Tonight’s Noel Gallagher High Flying Birds show at Glasgow’s Hydro, despite officially not being a sell-out, was packed to the gunnels with teenage and middle-aged admirers alike. On first impression, it appeared an unhealthy amount of folk here were expecting a kind of extended Oasis ‘classic cover best of session’.
As Noel has said in his many interviews, especially his exclusive ones with Russel Brand’s former sidekick Matt Morgan (his podcast subscription fee is worth the Noel G chats alone by the way), tonight’s set list would be a healthy mix of Noel’s High Flying Bird solo material at the start – but without disappointing those only here for Oasis anthems.
It’s been a busy year for Noel Gallagher. A private life documented in the press, a seemingly never-ending tour which has just saw him return from the far East, not to mention a welcome return to his regular slot pretty much co-hosting the brilliant Matt Morgan Podcast (sorry for a second punt) – tonight’s pulsating show comes at a hectic time, but performance wise, Noel never seems like he’s lagging. Noel can be forgiven for at times almost taking a step back and becoming a backing guitarist for himself – to be expected given the iconic status these songs, old and new, now causing much debate (for me at least) as to which surpasses which.
For me, Noel’s solo output is just at good, at many times better than those he wrote during his time with his old band. As anyone who regularly listens to Noel’s interviews, and those who’ve attended recent shows, we know the first ‘part’ of the set would focus heavily on the recent record. Standout tracks from ‘Council Skies’ like ‘Pretty Boy’ and the tremendous ‘Easy Now’ got the crowd going early doors. And even Noel’s crowd teasing, “This is not ‘Supersonic’” – didn’t upset us too much as he launched into ‘Open the Door, See What You’ll Find’, another example of the genius one of rock’s greatest songwriters can still muster.
Noel continued to effortlessly navigate his way through more High-Flying Bird classics such as ‘In The Heat Of the Moment’, the love-letter favourite, ‘If I Had A Gun’, and ‘AKA What A Life’. The first half ‘sign off’ would come with the utterly profound, the utterly heart-breaking, utterly better-than-anything-he-has-ever-produced…. ‘Dead in the Water’. For me, this seemingly ‘extra track’ on Noel’s ‘Who Built The Moon?’ record is the best song he’s ever written. The crowd went silent as Noel produced a unique rendition of this most heart-wrenching of songs, all done with a moody back-lit moon setting which, to be honest, if had stopped the gig right there and then, I could have died happy.
Noel then announced his intention to take the crowd ‘back to the 90s’, to which yet another deafening cheer arose. And as expected, ‘taking us back to the 90s’ would mean Noel dipping back into his back catalogue with Oasis, warmly welcomed as expected. It came with ‘The Importance of Being Idle’, and B-Sides such as the majestic ‘The Masterplan’, ‘Going Nowhere’ and ‘Half the World Away’.
Before leaving us, at this point, with another crowd-rousing rendition of ‘Little by Little’, Noel and his birds left briefly before coming back for a brief encore. A cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mighty Quinn’ was a welcome surprise before he, not so much launched, but gently slided into one of the songs most of the crowd no doubt came here for. A rendition of ‘Live Forever’ took its cues from the famous Ryan Adams reworking of ‘Wonderwall’, with its much toned down, slowed and seductive version of one of his former band’s most famous tunes.
Perhaps to be expected, Noel ended the night with ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, which brought the night’s ‘sing-a-long’ to an end.
From what I’ve heard, both here and in conversation, Noel Gallagher doesn’t seem like slowing down, and we can only hope for more of his fresh best and at the same time, more of the same. “I’ll write you a song, it won’t take me long” he laments on ‘Council Skies’. Indeed, bring it down, this stuff is effortlessly brilliant and very welcome.
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Words: Ray Jackson
