Give us a scowl, Liam!

Oasis – one of Britain’s most consistently successful rock bands with 70 million records sold – broke up in 2009 amid fierce sibling rivalry between Liam and Noel Gallagher, but both of them still command attention around the world. 
Just ask the Thai fans packing into Hall 106 at Bitec in Bang Na last week for another gig by Liam, the younger of the brothers.
We’ve seen them both before. Noel and his follow-up band High Flying Birds played the same venue in 2012. Liam was here while touring behind “As You Were” through with his back-up outfit, not with his band, Beady Eye, which split up in 2014 after two albums.

This time Liam had again nearly sold out another spacious hall, drawing not just rank-and-file fans but also some fellow rock stars (of the Thai persuasion) – Sek LoSo and Thawatpon “Mueay” Wongboonsiri from Scrubb were there, as were Patiparn “Mos” Pataweekarn, Teerapat “Tui” Satjakul and Virithipa “Woonsen” Phakdeeprasong.
Also spotted in the crowd was Somkwan “Moy” Tonsompong, managing director of music label What the Duck.

The Whitest Crow opened the proceedings with an amazing, skilful show of original tunes, sounding very British and psychedelic. The sound system let them down, but was still an interesting performance to watch.
The hall was separated into zones according to how much you paid for your ticket. Big spenders were up front centre, the press behind them and centre. I couldn’t help smiling when the lads in security started moving the crowd forward to fill up the front zone, saying Gallagher wasn’t going to sing if it wasn’t jammed. 
I could just imagine how the folks who forked out for the most expensive tickets felt at that point. 

It didn’t matter. Everyone screamed in unity when a recording of the opening track from Oasis’ fourth studio album, “Standing on the Shoulder Giants”, started blasting out of the speakers. The song’s title is the sort of language best left to the President of the United States, but the Thai fans recognised the alarm going off.
Liam was using the tune as the overture to the show, just as Oasis had done. 

He soon strode onstage with the band and launched into two more Oasis favourites, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Morning Glory”. The place was already going nuts.
Gallagher, at 45, hasn’t changed much since the glory mornings in Manchester, unwilling to smile – or make any other facial expression for that matter, and the level of excitement was unchanged too.
He next did “Greedy Soul”, the fourth single from his solo debut “As You Were”, and it sounded just as perfect as what had preceded it. It bore the unmistakable influences of the Beatles, a favourite of both brothers. 

The newer singles like “Wall of Glass” were richer in town, aided by a monstrous harmonica sound, and there were great ballads like “Paper Crown” and “For What It’s Worth”. 
The audience helped along on the reprise in the former – “You went too far, oh, woman, now you’re feeling the fear, cause you’ve never been alone before, and the wolf is at the door” – and in the latter – “I’m sorry for the hurt, I’ll be the first to say I made my own mistakes.” 
Amazed to hear everyone so knowledgeable about the lyrics, I glanced around and saw a fan reading them off his phone.
“Soul Love” was a track from the Beady Eye days, but we quickly got back to Oasis on “Some Might Say” and “Slide Away”. 

This being the famously ill-tempered and petulant Gallagher brother, the fans weren’t too surprised to see Liam stalking back and forth in a foul mood and then slamming his maracas onto the stage. Fury at the shoddy sound in the hall was probably the accurate diagnosis.
It still didn’t matter. The crowd kept cheering as he tucked into “Come Back to Me” and “You Better Run” and the Oasis hits “Cigarettes and Alcohol” and “Wonderwall”.
But maybe Gallagher was still fuming, because he and the band then left the stage and never came back for an encore, despite the insistent chanting for more. 
Instead, we got another recording, this time Sid Vicious’ angry rendition of “My Way”. It was Liam’s way of telling us to go home or fornicate in the bushes or whatever. The lights went up and the time on the phone app said a mere hour had elapsed since Gallagher ascended the stage.
So the fans finished the show for him. Walking outside, everyone was singing “Live Forever” – the Oasis tune that should have closed the evening, the one that got away.