Liam Gallagher plays a game of two halves at Reading 2017

Liam Gallagher could own Reading Festival, if he wanted. One blast of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ proves that. Oasis’ classic songs have a resonance no other band on this weekend’s bill could hope to achieve. Unifying anthems that cross generations, they’re proof immortal that in the 20 years since their peak, we’ve not made another band able to connect on such a grand level. But Liam has a problem, and it's not just the limited volume of Reading's Main Stage. As usual, it’s himself. Just like at Glastonbury earlier this year, his forthcoming solo album ‘As You Were’ hangs like a millstone round his neck. It’s not that the album is good, bad or indifferent - it’s simply not here yet, and that’s a major speed bump in his set. While those Oasis classics - ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Slide Away’, ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’ - provoke mass sing-a-longs, the majority of his newer material is entirely alien to the Reading crowd. Of the half dozen or so new tracks he plays, only ‘Wall Of Glass’ really makes any impact. Only one other - ‘For What It’s Worth’ - has been released to the world. The rest may be identifiable from recent live sets, but that’s not something to lay down as darkness falls at one of the biggest festivals in the land. To add insult to self-inflicted injury, Liam even takes time to offer up a Beady Eye track. When you consider the Oasis classics - including some he’s been performing of late - that could have taken ‘Soul Love’‘s place, it’s hard to imagine who the younger Gallagher is picking his set list for. But then, when it’s right, it’s right. After a false start on new cut ‘Universal Gleam’, even Liam’s obsession with ‘Be Here Now’ feels like a 100% solid gold banger has been offered up from the heavens. Following it with anthemic set closer ‘Wonderwall’, while we may ponder how great his set could have been, at least he leaves us on a glorious high.