Oasis paid tribute to Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota, who this week died in a car accident, at their first reunion show.
The Manchester band, led by Liam and Noel Gallagher, kicked off their tour at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Friday (4 July), one day after Jota was found dead with his brother, Andre Silver, in the Spanish city of Zamora.
Oasis played the outro for 1994 song “Live Forever” when the back of Jota’s No 20 Liverpool shirt was emblazoned on the screen, which got a huge roar of applause from the audience.
Jota had been travelling in a Lamborghini with his brother when their car veered off the road and burst into flames following what police suspect was a tyre blowout while overtaking.
The footballer’s family and teammates are set to gather in his hometown of Gondomar near Porto for his funeral on Saturday morning (5 July).
It follows a private and public wake held for the Liverpool player and his brother at the Capela da Ressurreicao on Friday.
Oasis’s tribute to Jota arrived after a set that saw the siblings tear through their hits, including “Morning Glory”, “Supersonic”, “Half the World Away” and “Stand by Me”.
Thousands of fans gathered at the Cardiff venue to watch the rock band perform together for the first time since they broke up after a backstage fight in 2009.
Their interaction with the crowd was minimal, save for the odd moment that saw Liam ask those in attendance if they were “alright”.
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At one stage, Liam made a taunt about the ticket pricing scandal, which occurred when the tour was announced last August.
“You’re having a good time, yeah?” he said, asking: “Is it worth the £40,000 you paid for the ticket?”
The dynamic pricing policy, which has been heavily criticised in the past, is Ticketmaster’s response to demand, and sees them increase or decrease prices in line with what scalpers would resell them for, keeping the money in-house for the seller and artist.
The Independent called the two hour-long show “the rock reunion to end them all”, with Mark Beaumont writing: “As Liam and Noel Gallagher tear through two hours of uninterrupted hits, it’s tough to imagine another comeback on such a momentous scale.”
