Last week was a huge moment in music – Oasis announced a series of North American concerts to be held in August and September of 2025. Their previously announced UK and Ireland shows sold out in a matter of minutes with a ton of issues surrounding demand and pricing. But Oasis were also far bigger in their native England than they were in the US, so how would the handful of North American shows fare?
Before tickets officially went on sale on Friday, October 4th, the band announced second shows for all North American dates, except one – the Chicago show at Soldier Field would remain a lone date. Lucky me, as I would be trying to secure tickets for that very show.
I did get a pre-sale code that would let me buy tickets on Thursday, a day before the general sale. I figured I’d take a shot at seeing them, I never had despite having lived in Europe through the late ’90’s and having every opportunity to see them whenever I wanted.
There are a few other things I’ve never done – I’ve never been to a stadium concert and I’ve never bought a ticket for a high-demand event. I think the 20,000 capacity amphitheater style gig is the biggest type I’ve been to, and none of those shows were sell-outs. I’ve been to several sold-out or near sold-out shows, but all of those were smaller, club-level shows at 1,000 or less capacity. I’ve never had a problem getting tickets to something even if it was a hot ticket.
But this Oasis reunion is a HOT ticket. Again, it melted down Ticketmaster in England due to demand. Many people over there were left out, which also served to increase North American demand as many from England would be trying their luck with shows across the pond.
I’ve bought tickets at box offices and record stores back in the days of paper tickets, I’ve obviously boguht online a lot in the past many years, and I’ve showed up to many shows and simply paid at the door without an advanced ticket. One thing I’ve never done is use an online queue system like what Ticketmaster had set up for these shows.
I got home on Thursday from work about fifteen minutes before the pre-sale began. I logged into my Ticketmaster account and, in what proved to be a grave mistake, I waited until the sale launched to join in. Had I jumped in right when I got home, there might have been a different outcome to this story.
When I got into the queue, there were 16,800 people ahead of me. I was a bit miffed that I was so far back, but then I hopped on reddit to see what people were saying and I found out I messed up by not joining as soon as I could.
this was after I’d been in the queue for a few minutes
I don’t know the exact number of tickets available – Soldier Field concerts seem to run around 54,000 or so. The number of people in the queue, who could each buy 4 tickets, far exceeded the capacity. Take into account that not all tickets were sold during the pre-sale and pickings were truly slim.
Anyway, I waited 40 minutes to get in and when I did, it was a bloodbath. There were a few scattered seats, but I couldn’t get one quick enough. The GA floor only had VIP available, and it quickly came down to only having VIP seats as well, at a $600 minimum. I simply closed my browser tab and went about my day.
I did not bother trying for the general sale the next day. I believe Chicago sold out in 19 minutes, and all of the other gigs (with two shows on all the others) sold in similar fashion. I saw that quite a few people got in on the Mexico City gigs after missing on both the UK and other North America shows. I guess up next is Australia, who are getting a whole two shows.
No, I won’t be seeing Oasis next year, barring some kind of oddball luck on the resale market. I’m not inclined to pay much attention to that, honestly. I’m not really upset about it, I knew it would be kind of a lottery to get tickets and I just didn’t hit. Besides, I’ve heard from plenty of people that stadium shows kind of suck anyway, it’s more about just being there than it is taking in the show. I’ll make do with the inevitable live album and documentary when all of that comes around.
So Sally can wait … about 16 years, as it turns out.
Hell has frozen over and Oasis are back together. Noel Gallagher and his brother Liam announced the first Oasis shows since 2009 will take place in the United Kingdom in 2025. So far 14 gigs are booked across 6 cities in Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. Tickets go on sale Saturday, August 31st, with per-registration and pre-sale events already announced.
All of this seemed to come together quickly over the weekend, with Liam Gallagher all but announcing a reunion through his very whimsical use of social media. He and Noel also praised each other at varying points, with Noel paying homage to Liam’s vocal prowess in an interview and Liam dedicating a song to Noel while on stage solo over the weekend.
In fairness, this reunion was tipped off over a month in advance, with most of the information presented proving to be accurate. Both the reunion and general structure of the tour were leaked, though of course everyone was pretty skeptical until this past weekend. Also disclosed was that the brothers Gallagher will be taking home more money than anyone reading or writing this post will see in their lifetimes. This stands to reason with how much of a unicorn this reunion is.
As of now not much else is known about the shows, which are of course nearly 11 months away. We don’t know the Oasis line-up. The same, seemingly reliable sources indicate that it will be Noel, Liam and the members of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. That band includes two people who were in the final iteration of Oasis with Chris Sharrock and Gem Archer, so it would be a logical choice. But no word yet if Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs or any other past Oasis alum will make an appearance. I’m sure we’ll find out as we get closer to the gigs.
I’m not a betting person but if I were I’d be a bit poorer today. Three years back I wrote a post examining the Oasis reunion and I concluded that I didn’t think it would happen. But here we are and all is well, or well enough to launch a hyped and certainly lucrative tour. But cynicism aside, people are very hyped for this reunion and the brothers are giving people what they want.
