Olympia, Dublin
Oasis offshoot No 2 made its live debut on Sunday night, and the battle is on to win the hearts and minds of the defunct band’s massive fan base. Not too long ago, Liam Gallagher’s band, Beady Eye, played the same venue, but the vibe was markedly different when Noel introduced his High Flying Birds to the world. The elder Gallagher’s debut album is packed with catchy tunes, boasting the usual Beatles influences, but adding a West Coast breeziness, and he’s got a vast back catalogue of tunes he wrote for Oasis as back-up. He’s hardly pushing the envelope, but the crowd want familiarity and songs they can sing along to – and Gallagher delivered on both counts.
He had reason to celebrate: the album went straight to No 1 in Ireland, and such was the demand for tickets for this water-testing series of gigs that he’ll be plunged into the big arenas in the new year, including the Odyssey Arena in Belfast and the O2 in Dublin in February. Beady Eye 1 – High Flying Birds 3. Also, his beloved Manchester City had just trounced Manchester United 6-1 that afternoon, so he took the stage with his new band looking like a winner.
Once he got airborne with such Oas-ish tunes as Everybody's on the Run, Dream On, If I Had a Gunand The Death of You and Me,he strapped on the acoustic guitar for a low-key rendition of Wonderwall.Though he tried gamely to do the song his own way, the crowd resolutely sang it back to him exactly as they've known it for years. Supersonic also got the acoustic treatment – but that didn't make its trite lyrics seem any deeper.
Mostly, however, he chose less-obvious Oasis songs, such as Talk Tonight, Mucky Fingersand Half the World Away– at least they mingled well with new songs I Wanna Live in a Dream(In My Record Machine); AKA . . . What A Life!; and Stranded on the Wrong Beach.The encore was an all-Oasis affair, featuring an acoustic Don't Look Back in Anger, The Importance of Being Idleand Little By Little. You can take the man out of Oasis . . .
