“I wanna dedicate this next song to Noel fucking Gallagher,” Liam Gallagher announces during his festival-closing headline set, before leading what feels like every punter onsite in a singalong to his big bro’s anthem ‘Half the World Away’. When he played the song at Leeds Festival on Friday (August 23), he teased: “It’s very interesting, innit? It’s a very interesting situation we’ve found ourselves in…”
What situation, you ask? Well, you don’t need to, obviously – by now you’ll have seen the video teaser that was beamed from the side of the screens after the show and soon shared across Liam’s, Noel’s and Oasis’ social media accounts: “27.08.24. 8am.” Rumours of an Oasis reunion swirled around the Reading Festival site all weekend – if you believed everything you heard, Noel himself was mooching about backstage – while Liam seemed to relish stoking the flames on Twitter/X.
No, Noel doesn’t saunter onstage tonight to give his cheeky younger brother a big cuddle and sing the high notes on ‘Live Forever’. And a short video teasing an announcement tomorrow might not quite be a best-case scenario, but, even on its own terms, this is a great gig that builds into a sensational one.
Before the start of the ‘Definitely Maybe’ 30th anniversary show, which sees Liam perform Oasis’ flawless 1994 debut album in full – with the era’s B-sides thrown in for good measure – video screens depict clocks that count down from the present-day back to ’94. When Liam graces the Main Stage with original guitarist Bonehead, who’s in the band again after his cancer treatment, they turn back time for an audience who mostly weren’t even alive when the record was released. At first, the sound is a little muddy, with ‘Columbia’ slowed down to such a grungy trudge that the audience’s singing is actually ahead of Liam’s.
It’s a similar story with ‘Up in the Sky’. Gallagher Jr. likes to keep us on our toes, and when he reckons “there’s loads of Man City fans in the house tonight,” he draws panto boos. Frankly, things are looking a little dicey. And then, suddenly, the night goes supersonic: ‘Digsy’s Dinner’ gets roughed-up with a bit of indie sleaze guitar and ‘Married With Children’ is reimagined as a rock’n’roll stomper. The final stretch, from ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ to the cover of The Beatles’ ‘I Am the Walrus’, can only be described as biblical.
The ultimately super-slick show is smoothed out by a trio of dancing backing vocalists – not something you might have expected to see in Oasis’ heyday – but still barbed, as is proved when Liam asks, “Do we have any people who fucking hate Oasis?” When the response is muted, he presses, “Don’t be shy. It’s all right… This one’s for you cunts,” before barrelling into ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’. He’s on ferocious form throughout; his voice nearly as good as it ever was.
He digs out the security guards who stare down punters (“weirdos”) and hails the teens who recently collected their GCSE results but haven’t let academic excellence go to their heads (“good kids”). There’s not much in the way of sentimentality, but he does gaze into the distance when ‘Half The World Away’ plays out, as if reflecting on the 15-year feud that’s perhaps being put to bed – the outcome fans really long for. It’s worth noting, too, that the final announcement video is soundtracked by The O’Jays’ ‘Give the People What They Want’.
Will tomorrow bring the announcement of next year’s rumoured 10 shows at Wembley and eight at Manchester’s Heaton Park? Tonight’s gig is excellent, but what makes it truly epochal is what it may represent. In revisiting the past, Liam Gallagher has perhaps ushered in a whole new era. It’s very interesting, innit? It’s a very interesting situation we’ve found ourselves in.
Liam Gallagher’s Reading Festival 2024 setlist was:
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’
‘Columbia’
‘Shakermaker’
‘Up in the Sky’
‘Digsy’s Dinner’
‘Bring It On Down’
‘Half the World Away’
‘D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?’
‘Fade Away’
‘(It’s Good) To Be Free’
‘Whatever’
‘Cigarettes & Alcohol
‘Married With Children’
‘Supersonic’
‘Slide Away’
‘Live Forever’
‘I Am the Walrus’
Follow all of the action as it happens on the NME Reading & Leeds liveblog here.
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