Among the other rumored information not yet totally confirmed are a handful of North American dates for later this year. Toronto and Mexico City are listed, as well as New Jersey, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles in the US. While all of the UK performances are multiple nights in the same venue, the North American shows are all one-shot deals.
Certainly there are a ton of ifs still to go, but if Oasis do make their way over here next September, I might see if I can’t wind up at a gig. Chicago would be the most logical choice. I’m not in a position where I’m falling all over myself to spend tons of money on something, but if this all materializes I might have a go at it. We will see.
And I guess we’ll see a lot between now and then – there are already betting lines of if Noel and Liam start a fight with each other before or during the reunion. I suspect the shows will go off without any real incident, though both brothers are sure to supply plenty of fodder for headlines during it all. Rejoice or despair, depending on how you feel about it, but Oasis are back together.
We were supposed to just be talking about the 30th anniversary of the debut album Definitely Maybe. I covered that just a few days ago, just before the reunion rumors began to take a life of their own.
It’s a few days early but this week I’m going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the debut Oasis album. I did cover this album way back in the first months of my site but now that I’m doing song and album grading, I figured I could dig this one out and commemorate it. Note that this is a look at the original album, this won’t cover the bonus tracks from the coming reissue. This also won’t address the rumors of a reunion, which is official as of 8/27.
Oasis – Definitely Maybe
Released August 29, 1994 via Creation Records
The Oasis story in a nutshell – Oasis was formed in 1991 by Liam Gallagher, Paul “Bonehead” Arturs, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and Tony McCarroll. Not long after Liam asked his older brother Noel to join the band. Noel agreed, on the condition that he take creative control since he had more experience with songwriting and the music business.
In 1993 Oasis were gigging around the UK when they were spotted by Alan McGee, owner of Creation Records. The band were offered and eventually signed a record deal, the deal went international as Sony was part owner of Creation at this time.
The album was recorded in several studios, with Owen Morris becoming the producer after a few stops and starts along the way. Eventually things got settled and the album was ready to go.
There are several versions of Definitely Maybe and one more on the horizon at the end of this week. The original album had a few versions – in this case, the vinyl had a song not on the CD or tape releases. I will cover that extra song today. In 2014 a massive reissue with 2 CD’s worth of bonus discs came along, and in 2024 a new 30th anniversary version with a different set of bonuses is slated for release at the end of August. I will likely cover those bonus tracks in separate posts later down the line. There’s also a DVD version from the 10th anniversary, this is one I haven’t laid eyes or ears on.
So given that I’m covering the vinyl tracklist, today I’ll handle 12 songs at a hair over 56 minutes. For some added context, here is an Oasis song ranking I did last year where several of these tracks make appearances.
Rock n Roll Star
We open with a great, loose track about a dreamer who lives a dreary life but wants to escape that by becoming a rock star. Even though the underlying theme is a bit dire, the song itself is fun and cheery and truly opens up that dream of escape. It runs straight through until the end where there’s an extended tempo switch and a psychedelic fade-out. Grade: A+
Shakermaker
This one is a bit of a psychedelic wall of noise. There’s not a ton going on lyrically but there are some shout outs to the Gallagher brothers’ ’70’s childhood and also Mister Sifter, the guy who Noel bought records from in his youth. Overall a really cool song that shows Oasis weren’t going to be literal or always obvious. Grade: A-
Live Forever
Up next is the song that “made” Oasis, after Noel wrote it and the band heard it they knew they had something above and beyond the makings of a simple indie band.
