A dazzling and quite literally dizzying journey back in time, to experience one of the greatest albums of the 90s.

My second time seeing Liam in 2024 was vastly different to the first. At the Kentish Town Forum in March, I was mere metres away from him as he performed an album of entirely new songs along with fellow 90s legend John Squire. This time round, he was light years away in the cavernous O2, performing one of the most acclaimed and beloved albums of all time, Oasis’s debut “Definitely Maybe”, in its 30th anniversary year.

But wherever you see Liam, one things remains true: throughout the gig your ears will always be ringing to a beery manly Greek chorus of “LEEEE-YUHM!!!!”

I was not in the best of shape at the time of this gig. I’d been battling fluey aches, fatigue and dizzy spells for several weeks. I would in fact end the month off sick from work and nearly bedridden with vertigo for a few weeks, but here at the beginning of June the symptoms were still fairly manageable. However, it was obviously not the best frame of mind and body to be in when venturing out to the O2 for an evening of “Definitely Maybe” nostalgia.

But I made it to the arena, and found my spot towards the bottom of the lower tier of seats. I’m someone whose balance issues makes walking down stairs tricky at the best of times, but in my aforementioned wobbly state of health, it was deeply unpleasant trying to make my way down the vertiginous, banister-less staircase to get to my seat. However, once there I soaked in the atmosphere and waited in eager anticipation for the thrills ahead.

Half an hour before Liam was due to take the stage, a huge inflatable globe appeared along in the middle of the stage, along with a giant date stamp showing 2024. This proceeded to flip down a year with each passing minute until it got to the year of “Definitely Maybe”, 1994, which was a fantastic way to build the anticipation and amplify the sense of travelling back in time.

And once Liam appeared, the crowd were up as one. It’s “Rock’n’Roll Star” to start of course, and all brilliant, of course. But my position, in this side tier towards the back of the arena, meant that everyone in my row had to turn sharply to our left to see him, and so I suddenly had a very hyper and personal-space-ignoring middle aged bloke in front of me, and a massive though harmlessly friendly German bloke in a Spice Girls t-shirt behind me. It was not my most comfortable of gig positions, and left me resolute that if I can’t get a floor ticket at the O2, it’s not really worth going.

Because, if I’d been down on the floor where I belong, and in a better head space and body state, this could have been a strong contender for gig of the year. Liam was in incredible voice, and though I could barely make him out on the stage he looked pretty epic up on the screens. And I don’t think I’d ever truly appreciated what a barrage of classics that the “Definitely Maybe” era entails. I bought the album back in 1994 and liked it well enough at the time, but it was “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory” that truly made me an Oasis fan the following year. On this evening, hearing not only the album tracks but the B-sides from the debut era was a revelation. The astonishingly confident brilliance that Oasis exploded into the world with was presented in thrilling style, with song after song pummelling you with soul-shaking riffs and tunes so irresistible that you have no option but to holler along.

The absolute highlight for me though was “Whatever”, a song I never expected to experience live, as it felt fully time-locked to Christmas 1994, and it was glorious to hear this defiantly string-soaked ode to freedom. I hadn’t fully appreciated just how much hollering along with Liam singing “I’m freeeeee to be whatever I, whatever I like if it’s wrong or right it’s all right” was something I really needed, right at that moment in my life. A close second most thrilling moment was “Cigarettes and Alcohol”, a dirty rock monster promoting elevated crowd mayhem and airborne drinks all across the arena.

By the time we got to Liam’s sarky take on “Married With Children” closing the main set, and where I’d thought I might make an escape, I knew I could last three more songs, especially when those three were all truly brilliant ones: “Supersonic”, “Slide Away” and my own personal favourite Oasis song “Live Forever”. At its end I weaved my way out, missing the final Beatles cover “I Am The Walrus” but worth it to avoid the tube chaos.

Overall, this was an utterly fantastic show, but my ability to enjoy it fully was marred by my terrible seat and my dilapidated state of health. And unfortunately for me, it would turn out that going to a gig in this state was a very bad idea. Despite wearing earplugs the whole evening, I was triggered into the worst and most enduring spell of tinnitus I have ever experienced, as well as sending my dizzy spells into hyperdrive, thus spending the second half of June largely immobilised, as mentioned.

But I eventually recovered, and lived to gig another day. As for Liam, his solo career has of course been on hiatus since this tour, with the Oasis reunion taking over 2025, which sadly I never managed to procure a ticket for. Now in January 2026, all is a bit quiet on the Oasis front, despite further dates having at one point been heavily rumoured. Instead, the whisperings now seem to be pointing to a possible reprise of Liam’s solo career, in particular his collaboration with John Squire, and I would be more than happy with that. For thrilling as the Oasis reunion has been, even to watch from afar, a music fan can not exist on nostalgia alone. Liam has a plethora of powerful and moving songs in his solo back catalogue, and is a wonderful and compelling performer in his own right, as this gig attests. It would be fantastic to see him back at a smaller venue, with or without his Stone Roses comrade, some time in 2026.