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There are no guarantees of commercial success in popular music, but a collaboration between the singer in Oasis and The Stone Roses’ guitarist comes pretty close. Had it happened in the mad-for-it Britpop 1990s, it would probably have made the BBC News headlines.
The duo’s prosaically titled album, Liam Gallagher John Squire, duly went to number one in the UK on its release at the start of this month, but was this because of nostalgia and sentiment alone? Thankfully not. While it’s a patchy, uneven document, its better moments are sufficiently inventive to offer potent reminders of the undoubted qualities of the two men and their former bands.
Gallagher and Squire opened this boisterous, long-sold-out show with the very best of those moments. Once the football terrace-style chants of “Liam! Liam!” had died down, they fired into the album’s lead single, “Just Another Rainbow”, a swirl of sludgy psychedelic blues topped with Gallagher’s inimitable, attitudinal snarl.
It was immediately apparent just how much the evening’s fortunes would rest on the talismanic singer. Gallagher remains a fantastically charismatic rock’n’roll frontman. Standing stock still, hands clasped behind his back and bending forward from the waist, he looked constantly on the verge of either punching or nutting his microphone.
Gallagher is now 51 and talks in interviews not of cocaine and lager but arthritis and his recent hip operation. His voice, though, remains a force of nature and here he retained his lairy swagger. Squire was a lower-key, more diffident presence, the streaks of grey in his hair visible as, head down, he coaxed arabesques from his guitar.
It was a compelling performance because they are both extremely good at what they do, and their talents are remarkably complementary. Squire has expressed his surprise at how well his guitar tones fit his new singer’s voice, but it’s a phenomenon that Gallagher easily explains: he spent his teenage years singing along to The Stone Roses.
Today, Squire is writing songs for Gallagher, and making a pretty good fist of it. Gallagher has said the lyrics he was given “felt like me” and Squire has clearly factored in his new partner’s infamous bolshiness. “I know you’re happy in your suburban trance/You should’ve fucked me when you had the chance,” sneered Gallagher on “One Day at a Time”.
Even when the music sagged, as on the somewhat turgid “I’m a Wheel”, it was engaging to watch Gallagher strut around stage as Squire’s guitar gently wept. He was born to do this. On the punky “I’m So Bored” he truculently listed everything he finds tedious, which included war, peace, buses, strikes, “your kids” and even “this song”.
There were five people on stage, but all eyes were on Gallagher and Squire all night long. “Anybody ’eard of The Rolling Stones?” inquired Gallagher at the end before tossing his maracas into the crowd and stamping himself all over “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. There was nothing original here and the show was over in 55 minutes. That’s OK. Sometimes, a little of what you’re used to does you good.
★★★☆☆