I covered this fairly recently so I won’t get too much into it, but it is my third favorite Oasis track. It’s such a lovely expression of friendship, love and whatever else that Noel wrote as an antidote to the negative leanings of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. It’s a magnificent triumph and one of rock’s great songs, not just Oasis. Grade: S
Up In The Sky
This one is a contrast study, as the music is very bright and cheery, while the actual message behind the music is pretty angry. It takes aim at prominent people who talk about what a country like England needs without having any clue how the rank and file people are living. With or without the biting commentary it’s a pretty splendid track. Grade: A-
Columbia
Here we have one that was originally meant to be an instrumental that Oasis used to take the stage. After a bit they decided to throw some words on it. There was apparently LSD involved, which would reflect in the trippy vibe of the song. The words written don’t really “mean” much, this is one of several “all vibes” songs Oasis would write. It’s also a really damn good track and one of my Oasis favorites. Grade: A+
Sad Song
This is the song that is on vinyl copies but not on original CD editions. It is a bonus track for digital and CD reissues. Noel handles the singing here on this quiet acoustic track. It’s a fine song, nothing wrong with it, though it does honestly disrupt the vibe of the album between the songs before and after. There is a demo version of this with Liam singing that is coming on the new reissue this week. Grade: B
Supersonic
And now it’s to the band’s very first single, released several months in advance of the album. I covered a reissue of the single awhile back so I can keep it brief here. The song is excellent, it’s a good fun and total nonsense affair with a nice, consistent rhythm to it. Grade: A+
Bring It On Down
This is a great banger, more punch and energetic hard rock than the more careful pacing of other stuff on the album. It’s another look at living the layman’s life in England, similar to Rock n Roll Star. Though it’s a stylistic departure in some form, it fits in very well and stands out among the non-single tracks. Grade: A
Cigarettes And Alcohol
A riff and rhythm so nice that Marc Bolan might get a lawyer if he were still with us. This one is about diving into the title subjects to escape the drudgery of pointless work and life. And if you want something better, you gotta make it happen. So Oasis did make it happen while enjoying plenty of the mentioned substances, as well as others. And with they brought this excellent song. Grade: A+
Digsy’s Diner
This silly track was cooked up by Noel when his friend Peter “Digsy” Deary was singing a weird bit about lasagna. Noel turned it into picking up a gal and inviting her to lasagna for tea. Digsy fired off his own track later called Noel’s Nose in response. This one is funny and actually a pretty decent song that says its peace and gets out of the way quickly. Grade: B+
Slide Away
This song was written on a guitar given to Noel by Johnny Marr, a guitar previously owned by Pete Townsend. This was the first thing Noel did after getting the guitar.
Slide Away is a love song that Noel wrote in honor of his girlfriend of six years. Sadly they broke up just before this album was released. The song is brilliantly constructed and also brings out the best of Liam’s singing. Live versions of this song are regarded as the best of Liam’s performing career. Oddly, Noel didn’t want to release this as a single even though the record label wanted to. Grade: S
Married With Children
The album ends with a silly ditty about the day to day of living with someone. It’s also somewhat inspired by Noel’s girlfriend from Slide Away. It is pretty entertaining though it also doesn’t necessarily hold up to the other stuff on this pretty monolithic album. It does work on the album’s end. Grade: C+
Definitely Maybe was a hit out of the gate for Oasis. It sold 100,000 copies in the UK on its first week of release, hitting the UK number one and also setting a record for the fastest selling debut of all time. That record was later topped by Adele. It would also go platinum in the US despite a modest chart position of 61 and no mainstream hits, though songs did get aired on alternative rock stations and MTV. All in all, the album has sold over eight million copies and has eight platinum certifications in the UK. (note that 300,000 is platinum in the UK as opposed to a million in the US)
This is pretty easy to assign a grade to. There are many excellent songs on here that would anchor the Oasis live set all through their tumultuous career. There aren’t any real missteps on here, a couple of silly songs work where they’re at and the somber vinyl bonus song is still worthy material.
Album Grade: A+
Oasis got going in grand fashion with Definitely Maybe, and would only get hotter with their world-conquering next album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? For a spell in the mid ’90’s Oasis were as big as it got in music. Sure we know the stories of the brothers’ temperaments and feud that runs to this day, but the music has stood the test of time.
Today I keep rolling with my mini-concept of visiting a song from the years ending in 4. Today I head back to 1994 and I’m finally going to address a song I’ve been dying to write about for awhile now. This was the song from the debut album that really got the ball rolling for England’s revered (and reviled) Oasis.
Live Forever was the third single from the 1994 debut Definitely Maybe. The album is cited for selling over 8 million copies, though no telling how much of that was the white-hot success of the follow-up record. The single did great business, earning Oasis their first UK top 10 hit and also placing at number 2 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, as well as 10 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US. The single is double platinum in the UK for sales of 1.2 million.
This song is a bright, positive one with a simple beat and riff that keeps things moving along. The lyrics visit the concept of wanting to shed a mundane life and finding happiness with a close friend or family member. It doesn’t wallow in the angst of being downtrodden, rather the song embraces reality and hopes for something better, coupled with the bond of friendship. While a lot of Oasis songs have lyrics that mean absolutely nothing, the words to Live Forever have a simple yet very powerful meaning to them.
This was one of the first songs Noel Gallagher started putting together, and it was the one that made him and the other members of Oasis realize they had something special. It was also the song that helped push Oasis over the edge when being offered a record deal by Creation Records. When it was released as a single just in advance of the album, music critics found something a bit more special than the average band in this song.
There a few bits of trivia here. One is that the vocal melody in the beginning was inspired by the Rolling Stones song Shine A Light. It’s not a rip off or anything like that, but there’s a link there for sure between the chorus of the Stones’ song and the opening line of this one.
Also, Noel Gallagher was inspired in part by Nirvana to write this song. Not due to any similarity in sound, it was Nirvana and grunge’s bleak outlook that caused Noel ire. Noel heard the Nirvana track I Hate Myself And Want To Die and wound up completing Live Forever. Gallagher was not offering a direct response to the down and out grunge tune – rather he fashioned an antidote.
