Morning Son Has Rose: The Episode of Meeting Liam Gallagher!

I thought that I’d die today
walked off the stage, faded away into the clouds
To the gig in the sky, and when I arrived 
The angels were singing the song
Yea you know the one, are you singing along?

It was 5.40ish in the evening when Amtrak finally got me off its train from Seattle. The sky was dark already, as Winter was looming, and I was in a hurry to look if my Aerio was still parked at a spot where I had to leave it the day before. As I took off, the CD left in the player played the song by Beady Eye. My mind got to rewind what went on the previous night. 

Here it goes. I’ve always wanted to write blog entries, but I happened to never did. I mean, I was thinking about writing about all the travels I’ve done so far. Not a bad idea, I pondered. I honestly thought I could have the spirit to do so, since traveling is one of my passions, and that it should be easy to start off by writing on something you are passionate about.

Well, turned out that… it wasn’t quite that simple. Big surprise! Nonetheless, November 30th actually changed my mood, like totally, about getting it started.

I am not so sure of how many of my friends actually know that I used to love Oasis so much. I’ve been a fan since I was in junior high back in about 1997. Well, I still do. The problem is that they are no longer around. In some ways, I wish they still did. But Noel had to depart and the guys were left without him. In 2009, the year when Noel left, the rest formed a new band they named ‘Beady Eye’. Somewhat unheard of for some people, but I just happened to hear it so go figure *sarcasm intended*.

It was accidental, I would say. I was actually browsing over the tour schedule of Noel’s High Flying Birds (my finding was that he was not playing either Seattle or Portland. Bummer!). I somehow thought it would be unlikely that Beady Eye would be on tour at this time of the year. I remember that they were playing in New York when I was actually in town on June this year. But me knowing the concert was a very last minute thing that I wasn’t able to manage to get a lodging close to the venue. It gave me creeps just thinking about being out so late -possibly close to midnight- in a city as big as New York. So I had to miss the opportunity in seeing Liam and the new band (it’s actually a bit weird saying this since they’re the same people). DANG!! BUT. I. JUST. DROPPED. IT. I had seen Oasis perform in August 2008 anyway, at Wamu theater Seattle. And to be honest, I wasn’t that impressed. Hey wait? What do I mean by that? Well, it’s not like I did not like the band that much anymore. The thing is... I was a bit disappointed because my seat was not the best. The close-to-the-stage one would probably have cost 5 times as much ($300 or so) and that’s definitely out of our range for a concert ticket. In a nutshell, it was a fun concert with a not-so-good viewpoint in the case of me favoring the Gallagher boys. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was pretty happy seeing the Gallaghers for the first time. As a matter of fact, I was probably as excited as this one with Beady Eye when about to attending it. But Liam barely said anything in their Wamu concert, no convos whatsoever. Well I heard him say ‘cheers’ several times. I guess it was just that the seat sucked, and the mob ahead of me just drove me nuts. 

Okay, let’s drop that one. 

I purchased the Beady Eye ticket on November 14th, soon as I found out about the gig. It was online and I couldn’t ask for any better. Price was right ($56 tax included), though I could actually have saved 10 bucks or so had I bought it at the box office in Seattle. They do not charge the $12 service fee and all. But I just didn’t want to take a risk of not getting a pass. My ticket was printed on the 17th and sent to my address, and I received it a week before the concert.
On the same day, I booked my room at Green Tortoise Hostel situated pretty much RIGHT NEXT to Showbox at The Market, where the show was to be held. How lucky is that?? I was thinking it would be easy this way cuz I could just run back to my room after the show’s done. The dorm room (with 4 beds in) was only $35/person for a night, so what the heck. Better yet, on Black Friday (11/25), Glen and I made a little trip to Seattle. We spent the night and strolled around downtown to check out the venue. I was ecstatic to learn that Showbox at The Market was rather puny! Yes, it was PUNY. In the history, it seemed that Oasis would almost always play at a big venue when touring North America, which was proportional to the number of their audience, which did make sense.


THAT LONDON TRIP
Staring at Showbox, I got a flashback of our trip to London back in Spring 2010. That year I got to pick our destination and I right away knew where I wanted to go. Yep, Oasis is from England, so London off we went. Well, the Gallaghers are actually Mancunians, but having been living in London for the last two decades they are pretty much Londoners too. Okay, so I begged Glen to take me to Nobu for lunch. Nobu is a Japanese restaurant on 19 Old Lane, first floor of Metropolitan hotel overlooking the Hyde Park. Guess for what reason? Nobu is one of the restaurants Liam and his family occasionally go to! Pretty exciting, eh? But the thing is, it is rather upscale, and we do not normally go to a restaurant where we end up paying a hundred dollar kind of tab just for lunch. For dinner, that price would not be that bad, for it is London and that the restaurant has a decent reputation. However, most sit-down restaurants here (and in the Europe, with Chinese ones a lot of times, as the exception) have their prices inflated at dinner time, with only a little increase in their portion. Knowing it was not quite an option to go to dinner, we then made a lunch reservation for an afternoon.

