Oasis legend Liam Gallagher rocked King George’s Hall Blackburn in collaboration with Adidas and Nightsafe

The Britpop legend announced on April 18 that he was to perform a surprise gig at the famed Blackburn town centre venue, celebrating his latest collaboration with Darwen trainer designer Gary Aspden and raising vital funds for Blackburn homeless charity, Nightsafe.

There were around 2,000 lucky ticket winners in attendance, who were each asked to donate £20 when downloading their tickets, won via a ballot, with the proceeds heading straight to the charity.

Following a rapturous set from Blackburn band The Illicits, who wound up their support slot with a spine-tingling rendition of Underworld’s Born Slippy, Gallagher took to the stage with his iconic swagger and maracas and – over the course of around 90 minutes – mesmerised fans with a popular mix of new and old.

He revved up his adoring crowd – most of which appeared to be local (dipping into loud Blackburn Rovers chants between songs) – with a string of Oasis hits including Hello, Rock ‘n’ Roll Star and Morning Glory.

He then slid into some of his more recent solo catalogue with Wall of Glass and Shockwave, rocky lead tracks from his most recent albums As You Were (2017) and Why Me? Why Not? (2019).

After playing one of his latest rock ‘n’ roll releases, Everything’s Electric, Gallagher touchingly dedicated a live debut of Better Days – the chorus of which is: “If you're lost, I'll find you there, with the sunlight in your hair, all the sadness washed away with the rain” – to legendary Oasis and Liam Gallagher guitarist Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, who revealed he is suffering from tonsil cancer shortly before last night’s gig.

The dedication was met with widespread applause and cheering from the audience.

HITS: Liam Gallagher mesmerised fans with an extensive mix of Oasis classics and his own solo catalogue

Gallagher then nearly blew off the King George’s Hall roof with yet more Oasis staples in Slide Away and Stand By Me, before announcing that his final song of the night would be Once, from his Why Me? Why Not? album. This song he dedicated to the Blackburn Rovers fans – who he cheekily reminded may only ever get to lift the Premier League trophy… ‘Once’.

The Fred Perry and Pretty Green clad crowd would not let him leave like that, however, and after a short break, Gallagher and his bandmates returned to the stage to blast out an encore of Oasis classics with Cigarettes & Alcohol, Cast No Shadow and Live Forever – which had he not sung, the brilliant audience would have sufficed in his place.

Sadly, then it really was time for the final act, and of course, it was perhaps Oasis’ greatest hit. Wonderwall. A legendary tune performed brilliantly by a legendary frontman who bowed out of a legendary night having performed in Blackburn for the very first time for an extremely worthy cause.

Final Thoughts

When leaving the stalls, all I could hear were dazed conversations that largely included: ‘what a night’, ‘that was amazing’ and ‘what a legend’. They were the few who hadn’t completely lost their voices.

Gallagher certainly made an impression on the lucky bunch who got to see him last night, and he can rest assured his status as a bonafide musical hero around these parts is more than secure.

The feelings were evidently mutual, too, as he took to Twitter to thank the crowd and hinted that there may even be a “next time”.

He wrote: “Blackburn Lancashire top night you smashed it thanks for having us until nxt time LG x”.

Will he and his brother ever share a stage again? Who knows? But with a live set like the one he let loose last night and the feverish clamour for tickets that was sparked by a one-off gig at a small venue in East Lancashire, one would suggest Liam is untarnished by the Oasis fallout and will continue to sell-out venues little and large until the day he decides he's done.

Most importantly, though, it was a trouble-free night in which 2,000 people made memories that will live forever (see what I did there?) and a currently unknown – but likely huge – amount of money was raised for one of this town’s greatest assets, Nightsafe, a 32-year-old charity working tirelessly to alleviate the plight of homeless and vulnerably housed young people.