Live Forever was played 570 times during Oasis’ run, making it their third most played song. It has also been aired out 72 times by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds since Oasis ended. That is nearly doubled by brother Liam, who has played it out 139 times as a solo artist.
I do hold Live Forever in high regard – awhile back when I ranked my 20 favorite Oasis tracks, this clocked in at third place. It’s a beautiful song that’s honestly perfect for just about any occasion. Feeling bad? Put it on and feel better. Feeling good? Put it on and keep feeling good. It can fit weddings, funerals, celebrations and tragedies of about any kind. Maybe the biggest shame of Live Forever is that Oasis kind of outdid themselves with another song on the next album that fills a similar purpose, though there’s nothing wrong with having both this song and Don’t Look Back In Anger around.
That about covers it for today. I will be giving Definitely Maybe another look on its 30th anniversary date near the end of August. I covered it in one of my first posts on this site and only three people ever read it so I guess repeating myself is ok in this case. Tomorrow I’ll be back with a song from 2004 and on that is much, much less positive and upbeat than this one. Look forward to it!
This will be a song of the week as well as a look at a single, as forces have conspired to make this possible. So it will actually be two songs this week since the single has a B-side.
There is a feature track of course, and that song today is the debut single from Oasis. This was the start of what would become a white-hot run through music in the mid-’90’s, no one was bigger than Oasis through 1995 and 1996. But today revisits their beginnings in 1994 so we’re not quite to their shit hot moment in the sun.
Supersonic was released on April 11, 1994 as the lead track from the debut album Definitely Maybe. The single charted modestly well for a debut band – it hit 31 in the main UK chart and popped up on several US alternative charts despite not making the Billboard Hot 100. The single would eventually be certified platinum in the UK. The album it hailed from moved over 8 million copies.
This version of the single I’m covering is the 30th anniversary re-issue of the 7-inch version. While there are several other versions of the single out there, these two songs tie in nicely together due to the story of their creation.
The band set out to record their first single in early 1994, that song was supposed to be Bring It On Down, which became a non-single track from the debut album. Noel Gallagher wasn’t happy with the song and began messing with I Will Believe, which became a B-side for other versions of the single. Then totally off the cuff, Noel wrote Take Me Away, this single’s B-side.
On the last day of studio time, the band messed around with an instrumental. Also in the room were brothers Chris and Tony Griffiths of the band The Real People. Tony suggested that the bit Oasis were playing could be a hit song, so the band worked up what became Supersonic.
As a note on writing credits – Noel is the sole credit, though he did later confess that Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs and Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan helped him write the chords. Tony Griffiths also played some songwriting role but was not given a credit, Noel’s decision to leave the Griffiths brothers out of credits on the debut album was an issue that caused infighting in Oasis. I know, I know, no one could imagine the members of Oasis fighting among themselves.
Supersonic
The feature song opens with a bit of drumming then kicks in to a riff that plods along but has a bit of bite to it. The song’s run maintains this riff’s shape, with only minor alterations through the chorus. It is a pretty chill, laid-back affair with a bit of guitar work to provide a jolt of energy.
The lyrics open with a simple yet wise line – “I need to be myself, I can’t be no one else.” It is also the only part of the words that make any kind of sense at all. All of the rest of the lyrics are nonsense rhyming exercises. It’s a song that is all vibes and no meaningful underpinning – trying to find a deeper meaning to Supersonic will land you on the bottom of the Mariana Trench with nothing to show for your dive. This is a song style Oasis would excel at in their early career.
There is a shout-out to The Beatles in the song, something Oasis would do a lot of through their run. This one is simple, it’s an open mention of Yellow Submarine as one of many vehicles discussed through the track.
Supersonic is a great song to put on to just chill and not have to give a damn about anything for a few minutes. I ranked this one lucky number 13 awhile back when I lined out my 20 favorite Oasis tracks.
Take Me Away
The B-side is an acoustic track with Noel also handling vocals, something he would do every so often through the Oasis run. It’s a very nice and simple tune about just sitting and chilling for a bit longer as everything around you falls apart. There are a few homages to Beatles lyrics in this one, I’ll leave you all to find them. This is one of many B-sides considered underrated by the Oasis fandom, which I guess would make it not underrated if everyone who cares about Oasis rates it highly.
That does it for this look at the first and also newest Oasis single. It would be the start of one hell of a run through music as these lads literally took over the world for a bit of time.
Originally I was going to discuss 2023 a bit more. I decided against that after I got to typing – this year has been a bit of a shit to me personally and I’d rather see it just go the hell away. Instead, I’ll go with what is supposed to be my normal Wednesday routine and talk about a song instead.
Whatever, indeed.
Our song today hails from Oasis, and was their first ever non-album single. We are now 29 years and 1 day removed from its single release, it was a UK Christmas single in 1994. This would do very well for what was about to become a behemoth of British rock, the song went to number 3 on the UK charts and sold over 540,00 copies.
