The five best songs Oasis have never played live
Most people would have considered any chances of Oasis getting back together a few years ago to be a pipe dream. The Gallaghers had simply burned too many bridges for them to be back in each other’s lives for much longer, but when the Manchester legends managed to bury the hatchet, it felt like a small miracle had occurred when they were finally performing together again. But now that the floodgates are open for them to perform live, what are some of the tracks that never got to see the light of day?
While no one’s expecting all 38 minutes of ‘Better Man’ into ‘The Cage’ to be played live or anything, there will always be a few undiscovered gems in their deep cuts. It might take some convincing for the band to sacrifice songs like ‘Acquiesce’ and ‘Wonderwall’ in the setlist, but from their 1990s glory days to their second wind in the 2000s, there are always a handful of songs that didn’t get a proper introduction live, either being performed only in passing or discarded altogether.
Any album cuts are fair game here, but let’s not forget Oasis’s greatest superpower: the B-sides. Every single one of their albums had tunes that were worthy of being any other band’s hit, and even without looking at songs from The Masterplan, there are pieces of their back catalogue that have the potential to be massive if they give it a shot, especially with Bonehead there to add a bit of a punch to everything.
A lot of these songs might have zero shot of being played live any time soon, but who knows? Perhaps when the band have gone around the world once and still have an inkling to get things together for another go around, who’s to say they can’t play a few quiet shows for only the hardcore fans who want to hear their favourite tunes that no one has heard of?
The five best songs Oasis have never performed live:
‘Let’s All Make Believe’ – B-side
By the start of the 2000s, most of Oasis were happy enough to be standing upright. The fallout of Be Here Now had clearly done a number on them, and Noel had to spend time recuperating from his drug problems when putting together the next album. While Standing on the Shoulder of Giants could be an extremely mixed bag for people preferring the classic Oasis sound, ‘Let’s All Make Believe’ sounded like they were at least moving in the right direction right out of the gate.
But in terms of live performance, this one may have been a bit too honest for the band to embrace. The relationship between the brothers had begun to deteriorate permanently, and given that Noel threatened to quit multiple times during the tour, hearing him write words for his brother to sing about them pretending that they care about each other was all too bittersweet for people to take. So while it’s a beautiful song, there’s a good chance this one will never see the light of day. The melody is excellent, but it was far too emotionally raw for them to make it through.
‘Keep the Dream Alive’ – Don’t Believe the Truth
In terms of Oasis’s track record, Don’t Believe the Truth was the closest they came to recapturing their 1990s glory. They had been riding the wave of their singles for a while, and despite having some great moments on songs like ‘Songbird’ and ‘She Is Love’, it was clear that the band hadn’t fully congealed yet with the new members coming in. But when they started getting more democratic, Andy Bell delivered one of his most stunning songs at the tail end of the record.
It was already bold to have a non-Noel song open up a record with ‘Turn Up the Sun’, but ‘Keep the Dream Alive’ has some of the most imaginative imagery in the band’s catalogue. They were always proud to be a touch psychedelic, and combined with the washed-out guitars, this feels like them playing from inside of a daydream almost, especially when Liam’s voice gets a little bit hazy towards the end of the final chorus. The band had kept things fairly safe during Heathen Chemistry, but it was nice to see that they still weren’t afraid to get weird.
‘I Got The Fever’ – B-side
The entire fallout of Be Here Now reads like a tragedy when looking at how far the band had come. Noel wanted to make sure that he had done everything he could to get to the top of the world, so when people went back on their opinions of the record, it was almost like a direct slap in the face to everything he had worked towards. But when ‘I Got the Fever’ started, Noel probably realised that this kind of fallout would eventually happen.
For as grandiose as Be Here Now is to listen to, this is the kind of blown-out production that feels almost scary coming out of them. Along with being far more aggressive, Noel’s lyrics on here almost feel self-directed, as if he knows that the new kids in town will come in and take them back down the tubes eventually. It’s the nature of the beast that artists can’t be the same as they were in their prime, but this kind of introspection might not have that much of a place in the reunion set. Everyone wants to relive the good times, but this was when doubt started to creep in.
‘Roll It Over’ – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
The ending of the 1990s version of Oasis really was the moment where things went wrong. As much as the 2000s era had its share of highlights, losing Bonehead and Guigsy in rapid succession was a clear enough sign that the band were at their wits’ end. That doesn’t make Standing on the Shoulder of Giants a happy record to listen to in many respects, but it does come to one of the most grandiose finishes that any Oasis album ever had.
The entire record was about them making sense of what the past few years brought them, but ‘Roll It Over’ is the gospel-tinged classic that put everything in perspective. Noel had tried as hard as he could to make amends with the people whom he had issues, but he’s practically pleading on this song not to run him over in the fallout of everything, either. Those scars might be in the midst of healing right now, but since Liam played the song during his Knebworth performance, maybe the time is right to dig out this gem.
‘I Hope I Think I Know’ – Be Here Now
Throughout most of Oasis’s later career, Be Here Now was the one album that Noel wanted to forget. He may have been beaming with confidence upon its release, but hearing his baby get dragged through the mud was the first time he seemed to listen to the public and acknowledge that the record was too self-indulgent. But in the midst of the seven-minute epics, there was a power-pop staple buried in amongst them that the band never got to properly dust off.
‘I Hope I Think I Know’ might not be the most groundbreaking track they ever made or anything, but every part of the song is its own individual hook. It’s definitely hard to hear the bass and the guitars might be roaring a bit too loud, but outside of the fantastic lead guitar licks in the tune, this is Liam Gallagher at his finest, delivering the kind of performance that is in competition with ‘Slide Away’ as his best lead vocal ever. And while everyone comes to hear the hits nowadays, it’s as good a time to remind people why songs like this were great about the band. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but confidence and positivity are bursting out of every note.
