Wednesday, August 28, 1996

By JOHN SAKAMOTO
Executive Producer, Jam! Showbiz

"It's weird not having Liam here, but he's going through troubles in his life, and I want him to know I'm there for him."

Thus spake big brother Noel Gallagher from the stage of the Rosemont Horizon outside Chicago Tuesday night during the kick-off of Oasis's already-turbulent North American tour.

As Jam! reported Tuesday, Liam refused to board the plane from London to America at the last minute, amid claims that: 1) he was too busy house-hunting to go on tour; 2) he was suffering from a case of "acute laryngitis"; 3) your instantly more credible explanation here.

According to online magazine Vibe, Noel was greeted with scattered boos from the crowd of 10,000 but eventually won them all over by the end of the show.

The site quotes one young attendee as saying, "The fans were disappointed at first but after an 85-minute set, I think most of them forgot they should have been watching another singer. Noel had to cope with the back-up vocals he usually provides and the lead vocals, but he seemed quite relaxed and very animated without his brother."

That wasn't an isolated opinion. Another fan who saw the concert wrote online that Noel carried the whole show brilliantly," though adding, drily, "I also suspect most of the drug-induced youth that were moshing and crowd-surfing didn't even notice Our Kid (Liam) wasn't there."

Meanwhile, the British tabs, not surprisingly, are having a field day with the story, labelling Liam's finacee, actress Patsy Kensit, the "new Yoko Ono", and accusing her of trying to break up the band.

Amid this black hole of publicity, both Noel and MCA Concerts Canada are hopeful that young Liam will indeed re-join the band in time for their only Canadian appearance 'til next year, Saturday at Molson Park in Barrie, Ont.

An MCA spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that the company had been in touch with the band's agent, and been assured that Liam would be on stage in Barrie.

Finally, Vibe quotes Noel during the Chicago show as saying: "The last thing he said to me was, 'See ya later'. Liam will join us when Liam can."

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