This was recorded as part of the sessions for the debut album Definitely Maybe, and in fact I believe it was released on a few international versions of the album. I can’t immediately corroborate this, so if anyone has more concrete information about this, please share and I’ll be happy to correct this.
The thing that kept Whatever off the debut album was the use of orchestra strings, which were recorded by the London Session Orchestra. Among the players was violinist Wilfred Gibson, who had previously been part of Electric Light Orchestra, as well as contributing to early King Crimson work, among others. Imagine being this guy who had been on decades of mountain-moving work.
But Oasis and the powers that be, likely Alan McGee and Creation Records, decided that Whatever didn’t fit the debut album. I’d honestly say it’s a fair call, this song does stand out as different from the vibe on the record. It might have worked, but Definitely Maybe does work just great as it is, so it’s probably for the best that this is a bonus track.
Our song today isn’t that difficult to go through, most Oasis songs aren’t. It’s an ode to being free and embracing whoever you are, like a lot of Oasis it’s a celebration of the everyday person. It’s an embrace of the free spirit of the brief Britpop time of the mid-90’s where things weren’t as grim and everyone could take on the new form of rock music while still having a good time. It’s a celebration of self, it isn’t overly intellectual and it works pretty well.
The signature part of this song might be at the end, as the last minute or so sees the strings lead the song out. It leads to memes like the one just below, and it sums up the spirit of the song. We aren’t supposed to take it all that seriously, yet in that time for us of the right age in the mid-90’s, this was pretty serious. For a brief moment in time, relatively speaking, Oasis were the voice of a generation.
Now, this song did give primary songwriter Noel Gallagher a bit of a fit – there was a lawsuit from celebrated English act Neil Innes, who contended that this song lifted parts from Innes’ 1973 song How Sweet To Be An Idiot. Oasis management chose to settle, and Innes is listed as a co-writer of Whatever.
This got played out live a fair bit, including during Oasis’ high time of 1996, and the Knebworth set that I go on and on about on here. All in all this is listed as being played 99 times during the band’s career, and was one they were playing on their final tour when shit came to shit and the band imploded. Both Noel and Liam have played this in solo sets post-split.
So at the end of the day we have a Christmas song, although it’s not about Christmas, as if Oasis would ever do that. But we do have a very nice song that didn’t quite fit the album they were putting out and we got this as a bonus single instead. A fine piece of work, if I do say.
When Britpop gets brought up, it’s almost always a focus on the “Battle of Britpop” and the rivalry between Oasis and Blur. But when a “best songs of Britpop” list springs up, there’s often a whole other song at the top of it. If you are even halfway decent at guessing, you could probably figure that the song is Common People by the band Pulp.
Common People was the lead single from Pulp’s fifth album Different Class, which released toward the end of 1995 in the height of the Britpop phenomenon. The single was released 5 months in advance of the full-length.
While Pulp benefited from the wave of British alt-rock, they themselves were not newcomers to the scene – Pulp were formed in 1978 and were on the indie circuit until the 1990’s brought their form of music more into style. This was a case of a scene finding a band, rather than a band finding a scene. Nor was the success sudden – Pulp were a rising star already through the early part of the decade as alt-rock became the new dominant form of rock.
Common People is an upbeat, keyboard-driven tune, which has been the general territory of Pulp through the years. Its dance-ability differentiates it from the more rock-oriented “Britpop,” though Blur did have moments of electro-tourism in their music. Pulp’s simpler, “retro disco” themed take on songs worked extremely well here and caught the attention of music fans the world over.
The song’s theme is a big one – it addresses the issue of “slum tourism,” where people of means want to live in squalid conditions as some kind of thrill seeking thing. And while the song was dramatized a fair bit for effect, there is truth behind the opening lines. Common People was inspired by when singer Jarvis Cocker attended St. Martin’s College in 1988. He ran into a girl who was Greek and was studying art, and the girl indicated an interest in living “like common people.”
Cocker did add a bit to the song, chiefly that the girl was pursuing him, while in reality Cocker was pursuing the girl and she was not at all interested. There have also been attempts to nail down who the woman was and a few interesting possibilities came up, though nothing has definitely been said about the matter.
Common People does accomplish its mission in railing against the idea of class tourism. For a well-off person to “slum it” for a bit is really nothing – all that person has to do is pick up the phone and call, as in the case of the girl in the song, she can call her father and he can stop it all. For the common person, there is no one to call to get a lift out of the despair of being broke and having no prospects for a better future beyond a winning lottery ticket that never comes.
This song became a huge hit in the Britpop era of 1995, the single hit number 2 in the UK and sold over a million copies, it also propelled the album Different Class to also move a million each in the UK and on the continent. Common People has endured as a top shelf tune since its release, it is often found at or near the top of most “Best of Britpop” lists and NME magazine even voted it the best song of the 1990’s. Many bands from all across music have covered the song, one very notable rendition came from 2004 and the tandem of William Shatner and Ben Folds. The pair were joined by Joe Jackson for a pretty unique and crazy version of the song that got a lot of attention and did a lot to kick off Shatner’s quirky music career.
