Oasis pays tribute to their biggest influence more than a few times. Tomorrow Never Knows, the rip from Revolver (an album Liam Gallagher later went on to say he had eclipsed with a John Squire collaboration), makes for decent live fodder. Johnny Marr and Cornershop join the brothers Gallagher, set to reunite later this year for a series of sold-out shows that not just ran out of tickets but morals too. Turn to The Beatles, then. Duck for cover, you fans, and find respite in some considerably charmless continuations of Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr playing dress-up as John and Paul. And yet this serves as one of the most interesting Oasis performances of all. A rare opportunity to hear Gallagher provide something of interest. Rare that may be, it is almost derailed. But it is not. That is the crucial part of this performance, as genuine as it gets for the band.
Any band influenced by The Beatles are wanting to connect with their influences. Oasis is no different. They are a credit to live music that even they, with their faux rebellious attitude and their larger-than-life appeal, can strip themselves and their sound back to a point where appreciating the slick and influential work of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, is the aim. What a time it makes for. Genuinely charming in that tribute sort of way. It will never compare to the original but the genuine strokes of instrumental consistency more than makes this cover a reliable one. Oasis puts themselves in the shoes of their idols and comes through with a fitting rearrangement, however plain it may be, of Tomorrow Never Knows.
And that is that. Marr adds a few neat pieces and while Cornershop is not as influential here as they are in other walks of music, the overlapping cultural dynamite remains fascinating. That is what keeps Tomorrow Never Knows, the Oasis cover at least, in the back of a few fans’ minds. A hell of a lot better than their agonising I Am the Walrus. Make no mistake, that horror will appear again. Gallagher and Gallagher spend much of their time touring The Beatles’ discography and when they manage to bring out the reason they started a band, the mimic of the Fab Four feels much more manageable. Not quite the nails on the chalkboard it could have been, and certainly filled with an instrumental flavour lacking in Oasis’ originals.
But then adapting the hits of the past is pretty easy when you know where the cords are. Tomorrow Never Knows is a defiant track, one which will go on to define The Beatles forever more. Oasis too is defined by it. They seek out their soulful influences in this piece and never comes out with anything more than confirmation of their influences. This live performance of Tomorrow Never Knows is pretty slick. A decent job done by musicians who know the consequence of failing to live up to even a smidge of the standard expected from those who dare to cover The Beatles. A longer drawl, a slightly slower tempo to it than first expected, but such is the form Gallagher takes live on stage. It works. A rather neat cover of a classic song from a band, however big they may be, open enough to admit their influences.