Guess what? I did not bump into Liam Gallagher, nor any celebrities that afternoon. Okay, not that I am the type who loves to chase celebrities, but that restaurant is somehow popular among them.

Alright, move on to the day!
I booked my trip with Amtrak way in advance and was able to get the best price: it was $54 return trip with a 10% discount from being an AAA member. I took the earliest train from Vancouver station departing at 8.45 AM, scheduled to arrive in Seattle at around noon. I woke up rather early around 7, but did not manage to get up until 7.45. The station is about a 12 minute drive from home with normal traffic so I sort of took it easy. My bad! Actually, my morning turned out to be a bit hectic. I forgot to figure out how the long-term parking worked at that station, and I realized that I only had about 10 minutes assuming that the drive to the station was without interruptions. Glad it did, and I was just happy to learn parking was without a hassle. It was right outside the station and they still had plenty of spots. Two minutes after parking, my train arrived and I hopped on. Whewww, I said to myself, JUST IN TIME. I double checked to see if I got everything. Ticket, camera, and wallet made the top three on the list and I was relieved that they‘re there with me. ^,^


SEATTLE TREATED ME AWESOMELY AS ALWAYS
Taken by Nizar the following morning  at Ambrosia
My train, 500 Amtrak Cascades, got to the King station in Seattle on time (oh I love that train, the free wifi is my absolute favorite!). King station is right in the International District, or what they also call China Town. China Town for me is heaven for I love Asian food, Asian stores -pretty much anything Asian I guess, bubble tea included. I walked off the station, roaming the neighborhood to seek an afternoon delight in the flavor of Taro bubble milk tea. Hahaha.. nope, I can never walk out of Seattle’s China Town not drinking bubble tea; I know it would be a sin to do so! Just as it is being rude of walking away from China Town without sampling the Asian delicacies that it offers. Speaking of  bubble tea in Seattle, my most recent favorite bubble tea place is called Ambrosia on 619 S King St -the S is for south. I would describe the tea like the store’s name, ambrosia: especially delicious!

My afternoon was not particularly filled. Drinking a big cup of bubble tea, I was pretty full, so I decided to just grab something from the deli of Uwajimaya. Uwajimaya is the coolest store in the whole International District to me. It is Japanese, but they also have various kinds of Asian goods. They have produce material, non-perishables, fresh seafood & meat, ready-to-eat meals, cakes, dessert, and so on and so forth -all you can think of really. I picked a single Vietnamese tofu spring roll, which I later ate at the Green Tortoise hostel. Me and my concert company Nizar agreed on having dinner at Showbox’s Green Room so I had this plan of not spoiling my appetite by not eating a full meal lunch. Nizar left her home in Bremerton riding ferry, departing at 4.15 PM. The trip took about an hour and I anticipated to see her some time after 5.30 PM. So I guess I could chill for a while in my room at the hostel. After spending an hour at Tully’s Coffee Shop on 4th Ave downtown, I checked in the hostel. It was 3 PM, and I was determined to just nap the rest of the afternoon while waiting for Nizar. I was in the middle of my nap when my phone vibrated. That was her!!


SHOWBOX OH SHOWBOX
Showbox is only right across the street from the famous Pike’s Place Market. It has a dine-in area where you can enjoy your meal and drinks before watching the show, and I felt lucky to figure that out. As soon as I got the venue name of the show, I searched the reviews and learned about what I had to do. I was pretty excited to see Nizar and we immediately lined up to get into the Green Room. According to the information I got from the box office, the Green Room would open at 6. To our sight were a few other people, but it was not an overwhelming crowd at all. I behaved myself, despite being quite psyched about the fact that there were not too many people queuing for the Green Room. It could be due to the timing: it was Wednesday night. What a factor! Had it been in the weekend, things could have turned out quite differently.
Showbox at The Market, situated conveniently across Pike's Place Market
Two cheerful waitresses greeted us and we placed the order upon getting the drinks. Eeek, no we did not really ‘drink’ >.<. I got a glass of diet coke and Nizar had to be happy with just water since they didn’t have her Mountain Dew. We were not expecting something decent for our meal, since we both are not into burger-and-fries sort of food. After looking at the menu for about five minutes, I took ‘chicken tenders with both ranch & bbq sauces’ off the list and Nizar settled with her choice of quesadilla. Food came in like 15 minutes, and we split our items. The chicken strips that came with fries were actually pretty good, and the quesadilla was not bad. I said to her: “yea, if we have a low expectation upon something (food in this case), a lot of times we’ll end up feeling quite happy with whatever comes our way haha..”.