For Pulp, Common People would be their magnum opus, though the band held serve through the 1990’s as their sound was more diverse and proved able to navigate the sudden closure of the Britpop shop. Pulp have split and reconvened a few times through the 2000’s, including having just been on a reunion run this year. But no matter what they do now, their crown jewel of a song will remain immortal and speak to the lives of many all over who know all too well what’s it like to live like common people.
This will be a quick and easy AOTW, this live set just hit shelves last Friday and it doesn’t require rocket surgery to have a listen and look at. An old warrior relives his glory days at the site of one of his biggest historic triumphs, getting the rare chance to live in the moment one more time.
Liam Gallagher – Knebworth ’22
Released August 11, 2023 via Warner Records
Oasis played two historic shows at Knebworth House in 1996. Those gigs were the apex of Oasis’ hype and popularity and are often seen as the zenith of the Britpop movement. In 2021 the Gallagher brothers released a live album and documentary about their Knebworth experience, and in 2022 Liam was booked as a solo act to rekindle the old magic again. Over 250,000 people attended the 1996 Oasis gigs, in 2022 Liam would play two nights to a total crowd of 170,000.
Liam played his two shows in early June of ’22, just shy of 26 years after the Oasis sets. He would bring an assortment of material, both from his three-album deep solo catalog and several Oasis standards. While he played 21 songs each night, the album offers a slimmer version with 16 songs, with 9 Oasis songs and 7 Liam solo tunes. Most of the omissions aren’t really a big deal except for one which I’ll get to during the huge encore section. One song did get played on night one but not on night two – the solo single Shockwave, which is on this live package.
There was also an unfortunate omission from Liam’s band – he had often been joined the past few years by former Oasis mate Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs. Bonehead spent a good part of 2022 in treatment for cancer, which he was cleared of last September. He was unable to join Liam’s tour and Liam dedicated More Power to Bonehead at the shows.
The setlist for the live album is as follows:
Hello
Rock N’ Roll Star
Wall Of Glass
Shockwave
Everything’s Electric
Roll It Over
Slide Away
More Power
C’Mon You Know
The River
Once
Cigarettes And Alcohol
Some Might Say
Supersonic
Wonderwall
Champagne Supernova
The live set holds pretty constant through the performances – the songs are executed faithfully by the band, a few of them get an uptick in tempo due to the energy of the huge live performance. Liam holds serve pretty well through this long set. He does get a bit shouty in a few places but I think that’s a consequence of the music going hard as opposed to any issues he was having. Overall Liam sounds really good for someone who has a thyroid disease and had to re-find his voice in order to launch his solo career. He doesn’t get to some of the crazy performances he did in 1996 but his presentation here is well done.
The set jumps between solo songs and Oasis tracks for awhile, one interesting Oasis inclusion is Roll It Over from 2000. It’s not one I’d expect to be on a setlist for a huge show like this but the song works pretty well and is an under the radar pick for the set. Liam performs most of his solo singles here, when he gets to More Power he does a 4-song suite of his songs, concluding with his most renowned solo effort Once. He announces that Once is the last song, though there is one monster of an encore coming.
The encore is an all Oasis affair and kicks off with Cigarettes And Alcohol. That one is performed almost as a heavy metal or punk track, it goes heavy and hard. Some Might Say gets a bit similar treatment, while Supersonic is actually toned down a notch and has a psychedelic vibe to it that stands out even from old Oasis performances. Wonderwall is handled in great fashion, with Liam letting the crowd sing the chorus. The audience knew the words, not only to Wonderwall but most of the other songs, even Liam’s solo singles.
Champagne Supernova closes the night. Liam dedicates the song to his mom Peggy, who is in attendance. It doesn’t seem to be announced from the stage anywhere, at least on the album, but former Stone Roses guitarist John Squire makes a guest spot on the song, just as he did with Oasis at Knebworth in 1996. The album goes out with Liam thanking the crowd and then the guitar ringing out for about a minute after the band is done, apparently they have Nigel Tufnel’s old Fender with that famous sustain.
A few songs were left off, both Oasis cuts like Stand By Me and Liam’s solo songs like Why Me Why Not and Diamond In The Dark. None of those exclusions really bother me, this thing is a 76 minute long album as it is and I can understand making a few tough choices to keep packaging reasonable. But there is one notable exclusion from the Oasis encore section – Live Forever was performed both nights but didn’t wind up on the record. I would have loved to have that song on this album, but for whatever reason it wasn’t included.
The album is pretty well done, there are a few rather abrupt edits that I find odd for a label like Warner to leave on, they clearly cut something out between Liam honoring his mom and the actual start of Champagne Supernova and there are a few other spots that weren’t blended in that well. They aren’t major issues but they do stand out.
