Photo Credit: Gavin Bond
1994 what a year eh? Pink Floyd complete their last ever tour and Tony Blair becomes the Labour Party leader … oh and Oasis released their debut album Definitely Maybe on 29th August, an album that sells 100,000 copies within four days of release, becoming the fastest selling debut album in British history. Wherever this band played there was mayhem as Britpop had a stranglehold on the UK music scene, Oasis famously stormed King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow on 31st May 1993 playing four songs and the rest as they say is history, they left the famous venue that night with a record deal thanks to Alan McGee and Creation Records. Now let’s fast forward thirty years putting aside the fallouts of brothers Noel and Liam, this is the best we will get now as Liam brings Definitely Maybe back to life touring around the UK, the circus has now landed in Glasgow for two nights at the OVO Hydro.
Due to a mix up with tickets at the box office we missed the two support bands – Villanelle and The View – the first mentioned are led by Liam’s son Gene Gallagher on vocals. By 9pm the standing area was jam packed and the excitement among the fans was memorable as hundreds danced and sang, all this before a note of music was even played! The stage setup for this tour was interesting, a large globe at the back of the stage was supported by two flamingos on the left side of the stage. A large TV screen on the right of the stage took us back in time as the countdown slowly began from 2024 to 2014 … what a different world we populated then. As bands such as The Jam and The Stone Roses blasted from the speakers the fans danced and sang to all these classic songs, a large percentage of them not even born then. Gallagher took to the stage in his trademark jacket as a collective roar welcomed the band to the stage, immediately getting the crowd onside with the iconic track Rock n’ Roll Star followed by Columbia, as beer cups were chucked around the standing area just like in the old days at Glasgow Barrowland few would have avoided being soaked! Sticking to the music now, it was good to see Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs back playing with Liam, he had to pull out of the 2022 and 2023 tours due to a health scare, but the co-founder of Oasis was back at his best tonight and the fans were delighted to have him back in Glasgow.
For any fans of the comedy The Royle Family, Half The World Away was being sang by Liam for the first time on this tour, back in the Oasis days it would have been big brother Noel that would normally belt out the lyrics “I would like to leave this city/This old town it ain’ so pretty”. It was certainly a decent effort from Liam and one of the highlights of the set. In comparison to the rowdy gigs Oasis used to play tonight’s crowd were a great mix of young and old just enjoying being in the moment hearing an iconic album being played by their hero. In total Gallagher played twenty tracks including a few popular B-Sides such as Cloudburst, I Will Believe and It’s Good To Be Free, as well as an Oasis demo track Lock All The Doors, a track that Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds eventually released. Special songs of the night were Whatever and Cigarettes & Alcohol, taking the fan reaction to a whole new level. If the fans reaction to the main set wasn’t enough then things were about to go Supersonic in a moment, sure enough this was the first track of the encore as everyone sang the words back to the stage. This was quickly followed by Slide Away before finishing with Live Forever, a very unique singing moment for those in the arena to empty their lungs one last time.
The night ended with a second encore as I Am The Walrus, the famous Beatles track was appreciated by all those why stayed until the end, it was quite a fitting end to the night as it was one of the four tracks Oasis played at that famous King Tut’s gig mentioned earlier. Coincidentally the second album from Oasis – What’s The Story (Morning Glory) – was released in 1995, can we now look forward to Liam Gallagher heading out on a 30th Anniversary tour in 2025? We hope so anyway! Liam is back in Glasgow on 12th July to headline at the TRNSMT Festival, which will be covered by Bring The Noise. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
