By David Lindquist
david.lindquist@indystar.com
Liam Gallagher isn't easily impressed.

Oasis

• Where: Murat Theatre.

• Bottom line: The songs, if not the swagger, are back.

The Oasis vocalist wears a blank expression when he's not singing in his rigid, beneath-the-microphone pose. Sporting a three-button blazer with no shirt underneath, he glided here and there on the Murat Theatre stage Thursday night.
If it's possible to simultaneously resemble a jaded game show host and rock 'n' roll star, Gallagher pulled it off for the sold-out audience of 2,500.
The crowd may have set a venue record for noise during sing-along number "Morning Glory," and Gallagher responded by subtly throwing "rock horns" with his index and pinkie fingers extended.
The members of Oasis didn't deserve all the adulation they received. Fill-in drummer Zak Starkey dragged "Live Forever," one of the band's early-career anthems, into a dirge.
Grooves were deep and wide during a show-opening trio of "Turn Up the Sun," "Lyla" and "Bring It On Down," but any spark of energy was hard to detect until "Morning Glory."
The good news is that Gallagher's brother, guitarist Noel, has regained his expert songwriting touch. Current album "Don't Believe the Truth" provided a pair of highlights, and Noel coincidentally -- or not -- sang lead vocals on both.
"The Importance of Being Idle" offers a slacker's shuffling plea: "I'll be fine, if you give me a minute. A man's got a limit. I can't get a life if my heart's not in it."
After more than a decade of claiming to be the world's greatest rock band (even after obvious downturns in sales and artistry), it's charming to hear Oasis portray the underdog.
The other tune, "Mucky Fingers," races toward the finish line from the opening note. Among the '60s influences that Noel Gallagher has nicked, he can be forgiven for this rewrite of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man."
Liam did his best work during "Songbird," a tune he wrote for the band's previous studio album, "Heathen Chemistry." The song conjured rural goodness, with Liam singing in a raspy tone between the dual acoustic guitars of Gem Archer and Noel.
A Murat Theatre audience should have heard "Songbird" on the "Heathen Chemistry" tour, but that August 2002 date and several more were scrapped after three members of the band were injured in a two-car collision at Fall Creek Parkway and Delaware Street.
Liam made note of the crash Tuesday, dedicating "A Bell Will Ring" to "all the crazy drivers of Indianapolis."


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