Overall Knebworth ’22 does a good job of capturing this historic performance. The atmosphere of an 85,000 strong crowd carries over through the audio, everything feels grand and heavy, like there’s literally electricity in the air. All the instruments sound good, the drums sound almost a little too good but that could just be how they set up to capture things, it’s not all that hard to get a great live sound recorded in the 2020’s. This one is more for the invested Oasis and Liam fan, though people who were in during the 1990’s might find the set a nice bit of nostalgia. It’s about as close to an actual Oasis reunion as we’re likely to get and this set does bring back a bit of that old Knebworth magic from way back when.
Now on to part two of my list of favorite Oasis songs. If you missed the first part, head here to play catch up. No real further elaboration needed here so it’s right into my ten favorite tunes from the Gallagher brothers and their cohorts.
#10 – Rock N Roll Star
The opening track from the debut is a killer slice of rock music. This song spells out the dreams of Noel Gallagher in his early days of playing music and his ambitions for Oasis, dreams he would realize many times over. But before stardom hit he and Oasis were just a bunch of council estate lads from Manchester, dreaming as many of us do for a different kind of life. Even outside the song’s deeper meaning, this is just a great rock and roll tune, it’s exactly why I listen to this stuff.
#9 – D’ You Know What I Mean?
And now, the first single from Be Here Now, the 1997 album that came in with more hype than ever but fell a bit short of what were impossible expectations. This one is over 7 minutes long but every second of it works, even the oddball helicopter noises and Morse code stuff at the beginning. Musically this is really solid and slots in well with other Oasis anthems, lyrically it is all style and no substance but there’s some hidden lyrical gems in here. Some are borrowed from the Beatles, others are original quips. This one sums up the Oasis attitude really well.
#8 – The Masterplan
We now arrive to another B-side from Noel’s golden era of songwriting in 1995. This was originally the B-side to a single Oasis released called “Wonder Wall,” maybe you’ve heard of it. Noel cranked this song out because he needed another B-side for the single and when he was told that this was good enough to be on an album he didn’t listen. He should have, because this song is wonderful. Noel handles the vocals on this one about “coming of age” or even just accepting where you are at whatever point in life and doing what you please. It’s also worth watching the Knebworth ’96 documentary to see the part where this song features, it’s a very touching piece of the film.
#7 – Slide Away
It’s back to the debut album again, it’s almost like there are a lot of really good songs on that one or something. This is an actual love song, something Noel wrote for an old girlfriend. It’s a wonderful song musically, and also Liam totally kills it singing this one. And for the last mention of Knebworth on this list – the second night’s performance of Slide Away is the highlight of the concerts and an absolutely splendid rendition. But you’ll have to seek it out on your own, I’m posting the studio track here because it’s easier to find and I’m lazy.
#6 – Cigarettes & Alcohol
Again from the debut record and one of its singles. The pace is kept down here but the track just oozes rock and roll sleaze. The song gets at the heart of stuff like cigarettes and alcohol – they are small distractions from a dull and dismal life of work and being on the low end of the earning scale. I suppose the true meaning could be missed, though it’s kind of right there out in the open. Even if the topic is a bummer, the song itself is a great jam that gets the spirits moving.
#5 – Columbia
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the album yet in this series, but this song comes from the debut Oasis record Definitely Maybe. Columbia was originally intended as an instrumental cut to use as intro music but the band later decided to add words to it. As with many good Oasis songs, the words here aren’t saying much and especially on Columbia there really isn’t shit here lyrically. But the song is absolutely great, it is a total vibe setter and is just cool and awesome. It’s kind of like pro wrestling entrance music for a hipster.
#4 – Morning Glory
This did NOT come from the debut album, I’ll let you guess which album it’s off of. Oasis had their share of banging song and this one is the mother of all bangers. This one rocks asses off, something a lot of people probably didn’t realize Oasis were capable of. The song is about drugs and specifically cocaine, something the members of Oasis have masters degrees in.
#3 – Live Forever
Yes it’s also from the debut album. Noel wrote this one earlier on and it’s when he and others realized that he was on to something more than the average chap looking to make it in music. This was meant as a response to the depressing nature of grunge, the music of the day back then. This one is just a beautiful song, it says about all there needs to be said. It’s pretty easy to see why this song has resonated with so many people.
#2 – Don’t Look Back In Anger
Back to the second record for one of the many singles from it. It’s another majestic song, wonderfully composed and performed. Noel took the vocals on this one, a choice that gets questioned to this day but it still worked out just fine. There is a nice message to the song about letting go and moving forward, and yet also the song is full of mind-twisting riddles through the lyrics. It all just works so well and it’s a masterpiece of a tune.
At the top of my mountain of Oasis songs is this long, trippy cut from the second album. This song is such a trip and a journey, can’t say where exactly you wind up but it is worth the ride. I really got into Oasis when I first heard this one, I’m pretty sure my actual reaction was “WTF was that?” This isn’t a song with some message or even a meaning, it means whatever the listener needs or wants it to mean. What it means to me is over seven minutes of pure enjoyment.
