Dinner”
‘Bring it down’
“Half the world away”
“Do you want to be an astronaut?”
‘Fading’
“(It is good) to be free”
‘Whatever’
“Cigarettes and alcohol”
‘A terribly nice family’
‘Supersonic’
“Don’t look back in anger”
“I am the walrus”