*Dudeeee.. I am already feeling sorry that this entry is going to be long! But Glen is going golfing with his friends today and I got some time to kill in the morning, so writing has been good!*

Nizar: “Can’t wait!!”
Me: “So excited I have a partner to be loud with tonight!”
(Giggling commotion lol…)

Thanks to the numbered priority card facilitated by the Green Room that Nizar and I were able to get to the venue earlier than anyone else. Yay, front row we ran off to!! We stood there from 8.10 PM, and the opening band was only playing after about an hour wait. Waiting there was quite boring honestly, but I got somehow entertained by the couple standing next to me. They had been talking for quite a while, I mean seriously, since they were inside the Green Room and a few hours on. Dude, where did you get all the energy from???

LIAM’S HERE!!! :)
While the band from Brussels  (I kind of heard the singer mention so, although I thought he did not sound quite European) was playing at around 9.30, Liam showed up from the right wing of the venue. I did NOT expect that at all!! OMG, I was taken aback but managed to spontaneously gave my hand, and so did Nizar. Oh guess what??? HE SHOOK MY HAND!! I actually did not think he would since he did not quite shake hands with the people before me (or maybe I just didn't see it). And then Liam also shook hands with Nizar! Nizar and I were just too excited. We were screaming, cheering for our ‘unexpected victory’. Man, Had it not been for the Brussels band playing, I could have talked with Liam!! But the music just blasted hard, I could barely hear my own voice. Liam looked awesome that night with his olive-colored coat and his Britpop kind of haircut (funny thing was that I happened to wear olive green too that night!), dark-blue jeans, and white Pretty Green shoes (I’d just be guessing since Pretty Green is his own clothing line and that I saw the pair on the website, looking just like the one he wore that night). He seemed quite relaxed, reserved, yet wasn’t hesitated in greeting the enthusiasts like me and Nizar. Liam was actually not so tall for an English bloke, he’s probably anywhere from 170-175 cm (5 ft 10 inches or so), I’ll tell you later why I think that range fits him.

My all-time favorite front man
Duuuude, I used to dream about meeting Liam in person and I just shook hands with him! I do not know how else to describe excitement I had that night!!
*Lol, allow me to be ‘lebay’ this time, you actually won’t get too many chances of hearing me like this ^,^*

THE BEAT GOES ON..
After shaking hands with the Gallagher, I was anticipating Beady Eye to jump on the stage and rocked the house with their tracks. Unfortunately we had to wait a little longer than expected. Liam apparently was the only lad who said hello to the fans, which I was not quite surprised about. I mean, ya know it, he is the front man and has always been the center of attention since the Oasis days. Especially now that the brother is gone he’s got all the attention, hypothetically speaking.
The clock was at 10.20ish when the lads hit the stage. Everyone in the room rocked out to Four Letter Word, the first hit of their debut album -Different Gear Still Speeding. Liam uttered a few words, which I didn’t quite catch, then the lads blasted their first tune to audience that had been desperately waiting. All I know it was FOUR LETTER WORD. I was immediately drawn into singing along and was just paying attention to the gorgeous front man standing only 3 meters across me. I really have to say this now: it was surreal. 
"For anyone who loves, for anyone who feels, I'm never giving up until the dream is real,..." -This sweet-sounding song's written by Liam.
Without a doubt (I start sounding like Liam here), Beady Eye met people’s expectation of what their music should have been like. After Oasis was dismissed people might have wondered if either Beady Eye or Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds -or possibly both- would carry that Oasis’ sound into their stuff. I am one of those that are happy to learn that the band is still doing ‘rock and roll’, and hope it always will. The songs are less Noel (read: less twists of melody), If you know what I mean; If you don’t, then listen to stuff like ‘Little By Little’ or ‘Where Did it All Go Wrong’ and compared them to “Go Let it Out” and “Lyla”. Though all of them are (I think, so you may verify) written by Noel though, the first two sort of do not carry the sound of what what Beady Eye does in their music. Meanwhile, Noel’s High Flying Birds’ stuff sounds more like it -those first two songs. I think Noel is a great song writer, and I would actually say, better compared to the other four lads, but for some reason Beady Eye’ tunes sound hella better to my ear. Nuff said.

So there, Beady Eye carried on the first set of the gig right on! -The second set would be the encore songs.


