Manchester, for any music (or sport) fan who knows their stuff, is a city that punches several divisions above its weight. For its part in the spread of electronic dance music through the U.K. in the late ‘80s, and the peerless, timeless bands that emerged from its scene — think The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order, Happy Mondays — Manchester is one of the world’s great music cities.
The Stone Roses, the indie-rock enigmas whose iconic, self-titled debut from 1989, is considered by many as the greatest debut of them all, if not the greatest album, period, are among the Manchester royalty.
As is Oasis, the now-defunct giant of the Britpop era, which landed at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart with every studio album (seven in total), and smashed records along the way. The “Live Forever” rockers are one step away from induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
The Stones Roses’ guitarist John Squire and former Oasis and Beady Eye frontman Liam Gallagher recently teamed up for a collaborative, self-titled album which – no surprises here – blasted to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart earlier this year, outselling its nearest competitor by three copies to one. Liam now boasts 14 U.K. No. 1 albums across a three-decade career.
On Tuesday night, April 9, that “superduo” paid a visit to NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, for a performance of the bluesy-rock album track “I’m A Wheel.”
Gallagher, in particular, is in fine form, staring down the barrel of the camera, snarling and full of menace and reminding us how a seasoned frontman, with his deep bag of tricks, can own the stage.
The singer unloaded some of that venom in February, when the shortlist for the Rock Hall of announced – with Oasis featuring on it.
The famously tetchy singer, who went solo after older brother and chief Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher split the band in 2009, summed up his vibe about the nod in a short, sharp tweet in which he wrote, “F–ck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS.” The latter is a Jamaican slang term frequently employed by Gallagher on his socials when peeved to express his disdain in no uncertain terms.
Watch the late-night performance below.