Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds

For the rest of my photo’s visit my flickr account

Like all other fans I was suitably devastated upon hearing the news that Oasis had split late one night in 2009. I consoled myself with the thought that it will allow Noel to finally have a career as a solo artist. So when Liam was the first to emerge with his post-oasis creation “Beady Eye” one might say I was a little disappointed. Not that there’s anything wrong with “Different Gear, Still Speeding”, it’s a fun album, but it just lacks something.

It felt like Noel was never going to release his debut post-oasis masterpiece. Once he did, the wait was forgotten and I felt like that wide gaping hole in my musical psyche was getting quite a bit smaller with every listen. High Flying Birds is everything that made me love Oasis and more. From the first single “The Death of You and Me” I was hooked, I was even back into b-sides - The Good Rebel is the kind of track that could only miss out on being included on an album that was flawless, and High Flying Birds pretty much is. There’s not a single track on the album that I skip.

If the album is close to perfection, the live show that I saw last night goes beyond perfection. I couldn’t have asked for a better - opening with two oasis songs the night was an even mix of Oasis and High Flying Birds. Two of my favourite Oasis songs were played (Talk Tonight and Half the World Away) and Noel’s version of Wonderwall truly is something spectacular. Not once did I miss the presence of the younger Gallagher, his kooky (off and) on stage behaviour might be entertaining, but it certainly doesn’t match the musical prowess and witty banter of Noel. The audience was fantastic, it felt wonderful 2000+ people singing at the top of their lungs to new and old tracks and let’s face it, there’s NOTHING like yelling “GONNA TAKE THAT TIGER OUTSIDE FOR A RIDE” along with a packed Enmore Theatre.

If I were to rate this show it would get a 10/10 everything about it exceeded my expectations and reminded me exactly why I fell in love with Oasis all those years ago and why I stuck with them the whole way through - singing Don’t Look Back in Anger along with 2200 other people validated that.

ENMORE THEATRE - MONDAY 23RD JAN - SET LIST