Decades after Noel Gallagher famously said his band was “bigger” than The Beatles, Oasis had a Beatle in the building, filming them like a proud musical father at their first concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Fans in the crowd on Saturday night (Sept. 6) spotted Paul McCartney in a suite with his phone camera in the air, capturing Gallagher singing Heathen Chemistry‘s “Little by Little,” a No. 2 hit on the U.K.’s Official Singles chart. Later in the night, when Liam Gallagher took lead vocals on the 1994 single “Whatever,” he added a few lines of The Beatles’ Abbey Road single “Octopus’ Garden” for an outro (as they’ve done live for awhile now), but Liam probably didn’t expect to be performing live and in person for a Beatle.
After the show, a paparazzo captured McCartney heading to his car and asked how the show was. He made an OK gesture with his hand and simply responded, “Fabulous.” Watch the video here.
Fans on social media were eating up the moment of McCartney — the only one standing in his section — filming Noel onstage, with one writing alongside the video: “Sir Paul McCartney watching Oasis tonight in Los Angeles. The teacher watching the student. Night of legends.” Another wrote: “noel gallagher is gonna go home tonight to the news of paul mccartney recording him, do you understand how insane that is? i’m so happy for them.” Another added: “Paul McCartney watching Oasis tonight like an elder wizard watching over his students. Beautiful.”
Another posted throwback photos of the Gallagher brothers wearing Beatles shirts with the caption: “i wonder if these guys know paul mccartney just recorded them on his phone while watching them sing the music he inspired them to make.”
When Oasis came out of the gate in the ’90s with the one-two punch of 1994’s Definitely Maybe and 1995’s What’s the Story (Morning Glory)?, they were often compared to The Beatles because of the band’s strong influence on the Gallaghers’ musical style, but they got off to a rocky start because of Noel Gallagher’s “bigger than The Beatles” comment, but in a 2021 interview, Noel reflected on the time, saying, “When Oasis started, we were so big we were compared to [The Beatles] size-wise and musically, embarrassingly, compared to them as well.” When the interviewer asked why it was embarrassing, he said: “Because we weren’t as good as them.”
Also in 2021, Noel Gallagher played a set at the 50th birthday of Paul’s daughter Stella McCartney and even joined Sir Paul for The Beatles’ “Birthday” and “I Saw Her Standing There.”
Oasis will return to the Rose Bowl for night 2 on Sunday night (Sept. 7) — the final U.S. date of their Live ’25 reunion tour. Next up: Two dates in Mexico City on Sept. 12-13.