Here are the songs they played in their first 50 minutes:
Four Letter Word
Beatles & Stones
Millionaire
Two of A Kind
For Anyone
Three Ring Circus
The Roller 
In The Bubble with A Bullet
Bring The Light
Standing on the Edge of The Noise
Kill For A Dream
The Beat Goes On
Man of Misery
The Morning Son
Wigwam

Encore songs:
World Outside My Room
Sons of The Stage

THE UNEXPECTED 
Yeahh, this is the part I was (and am) still very excited about! I honestly forgot exactly when Liam got off stage, approached the audience starting from those on the left wing side of the front row (I was on the opposite), stopped for a few secs in front of me and gave me a hug. It happened rather fast, but not abrupt. He must have seen my ‘trying to reach out’ gesture lol. Duudee..I got a Gallagher’s hug!! I was dreaming of meeting this man in person since I was a kid!!! I suddenly have a flashback of the old days where I would hurry home from school to watch MTV cuz 'Stand By Me' and other songs from 'Be Here Now' were played rather frequently by MTV during that particular time. 
Okay, back to Liam now. As I gave Liam a hug I leaned to his right cheek, and felt his facial hair -ya know, the after-shave hair on men’s face that feels kind of scratchy. I said to his ear: “Nice meeting ya!“. Liam was all sweaty and he left off some of his on my right cheek. I wished I hadn’t had to wash my face lol! I honestly previously thought he was not that much of a gentleman. But this changed my mind; he couldn’t have been nicer than that, he certainly could have passed me! In relation to the previous paragraph, this was exactly how I could tell Liam was not any taller than 175 cm, our cheeks were about the same height as he leaned towards me!
Nizar took this cool close-up shot of Liam, a few secs before I got a hug from him.
Oh, by the way, If you asked me speculate with the timing of this, I would say it was after him and the band played ‘The Beat Goes On’, or any song after that. All I remember now is that it happened near the end of the first leg (of the show).

PEOPLE, WHAT'S THAT WITH THE ENCORE REQUEST?!
I have to say, that Oasis might not be as big in the US as they are in the UK, or Europe in general. Judging of what the crowd behavior was, I was somewhat disconcerted. I mean, they are HUGE in the UK, and Oasis prior to the dismissal was pretty big as well in the West Coast. Oasis’ gig in Wamu Theater was probably sold out, and that theater could easily seat about 7000 people (not including the ones on the floor).

Okay, back to the gig. After Beady Eye claimed that it was the end of the show and took off, the crowd wasn’t quite that united in yelling out for an encore. Well Nizar and I did, but our voice sank in too deep amidst the noise of the crowd, expressing their want for an encore in different ways. The thing is, most of these folks were over 30 years old and would definitely not act like crazy teens yelling and screaming for an encore from Justin Bieber and the likes of him, lol. So, yes Comrades, they’re understood.

Anyhow, like in any other show, Beady Eye came out for an encore and blew the house away for one last time. Honestly, it was the first time of me hearing ‘The World Outside My Room’ but boy did I ever like the tune!! Turned out that the song's the B-side of Four Letter Word (they do not quite promote CDs of their singles here in the US as they do in the UK).

I totally rocked out to the tune, Mate!!
Liam Gallagher, & Gem Archer on the guitar
Then we reached the end of the gig, ’Sons of The Stage'. It is written by Liam, by the way. On one of his confessions, he said that if there’s anything he wrote that’s about his relationship with his brother, it would be that song. 
Take a look at the lyrics:
“…,….”
Errr…
No..  doesn’t sound like it
I mean it’s the other song ‘Morning Son’!
LOL
I was supposed to talk about this song much earlier. DUHHH!!

Anyways, ‘Morning Son’ goes this way:
He’s in my mind, he’s in my soul
He’s even in my my rock and roll
I stand alone
Nobody knows the morning son has rose
….
So let it be
And given time, you go your way and I’ll go mine
I’ll stand alone
Nobody knows the morning son has rose

Beady Eye playing the encore song
That show was magical. It reminds me of when I was a kid, it reminds me of how to have fun. I love Oasis, Beady Eye, The Gallagher brothers (Liam in particular); it has always been this way and I don't think it will ever change -Gotta thank Glen the hubby for being cool about the Seattle trip, and Nizar for the great company. I got to introduce Nizar to my favorite Korean cuisine the following morning, and then we shared a table and jokes over bubble milk tea. So, that was a bonus. The whole trip couldn't have been better.

It was not until 2 AM that I was finally able to shut my eyes.




PS. 
Liam, Andy, Gem, Chris.. (especially you, Liam) so long for now, until next time.
Me at the concert :D



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