Liam Gallagher gave a glimpse of the man behind the swagger before his band Oasis performed in Aberdeen for the final time 14 years ago.
The iconic five-piece from Manchester returned to the Granite City for a doubleheader on November 1 and 2 2008 as part of their Dig Out Your Soul Tour.
Oasis had performed in Aberdeen three times previously in 1997, 2002 and 2005.
Liam said he was aiming to show Aberdeen fans that Oasis were still the “best band in the world” when he spoke to the Evening Express before the two AECC gigs.
He said: “Oasis are the best band around, we have no competition, none at all.
“No one can touch us live, and we will blow everyone away on this tour.
“Name one real rock star in Britain who is not in Oasis.
“It’s impossible because there are none. Oasis are the real deal, we have the songs, the attitude and the charisma.
“No other band looks as good as us, sounds as good as us, or wears their hearts on their sleeve like Oasis.
“We can still go pound for pound with any band in the world. And I am not talking about fighting!”
Impromptu speech at cancer event
The band stayed at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa at Pitfodels the Friday before the first concert but there was no look-at-me prima-donna posturing from Liam.
A dinner was being held at the hotel for cancer charity Clan and Liam spent time talking to guests before making an impromptu speech adding his support for the cause.
Clan’s managing director Debbie Thomson said: “Mr Gallagher’s impromptu visit really enthused the audience. The event as a whole was a great success with some fantastic entertainment, and an appearance from someone with as high a profile as Liam Gallagher was just the icing on the cake.
“His best wishes for our fundraising were also greatly appreciated, particularly as our cause is so close to his heart after a cancer-related death in his family.”
The dinner – hosted by Aberdeenshire-based company RB Farquhar – eventually raised more than £40,000 towards Clan’s target of £3 million for a new centre.
All the old swagger was back when Liam took to the stage at the AECC the following evening for the first of two sold-out gigs in front of 8,500 fans.
With just half an hour to go to the gig, there were still long queues of people waiting in the cold November night to get in, although everybody was able to get in, in time.
The EE review said Oasis were “back on form with a bang”.
“Brash, bold and full of ballsy guitar riffs – Oasis have lost none of the swagger that saw them re-ignite the ailing British music scene nearly 15 years ago.
“They opened the show with the first track from their 1994 debut Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.
“Back then it was a statement of intent – now it’s a cold hard fact.
“From the opening chords of that rip-roaring track, to the last notes of Beatles cover I Am The Walrus, they had the audience pumped and eager for more.
“Liam Gallagher may have polished himself up a bit now and not look quite as menacing, but he has lost none of his presence on stage.
“And brother Noel, the band’s tour-de-force, had lost none of his great lines.
“Early on he turned to a fan near the front asking: ‘Are you alright? You better say yes, because it’s all going to kick off,’ before launching into Cigarettes and Alcohol.
“True, the older tunes still stand out above the newer recordings, even though this year’s album Dig Out Your Soul has seen something of a return to form for them, but there was a good blend of both old and new.
“Even Wonderwall, now a perennial favourite with bad street buskers and random guitar players at house parties, went down a storm.
“Another old-favourite Don’t Look Back In Anger was stripped of its famous John Lennon-inspired piano intro in a more sedate than normal version – but this only highlighted what a good song it was in the first place.
“The band have been playing together for 17 years, although with an ever-changing backline – they are now on their fourth drummer.
“They have built up an incredible following who know every song inside out and both Noel and Liam could at times sit back and let the crowd do the singing for them.
“Epic performances of early songs Champagne Supernova and Slide Away were bolstered by the driven relentless Lyla and The Shock of the Lightning.”
End of an era for Oasis
Oasis played five songs at the AECC from Dig Out Your Soul although arguably some of the best tracks from the band’s seventh album were never performed live.
Songs like rollicking opener Bag It Up and The Turning were strangely omitted from the Dig Out Your Soul Tour setlist.
Liam’s vocals in Aberdeen were bang on the money although things got much worse as the tour struggled towards the last Oasis gig at the V Festival in August 2009.
The deterioration of his voice started following the Be Here Now tour and matters came to a head when Liam delivered a below-par performance at the Brit Awards in 2007.
Noel had some harsh words for Liam after that show.
They seemed to do the trick.
The band invited 100 fans to join them for the final night of rehearsals with the intimate set captured on film before they hit the road on that Dig Out Your Soul tour.
Liam was sounding back to his best, so what happened?
He began shouting rather than singing and pulling away from the mic and blamed his poor performances on the earplugs he wore to drown out Noel’s “loud guitar”.
Of course, those Saturday and Sunday night gigs at the AECC would turn out to be the band’s final shows in Aberdeen, after the group eventually split in 2009.
Noel quit following a bust-up with Liam in France.
It marked the end of a band that was once the biggest in the world.
Liam and Noel have since gone on to enjoy successful solo careers since the split and both have returned to Aberdeen to perform their songs at P&J Live.
Now aged 50, Liam remains the ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Star and is an ambassador for Teenage Cancer Trust.
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