With Oasis announcing its Live ’27 tour dates, I thought it might be fun to look back at the Live ’25 gigs and highlight three of the most biblical—to borrow Liam Gallagher’s favorite adjective—tracks from the Manchester lads’ reunion tour.
“Little By Little”
Casual listeners may not know one of Noel Gallagher’s best songs. While most of the Live ‘25 setlist covered the first three albums (and accompanying B-sides), “Little By Little” appears on the band’s 2002 LP, Heathen Chemistry. I attended the Chicago show, and when Noel launched into the massive chorus, the packed, Adidas-wrapped crowd at Soldier Field transformed into a singing sea of human rapture. Adults cried and spilled lager down each other’s backs. And any worries you entered with were left at the turnstile.
But my god woke up on the wrong side of his bed,
It just don’t matter now.
“Cigarettes & Alcohol”
Noel has never been concerned with hiding his songwriting tracks. Here, he borrows Marc Bolan’s signature riff and recycles it into one of Oasis’ most recognizable tunes. The thing about an Oasis song is that it’s well suited for both the pub and the stadium. If you were one of the lucky punters caravanning to the Live ‘25 gigs, you might have experienced thousands in bucket hats chanting Noel’s (and T. Rex’s) riff in the kind of euphoria you might observe at a Man City match.
You gotta make it happen.
“Slide Away”
The studio version of “Slide Away” appears on Definitely Maybe. It foreshadows the anthems that followed on (What’s The Story) Morning Glory and may feature Liam’s finest vocal performance. In one track, it distills the two sides that make up Oasis’ superpower: Liam, in a punkish snarl, singing his brother’s dreamy earworms. It’s an old songwriting trick. Beauty and the beast. A wall of guitars and a tender melody. Johnny Marr said it best when he described how the Oasis reunion “cheered the nation up.” He’s not wrong.
Hold me down all the world’s asleep,
I need you now you’ve knocked me off my feet.
Photo by Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images
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From left, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker (1939-2019) and Jack Bruce (1943-2014) of British rock group Cream posed in their dressing room at Associated Rediffusion's Wembley Television Studios in north west London on 4th November 1966. Cream are booked to perform the songs 'Wrapping Paper' and 'N.S.U' on the music television show Ready Steady Go! at the studios. (Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns)