Noel Gallagher - Nottingham Capital FM Arena
HE was one half, and some would say the bigger half, of one of the most iconic British bands of the past 20 years.
But now Noel Gallagher has gone solo under the name Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
He was always going to have a tough job when he decided, after leaving Oasis, to begin his new musical venture.
His former band had a huge legacy and Noel had the task of writing and recording music that could stand alone, outside the shadow of Oasis.
But, after seeing him live for the second time, it’s obvious he has managed to overcome this struggle in his own mind.
He knows the fans will always hold a greater love for his Oasis classics, but he laid down a marker by pumping out a succession of hits from the High Flying Birds album.
Of these, songs like If I Had A Gun and Everybody’s On The Run were, of course, the crowd-pleasers, but many lesserknown numbers received a warm welcome from the audience too.
The concert benefited immensely from the Crouch End Festival Chorus, a symphonic choir accompanying Noel on tour.
While his younger brother Liam’s voice has deteriorated noticeably with age since its zenith in the 1990s, Noel’s is as strong — if not stronger — than ever before.
It didn’t once seem lost in the huge Capital FM Arena among electric guitar riffs, the choir or the screaming crowd.
The High Flying Birds material was interspersed with Oasis hits, notably an acoustic version of Supersonic, Little by Little, Half the World Away, Whatever and Don’t Look Back In Anger, which elicited thunderous applause from the 10,000- strong crowd when it ended the encore.
Around 20 years into his musical career, Noel certainly hasn’t faded. His voice is as good as always, his songwriting ability is unaltered and his character hasn’t changed. This last point was proved by a series of crude put-downs delivered to a front-row heckler.
To summarise, a first-rate show that sent the crowd home in high spirits and one that will sit long in my memory.
