Another Review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds In Glasgow

Noel Gallagher continued his UK tour at the SSE Hydro last night (7 March), promoting his excellent new album, Chasing Yesterday. Phones were held high, pints were thrown and songs were sung it was a typical Saturday night in Glasgow when one of the Gallagher brothers are in town.

13,000 fans packed into the world’s second-busiest live entertainment arena to hear a greatest hits from the two High Flying Birds albums as well as a handful of Oasis classics. And the singer/songwriter pulled out all the stops, turning up with his usual backing band as well as a trio of brass and the Crouch End Choir, who featured to great effect on the 47 year-old’s debut record.

The set kicked off with “Do The Damage”, the B-side to the lead single from Chasing Yesterday, “In The Heat Of The Moment”. “(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach” followed before the Crouch End Choir entered the stage for “Everybody’s On The Run”.

In a 20-song set, the highlights of the night were “Riverman” and a new arrangement of “Champagne Supernova”, again featuring Crouch End Choir. Each number saw the adoring crowd sing back every word. There was even a mention for his estranged brother, with Noel noting the number of parkas from Liam’s clothing label he’d seen in the city while doing a signing at HMV earlier on in the day.

A minor criticism of the evening were the acoustics. It seemed to take a few songs before the sound man really found the optimum but it seemed there were few who noticed.

I’ve seen Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds twice now, and having grown up watching Oasis it’s strange seeing him fly solo, but he carries it well. While much has been made of his latest album’s title, it was ironic that the biggest cheers of the night were reserved for the Oasis numbers most notably “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. It’s unsurprising given the influence that the band had on a generation. Yet over 20 years on we’ve still to see anyone make an impact in the UK in the way that Oasis did during the mid-90s, not just musically, but also culturally.

As I left the arena watching groups of fans singing “The Masterplan” to each other I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps it is in fact us, not Gallagher who are ‘Chasing Yesterday’.

Setlist

Do The Damage
(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach
Everybody’s On The Run
Fade Away
In The Heat Of The Moment
Lock All The Doors
Riverman
The Death Of You And Me
You Know We Can’t Go Back
Champagne Supernova
Ballad Of The Might I
Dream On
The Dying Of Light
The Mexican
AKA… Broken Arrow
Digsy’s Dinner
If I Had A Gun

Don’t Look Back In Anger
AKA… What A Life!
The Masterplan

Source: www.thesoundbot.com

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