Review of Beady Eye concert in Rome



Music industry insider Victoria Wyatt reviews the concert by Beady Eye at Rome's Orion Club on 16 February

“Everyone’ll be calling their kids Beady Eye by the end of the year”, Liam Gallagher, 25 January 2011.

While I doubt (m)any children have been christened “Beady Eye" in the last few years, the now not-so-new project headed by rock's last true anti-hero Liam Gallagher has certainly become a recognisable name, and for good reason.

Straight off a massive Aussie summer festival tour and with another steady four or five months of touring ahead of them, the Beady Eye lads were in top form in Rome, both musically and behaviourally… which one is never sure of when attending a gig involving a Gallagher brother.

Emitting ageing mod cool in a perfectly pressed cream duffel coat and trademark sunglasses, Gallagher shared supportive nods with football scarf-wielding crowd members, signed autographs in vocal breaks, gracefully dodged a bottle of water and even reacted with calm and good humour to a blackout shortly into one of their big numbers, Shine a Light. As techies rushed to resolve the issue, the crowd let rip a couple of football chants, followed by another which seemed to be "Paga la Luce." When the band returned to the stage Gallagher seemed up-to-date on how things work here in Italy, quipping “I’ve got a feelin' it’s gonna be a long night, haven’t got anywhere else to go have ya?”

Opening with Four Letter Word, the second promotional single from their debut album Different Gear, Still Speeding, and ending with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter, Beady Eye performed a blistering hour-and-a-half set that included tracks from both album releases including Flick of the Finger, Start Anew, current single Soul Love, and also Wonderwall and Cigarettes and Alcohol by Oasis.

Love him or loathe him, don’t pretend you’re not at least mildly interested in what "Gallagherism" may fall out of the man's mouth next. Five years in and ever evolving, the day for comparisons should be over. No Beady Eye are not Oasis, but they’ve got chops.

Victoria Wyatt