Photo: WENN
It would be too easy to write a disparaging review of a Beady Eye gig. It’s been said countless times before that the band’s generic brand of meat and potatoes lad rock couldn’t be any further from boundary breaking. But then again you don’t go to a Beady Eye gig expecting to receive an education in musical virtuosity and the sooner you surrender to this inevitable fact, the easier the band’s performance at Hammersmith’s Apollo is to digest. This isn’t, and never was going to be, Animal Collective live in London.
Liam Gallagher, clad in signature parka (what else?) and with a voice akin to an angry pitbull with a mouth full of gravel, stalks the stage in a circular motion throughout the evening. It may sound, to the untrained ear, as if someone has taken a belt-sander to Gallagher’s larynx since the 90s, but somehow the inimitable, abrasive nasal rasp works... just. And Gallagher could well be singing in Swailhi for all those amassed in front of him care; the adulation and devotion crosses the line into unbridled fanaticism right when the line “nothing ever lasts forever”, is spat out during 'Four Letter Word'.
Tracks off latest album BE, on the whole, hold their own against the more established numbers with opener 'Flick of the Finger' perhaps proving itself to be the most potent weapon in the band’s arsenal.
There were of course Oasis numbers ('Live Forever' and 'Cigarettes and Alcohol') in the setlist which, through the act of playing them, still reeks of an admission of defeat to the older sibling. Indeed it is left to the audience to sing Noel’s part of Live Forever’s chorus significantly magnifying the Chief’s absence.
Tonight’s performance won’t have converted anyone ('The Roller' still sounds like 'Instant Karma', 'Bring the Light' like a ropey Jerry Lee Lewis pastiche, etc) but who cares? Amidst the mod throwbacks tonight there weren’t too many bemoaning the lack of intellectual stimulation. After all, sometimes not thinking is fun.
Below: Photos of Beady Eye rocking Hammersmith Apollo
