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Review: Beady Eye In Boston













A bit misguided but totally admirable, Liam Gallagher kept his word and did not play any songs by his former band Oasis during the tour by his new group, Beady Eye, which concluded Saturday at the House of Blues.

Beady Eye is loaded with Oasis, having that band’s guitar tandem of Gem Archer and Andy Bell as well as latter-day drummer Chris Sharrock. Beady Eye’s sturdy debut, “Different Gear, Still Speeding’’ is likewise not far afield from the glimmering Brit-pop of Oasis. Liam’s brother Noel is tapping the Oasis catalog with his own new outfit. So all of that probably fed into Liam Gallagher’s decision to avoid the past and turn the concerts into matters of trust.

And for the most part, Beady Eye pulled it off. The opening “Four Letter Word’’ came off as a declaration of renewal, with Gallagher relishing the line “nothing lasts forever’’ as the band raged behind him.


Beady Eye didn’t take its listeners to places they hadn’t been before with these musicians. The melodic hooks learned from the Beatles; the swagger picked up from the Rolling Stones; and the muscular playing championed by the Who all flowed together in Beady Eye. The only thing different was how the group left behind the layer of stardom that grew over Oasis and attacked the set like a band trying to make a name for itself.

The downside was having to sit through a couple of unremarkable songs such as the B-side “Two of a Kind.’’ that’s frustrating when you know the band has a stash of tunes you’d otherwise love to hear.

But Beady Eye songs ably carried the set. With bassist Jeff Wootton and keyboard player Matt Jones joining the touring lineup, Beady Eye ran from the light touch of “For Anyone’’- driven by Archer’s chiming 12-string acoustic - to the psychedelic sprawl of “The Morning Son.’’

Gallagher struck familiar poses - standing at the microphone, chin out, arms behind his back - as he delivered lyrics like bits of sermon.

The temperamental singer could have gone off the rails when he missed a cue on the transcendent “Kill for a Dream’’ but instead regained his footing and conjured all of the song’s beguiling charms. Beady Eye was clearly making its music in the moment, which proved satisfying even knowing the band’s past.

The guitar-and-drum duo Black Box Revelation opened with a bit of stripped-down garage rock.

Source: Bostonglobe.com

1 comment

mond said...

Liam's message for us:
I wanna thank everyone who came to the Beady Eye gigs this year, keep the faith, beware of darkness, see ya next year...LG