REVIEW: Oasis soak fans with nostalgia during second Toronto show

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After the skies opened up during their first North American show in 17 years on Sunday evening, Liam Gallagher wasn’t taking any chances for Oasis’ return engagement Monday night.

Dressed in a flowy raincoat and a bucket hat, Liam told the 55,000 fans packed into Toronto’s Rogers Stadium he was ready for whatever the weather gods had planned for him on night two.

“I wonder what the weather has in store for us tonight?” Liam, 52, quipped early on after the pre-recorded intro music of F*****’ in the Bushes ushered him and brother Noel onto the stage. “I’m prepared for anything.”

The crowd gathered for the second night on the band’s lone Canadian stops on their Live ’25 reunion trek were equally prepared as they jumped up and down and shook the venue while the formerly estranged siblings ran through their mid-’90s hits like Morning Glory, Some Might Say, Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Wonderwall and Roll With It.

There was little chit-chat Monday night or acknowledgement of their acrimonious breakup in 2009. Neither brother addressed an onstage attack that happened the last time they were in Toronto for an appearance at V Fest in 2008.

But tensions have clearly thawed between the formerly warring kin. The Gallaghers clasped hands as they took to the stage and during any one of Noel’s guitar solos, Liam could be seen on the giant video screens that bookended the stage cheering on his older brother.

Noel recently told talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent that he’s been “completely blown away” by the enthusiastic response to their overdue reunion.  

“Every night is the crowd’s first night, so every night’s got that same kind of energy. It’s been truly amazing… I’m not usually short for words, but I can’t really articulate it at the minute,” he said.

Noel also heaped praise on Liam’s singing, telling the radio show, “He’s been amazing.”

“Liam’s smashing it. I’m proud of him,” he said. “It’s great being back in a band with Liam. I forgot how funny he was.”

During their various shows in Toronto over the past 30 years, Oasis never performed in such a large venue. But after playing to huge stadiums across the pond, Liam, who still sings with his hands clasped behind his back as he leans into the microphone, was clearly up to the task of getting all 55,000 fans in Toronto involved.

Before launching into Cigarettes & Alcohol, Liam told a story about how a fan warned him that Canadians wouldn’t know how to do the Poznan — a raucous Manchester City soccer celebration that has become customary at Oasis’ shows in Europe.

“He said, ‘Good luck tonight getting the Canadians doing the Poznan. They’re all shy. Stoned out of their f***ing minds or tripping on mushrooms. Jumping up and down in the air? They ain’t going to do any of that s***,'” Liam recounted before encouraging fans “to grab hold of yer mates … jumping around is easy.”

The fans, of course, happily obliged.

Later on, Liam said he wasn’t “being tight or anything” when he informed the crowd he wasn’t going to be throwing his tambourine or maracas into the crowd.

“I’ve been told not to,” the lead singer said.

The band – which also features guitarists Gem Archer and Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, bassist Andy Bell, drummer Joey Waronker and a horn section – were polished and tight and the sound inside the venue was remarkably crisp.

Rogers Stadium has been criticized by some of the other artists who have played there since it opened in June (Chris Martin called it “a weird stadium in the middle of nowhere” during Coldplay’s four-night stand back in July). At one point during Sunday’s show, Liam did knock the venue calling it “Legoland” and saying that the stands looked like they had been built “30 minutes ago.”

But Monday night, he offered up no further assessment on the temporary concert spot and instead opted to bask in the cheers from fans who were clearly unbothered by the field’s location (I should add that I had my own apprehensions, but Rogers Stadium is easy to access via public transportation).

The Britpop legends experienced various highs and lows in their heyday. They called it quits at the height of fame in 2009, and despite both brothers enjoying healthy careers as solo artists, they were never able to match the success of Oasis on their own.

There were clearly fans Monday night who never witnessed Oasis during a mid-’90s run that saw them going from playing the Phoenix Concert Theatre to fronting the now-defunct Maple Leaf Gardens in the span of just a few short years.

Just three years ago, Liam lamented about the music he and Noel didn’t get to make during their estrangement.

“The albums we could have made these last 10 years, or however long it’s been, could have been great,” he told Postmedia in a rare interview.

But he was heartened in that conversation that the singalongs they crafted with one another had achieved musical immortality.

“It’s beautiful seeing young kids at the shows who never got to see Oasis,” he recalled of his solo reincarnation and his multi-generational fanbase.

The brothers Gallagher got to turn back the clock in Toronto this week and when they continue on with shows in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles in the coming days, they’ll offer a look at what could be the beginning of a renewed musical partnership.

Before fireworks capped off their Champagne Supernova finale, Liam thanked fans for coming out. “Without you, we’d be a bunch of f***ing lumberjacks,” Liam said.

A bunch of f***ing lumberjacks that made some of the best – and most enduring – rock songs of our generation. Let the hatchet stay buried.

RATING: **** (4 out of four)

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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