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Jul 06, 2011 By Frank Valish Web Exclusive

There’s a special kind of rock star embodied by former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher. He can captivate an audience with a look and a pose, a glaring scoping out of the crowd and that trademark posture, arms behind him, slightly bent over, head tilted toward the microphone. After Oasis’s acrimonious implosion, Liam ditched his older brother, Noel, the primary songwriter for that band, and emerged as frontman for Beady Eye, the group consisting of the remaining members of Oasis. Oasis seems to be done (at least for now), and this time Liam’s at the helm, writing the tunes and taking all the glory for his very own.
On the final date of the band’s four-show, sold out U.S. tour, Liam had the Philadelphia crowd wrapped around his finger, as his band tore through the entirety of Beady Eye’s debut, Different Gear, Still Speeding, like Oasis never existed. History was ignored on this night- a total of zero Oasis tunes were played-but one would not have expected any deference to brother Noel. Beady Eye is all Liam’s and, despite some lukewarm album reviews, this is not Oasis-lite.

The band came onto the stage, perhaps tellingly, just after the venue’s sound system finished playing “I Am The Resurrection” by The Stone Roses. Immediately, Liam and company-guitarists Gem Archer and Andy Bell, drummer Chris Sharrock, bassist Jeff Wootton, and keyboardist Matt Jones-launched into the opening track from the debut, “Four Letter Word,” a song that had Liam singing the line “Nothing ever lasts forever” with a certain viciousness, as if demanding the crowd to forget the other Gallagher brother and follow him. The band then charged through album tracks and b-sides with a certain fire that belied the diminishing returns of latter day Oasis albums. “Beatles and Stones” name-checked the obvious influences, “For Anyone” was all soaring balladic brilliance, and “Man of Misery” was buttressed by perhaps the most pounding riff of the night.

Throughout, Liam was the epitome of rock star cool, impervious to the crowd chants of “Liam, Liam” and keeping the stage banter to a bare minimum. Archer and Bell sounded like guitarists reborn, and the band as a whole roared like a freight train.

Through the 75-minute set, Beady Eye played like a phoenix rising from the ashes. In “The Beat Goes On,” Liam sings, “Someday all the world will sing my song” to a perfect melody, half borrowed, half original, as if channeling all the timeless pop melodies before it and making them his own. And note: it’s “my song.” Not my brother’s song, and not even that Beatles’ song. My song. As the two-song encore concluded the show with the only cover of the evening, a furious rendition of World of Twist’s “Sons of the Stage,” Liam stood stoic and statuesque, silently watching the audience blow him kisses from the balcony as if he expected nothing less. You’re up, Noel. But this is going to be one tough act to follow. (www.beadyeyemusic.com)