That does it for my favorite Oasis tracks. Feel free to offer your own personal favorites below. I will tackle an Oasis album ranking at some point but I have a few others lined up first so it’ll be a little while. Until then, head to the nearest dive bar, ask for a Champagne Supernova as a drink, and see what you get.
And now, nearly two years into this website blogging thing I’ve been doing, it’s time to finally spit out a favorite songs list. I intended to start this way back when but just never got around to it. It’s not really hard to do so I don’t know what the hang up was. But there’s no time like the present so here we go.
I’ve chosen to tackle Oasis first. I wrote about them a bunch when I started this but haven’t got a ton into them lately. When I was debating on exactly how many songs I was going to post I wound up with being able to fill 20 spots, so I’ll go with that. I’m going to split this into two parts. There isn’t a ton of writing on these but the YouTube clips take up a bit of space and I want to keep things kind of clean.
So the first 10 will be up today then the top 10 will be tomorrow. Pretty simple concept so off we go.
20 – Gas Panic!
This track hails from the band’s fourth album, 2000’s Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants. The album as a whole had a psychedelic vibe and this song benefited greatly from it. It’s actually about Noel Gallagher having panic attacks which were attributed to his drug use and the music fits a drug trip sort of thing perfectly. I’d kind of passed on Oasis after their mid-90’s glory days but this one is a gem from their life after the peak.
19 – The Shock Of The Lightning
This one comes from the final Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul which hit in 2008. Oasis actually had a bit of a late-life comeback just before their 2009 implosion and this single was fair part of that. It rocks pretty hard, gives off vibes of the classic Oasis while still hanging out in that trippy territory they’d done quite a bit in through the 2000’s. This one made it easy to get a bit excited about them again, though fate had other plans.
18 – My Big Mouth
First appearing live at the legendary Knebworth 1996 gigs, this song got its studio version on 1997’s Be Here Now. This one is a total banger and it addresses the Gallagher brothers’ reputation for having big mouths. This did nothing to shut them up, it was just a song they sang, but this was a good cut. This is one where I do prefer the Knebworth live presentation a bit to the studio track but the studio cut is still really good.
17 – The Hindu Times
It’s on now to Heathen Chemistry from 2002 and the lead single from that record. While the album was all over the place, this song was a good lead off and probably the strongest song from the record, though not the most well-known. This is a light, cheery and a bit of a trippy song. Noel named the track based on a t-shirt he saw in a shop but the lyrics were written later and have no connection to the title. But it’s no matter, this is a really good one.
16 – Lyla
Up next is the lead single from Don’t Believe The Truth released in 2005. This is a simple, fun song about a gal who is really great or something. It’s not a love song per se, more of just this person is generally awesome kind of thing. This one really has the vibe of Oasis getting it right and is one of the best singles of their 2000’s era.
15 – Wonderwall
And here we are. I know that music is relative and subjective, and that a lot of people don’t have exposure to a lot of things that seem common to others. But if you haven’t heard this song you’ve literally been living under a rock since 1995. The most secluded of hermits have heard Wonderwall.
This was the mega hit that still rings loud and clear 28 years later. It might be overplayed but that doesn’t really affect my opinion of it much. This was a very well-done song and there’s a reason it got so popular. I’m honestly never upset to hear it, no matter how many times I already have.
14 – Acquiesce
This one originally appeared as a B-side to Some Might Say in 1995, then this got its own single release ahead of The Masterplan compilation in 1998. It features both Liam and Noel singing, with Liam handling the verses and Noel on the chorus. This is one where the studio version is very good and this easily could have been an album track, but the Knebworth live performance of this really puts it over the top. That raw, energetic version is massive and a must-listen.
13 – Supersonic
The first of probably more than one from the red hot debut Definitely Maybe, this is a total hard rock ass kicker. The lyrics are straight up nonsense and great fun and the song is just a magical trip to where the hell ever. While many think of Oasis as a one hit wonder, they clearly had more up their sleeves, even from the word go.
12 – Cast No Shadow
The second pick here from the band’s magnum opus (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Oasis were not a band prone to a lot of sad songs, and even when they did go that route they were often sweet and sentimental about it. But here they did pursue the more forlorn path of outright despair, offering a dirge about a hard luck guy. The song was inspired by and dedicated to Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, someone who had his fair share of knocks through the 90’s music scene. This was a bit of a thematic departure for Oasis but this is more my kind of sad song, generally speaking.
11 – Some Might Say
The first part of the list wraps up with another of the many singles from WTSMG. This is a pretty nice alt-rock track at mid-pace that also has some fun with strings of words that don’t really say a hell of a lot, though there’s also some bits of common wisdom in there too. This song often gets overlooked by the heavyweights it’s paired with on the album but people really shouldn’t sleep on this one.
That nails down the first part of the list. The top ten will be known tomorrow. Part II is now live.
The Crooked Wanderer 