Review of Beady Eye at The Olympia Theatre on April 14th 2011
Review by Vanessa Monaghan
Snaps by Alessio Michelini
This was going to be interesting, Liam Gallagher taking to the stage without his bro, in Oasis II, sorry, Beady Eye. The band have been getting mixed reviews in the UK, April 14th in The Olympia was my turn to have a peek.
The Olympia is filling up as Dublin band ‘Cheap Freaks’ take to the stage. Fronted by Robbie Brady and Al Dodd, the garage rock band waste no time, treating the audience to tracks from their upcoming album ‘Bury Them All’. With two guitars, drums and keys, the band are tight and cleverly use the twin frontmen for different songs. The four piece also used an extra mic with added effects to enhance the live set up. A ‘Crying Shame’ and current single ‘Cruel World’ are familiar to these ears but its the dirty guitar fuelled ‘Can’t Fool Me’ that has me buzzing as their set ends.
The house P.A. Spills nineties indie anthems through the venue before the headliners come to the stage. Chants and lots of pointing to the boxes, means everyone knows The Gallagher Clan (without Noel) and Mrs, Liam aka Nicole All Saint are in the house, although they’ve been chanting her sister Natalie’s name. The predominately male crowd, (I’d say 98%) are in full voice, punching the air as Stone Roses’ I am The Resurrection fills the auditorium. To be perfectly honest, they seem like they would be quite happy to remain listening to Brown & Co.
Gallagher struts onto the stage to a Messiah’s welcome, being christened by flying beer. He has the attitude, he has the swagger, now it’s time for the music to stand up to the test. Starting off with the ‘Four Letter Word’, Gallagher has the captive audience in the palm of of his hand and his vocals sound great.
The crowd chant ‘Liamo’ at every opportunity while he responds with the occasional ‘Nice One’. For a ‘hard’ man he shows a little bit of a softer side, rambling over to the side of the stage where his family are sitting and giving them the thumbs up before saying he had never been to The Olympia saying ‘Nice Gaff, beautiful, Look after it’.
Beady Eye keep the old vinyl vibe from ‘Different Gear, Still Speeding’, with the track names on record covers being projected on the back of the stage. There’s not a lot of movement onstage so the full attention in on Liam in his parka. On a couple of occasions he wanders to the back, standing with his back to the crowd. During other musical interludes he remains standing still looking at the audience.
Some tracks prove themselves better than others live, The Roller, Bring The Light and Standing On The Edge of Noise stand out. An elder member of The Gallagher Clan can be seen singing ‘Millionaire’ word for word but the current single just doesn’t have enough umpf! Other tracks like ‘Three Ring Circus’ show themselves up as half decent pop songs but not up to par for a rock gig, not even considering any Oasis classic.
The band redeem themselves with ‘Sons of the Stage’, originally recorded by fellow Manc band World Of Twist. Liam’s still wearing his parka, sweat pouring down his face. I wonder if he’s wearing a nice vest top underneath as I notice Mrs Liam hasn’t stopped dancing for the duration of the show.
Gallagher has the swagger and the attitude and seems to genuinely have a passion for Beady Eye. Wasn’t a bad start, they just need to work on a few more tunes.
