Review by Alan Steenson for MPM
Having seen Oasis a few times in the 90s, once at their debut in Belfast and the second time as support for REM, I was keen to see how Liam Gallagher would perform without his older (and “some would say”…more talented) brother. (See what I meant with the Oasis pun?)
Support for Liam Gallagher was
Kasabian, who I haven’t seen yet, and local debutant Esmeralda Road.
More than 35,000 tickets were sold for this open-air event and when I looked up at the sky, I was afraid it was going to rain… and for those of you who aren’t Oasis fans (like me), that was their name before they decided to become Oasis.
So, with our trusty poncho in hand, we settled in for the first act of the evening: Esmeralda Road, a seven-piece outfit from Belfast.
Their lead singer had a voice that didn’t seem to match his youthful face and their music was a real mix of styles that was hard to pin down to a genre, a fine blend of jazz/funk/ska and blues with echoes of bands like The Associates/Jameraqui and Orange Juice. They were well received by the crowd, which slowly filled up in time for Kasabian.
Kasabian went through a major line-up reshuffle following the firing of their lead singer Tom Meighan, who went on to pursue a solo career. With Serge Pizzorno taking over lead vocals, it was a real change to see his performance.
There was no need to worry that the energy of this band would change from the entrance to the guitar feedback to the opening chords of the anthem “Club Foot.” After just the first few bars, the crowd was in full swing as Serge took control of the stage from left to right, busting moves and posing like a showman. The word “Happenings,” the name of their latest album, unfolded in the background and in that first minute, all thoughts of Tom Meighan were forgotten.
In his blue and white casual jacket, Serge looked excited by the crowd’s reaction.
Next up was “Underdog” from the classic West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, and Serge delivered a relentless supply of positive energy. The threat of rain persisted and dampened the mood, but only until Serge asked the crowd to jump, jump and jump, which they did amidst a pumping bassline.
Then the new album took center stage with the single “Call”, a catchy song with an instantly catchy chorus that sounded just plain wicked live. The new album is worth checking out if you get the chance. “Call” was followed by “Shoot the Runner” from their second album “Empire” with even more attitude and fuss from Serge and a big thank you from him to the crowd. ‘You’re in Love with a Psycho’ had the first of three big sampling firsts of the night, on this song it was ‘Groove is in the Heart by Delite’ which was a total surprise and oddly worked well and mixed with ‘Coming Back to Me Good’ and the second sample of the night, ‘Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys’ brought us to ‘Treat’ from the album ’48:13′ with Serge interacting with the guitarist and drummer singing ‘Sitting with the Junkies with Margaritas’ while the drummer gave his drums a good beating towards the end of the song.
The highlight of my night from Kasabian and Gallagher and the third sampling of “Faithless… Insomnia” sent the crowd into a frenzy as they mixed in the familiar opening bars of “Vlad the Impaler”, my personal favourite Kasabian song which sounds damn good live. From front to back the crowd was jumping and you could see Serge’s reaction was one of tremendous gratitude. He said a few words about Liam and how much it meant to him but for me that song alone deserved a headlining spot that night with a full stage show to complement the already amazing sound. But no time to rest, two more songs to treat us to “LSF (Lost Souls Forever)” and during that he said he would join the masses at the front to bounce along to Liam Gallagher. “Fire” closed Kasabian’s set that night, with the crowd going wild during the chorus build-up… I’m not sure how Liam Gallagher can top that, but we’ll see…
During the break for LG (I will call it that because I feel strained by repeated typing) Liam Gallagher much) the stage was transformed into a tribute to the album cover of ‘Definitely Maybe’ with nice touches like inflatable flamingos, a giant hanging globe, a picture of Burt Bacharach, palm trees, an old TV screen and a picture of George Best who ironically wasn’t a City player but was requested by Bonehead, the guitarist at the time of the album recording who was a Man Utd fan… And now he was the centre of the stage as he was in Belfast… a nice idea from LG.
In addition to the various stage props, there was a video display in the background that projected the year 2024. While the stage was being decorated, the year was counted backwards. This was to symbolize the 30 years that were the meaning of this tour.
The sounds accompanying this transformation of the stage were from decades past and the crowd joined in as Teenage Kicks was played but the real hype came when the clock struck 1995 and I am the Resurrection by the Stone Roses brought the crowd into full voice and as the clock struck 1994, the date of the album’s release, screaming guitars rang out as the band began with Rock n Roll Star, with LG entering the stage right, walking menacingly towards the microphone in his trademark coat, hat and sunglasses and bursting into song as images of himself from the past flashed across the giant screens, with the final lines of Rock n Roll Star he announced to the crowd that “they were fucking rock n roll stars” and shouted “any Belfast vibes around here?” as his band launched into Columbia, this time with a group of backing singers who got the crowd clapping with hands above their heads, a pulsating song with great guitar work that ended with LG asking the crowd if there were many City fans in the crowd? The loud chorus of boos was in response to LG announcing that the next song was dedicated to Sheikh Mansour, a terrible pun on the next ‘Shakermaker’, accompanied by pop art style imagery in the background, with LG breaking out the maracas and tambourine and responding with a typical LG ‘Nice Thousand’ as a thank you at the end of the song.
“Up in the Sky” followed, with displays showing 50’s kids in a movie theater wearing 3D glasses, giving the images a psychedelic twist. LG provided a decent vocal on what is a very average song for me (did I mention I’m not a huge fan?). But on with the show, and my opinion is just an opinion and does not reflect that of an artist who has plied his craft to great success both in a band and as a solo artist. “Digsy’s Diner” was next and for me the song of the night and obviously a real crowd favorite, a really stomping track that should have been longer. “Bring it on Down” provided a good strong drum intro and was also one of the better songs of the night for me. LG asked the crowd if they were enjoying themselves and was met with loud applause. Things calmed down with the song “Half a World Away” (the Royal Family theme song), originally sung by Noel Gallagher and performed with equal aplomb. “Do you want to be an astronaut?”, followed by LG’s question “Hands up if there are glue sniffers in the house?”… With the reply “You lying wankers, this is a song for all the Space Cadets out there!”
“Fade Away” took us back to the heavier songs of Oasis, with LG saying that it was a really old song, as old as Bonehead, who played with LG on that tour, so it’s obvious that he didn’t fall out with everyone in the former band.
The classic ‘Whatever’ saw the first use of strings against a sky backdrop and the first nod to the influential Beatles as LG and the crowd sang the lyrics of ‘Octopus Garden’ back and forth. Another classic Oasis single followed, ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, with a quick dedication to Serge from Kasabian, lots of mutual respect between these guys, a very average ‘Married with Children’, until a screeching guitar blast catapulted us into ‘Supersonic’, with a red vibrator bouncing across the stage and another classic belted out during the chorus, which the crowd responded well to from front to back.
“Slide Away” was dedicated to Felicitie and Floella, who I can only assume were in the audience or singing backing vocals, but either way the song sounded good, with a frenzied ending that seemed to have the crowd soaking it up.
The night ended with two more songs, the first of which was the timeless “Live Forever” which delivered the signature “shiiiiiiiine” lyrics… overall LG’s voice hasn’t changed one bit, he still has the same attitude and was never someone I could like live or on record but like I said there were over 50,000 people there who strongly disagreed so I’ll hang my head in shame for all of you (well I won’t but it will make you feel better).
The last song of the night was a cover of the Beatles song “I am the Walrus”, a good version that I actually liked a lot at the time because it suited his voice really well. The crowd went home very happy and although 99.99% of them were very happy, I couldn’t shake the thought that Kasabian should be the headliner sometime next year.
