We’ve had a hell of a summer here in South Wales, and I’m not talking about the weather, although that has played its part at some of the amazing gigs at Cardiff Castle. But on a rare, and incredibly hot Wednesday in the capital, it was NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS turn to take to the stage with Depot Live series of summer gigs.
I think I may have said this last year after Noel’s Caldicot Castle gig, but the cross-section of ages is incredible. There are kids with mum and dad, teenagers who clearly have listened to the music on repeat, and those who have been die hard Oasis fans from day one. And with the fans comes the fashion, and there was plenty of hats and T Shirts pulled out of the wardrobe retirement for a summer airing.
That is what is so great about going to a Noel Gallagher gig, it’s a community of fans who hold his songs in a very special place and boy did he deliver on Wednesday night. We got a smattering of new stuff and a nod back to the good old Oasis days. As for Noel himself, he was in fine form with the crowd banter, most of which I can’t really publish here, but he was his usual dry, hilarious self.
We got to hear a fair few tracks from the current album ‘Council Skies‘, (‘Pretty Boy‘, ‘Council Skies‘ and ‘We’re Gonna Get There‘) and if it’s some of the classics you wanted, the band delivered on those too.
I keep talking about Noel but be in no doubt that the High Flying Birds is a properly formed ‘arena tour’ band. They might have risen from the ashes of Beady Eye but they are as much a part of the Gallagher sound now, as he who won’t be named was back in the day.
Former Oasis members GEM ARCHER is on guitar, MIKE ROWE (piano) and CHRIS SHARROCK on Drums. There’s also former Zutons member RUSSELL PRITCHARD and three incredibly talented all-female backing singers called ‘ROXY‘, who Noel claims changed his approach to songwriting. They are really good.
Opening the night was rockers The Dream Machine with support from Mercury nominated four-piece The Big Moon. As good as they were it was NGHFB we’d come to see.
This was the second outing at the iconic venue for the British music icon and his band who last headlined here in 2019.
What you get with Noel is a real connection with the audience. Listening to the songs is one thing, but hearing him talk to us about life, love and everything they put in to creating some of our best known music is another. I’ve got to say that Noel is really good at the audience interaction, he focused in on one young lad in the crowd who wanted to give him a CD to listen to of his material. As you can Imagine, Noel told him where to get off a few times. To be fair though, he went back to the kid later and got him to throw his CD up on stage with the promise he would listen to it on the journey home.
The sun was setting on what had been a perfect day in the capital, with the night time breeze blowing the remnants of our slightly off-key rendition of Wonderwall away (they didn’t perform that by the way). The screens lit, the crowd cheered and there he was, with the castle lit in the foreground, the perfect setting for what turned into the perfect night.
You go to a Noel Gallagher gig and you’re going to sing-a-long to everything, even the new stuff. The band literally thundered their way through the opening of the set, with everyone in the crowd hanging on every chord, lyric and beat. It was a magnificent start and we knew we had and equally great 90 minutes of live music ahead of us.
It was a set of two halves that included a wide selection of Oasis classics as well as featuring a cross section of material from the past dozen years of his highly successful career as a solo artist.
A.K.A… What a Life!, If I Had A Gun…, Heat Of The Moment, Dead in the Water and more then filled the night, before the band switched to a series of Oasis classics including Talk Tonight, Whatever, Half the World Away, The Masterplan and Little by Little. A crowd pleasing encore saw the night end with Stand By Me, Live Forever and an anthemic Don’t Look Back in Anger.
A couple of real stand-outs for me were ‘The Masterplan‘ and ‘Half The World Away‘, as much for our performance as his. As you can hear in the video below, we were all in fine voice too….
With Oasis, Noel was the brother who played guitar, wrote some life-defining tunes and occasionally got to sing. I’ve seen him a few times ‘back in the day’ but today, things are very different. He excels as a vocalist with a voice that has definitely refined over the years. His all round musical performance is off the chart good.
I’m sure Noel knows this, but those songs of his mean so much, to so many, for lots of different reason. I spoke to a couple in the audience who fell in love to ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out‘ and one woman told me that her late husband insisted that ‘Wonderwall‘ was his send off song. I mention this because it’s easy for an artist to rattle through the classics, like it’s a must do thing. Not the High Flying Birds.
Noel closed the set with the Oasis classic ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger‘, by then it was full-on arms in the air, phones alight, and sing-a-long fest. I couldn’t help but look around at the audience and wonder how many have waited for this day, when they get to see Noel perform a song we all know and love so well.
That particular track may be almost 40 years old now (sorry, but it is), and released at a time when we could flip the single over and play the B-side. As the thousands of us streamed away from the Castle, there was a hope it wouldn’t be too long before he made it back for visit number three.
Noel was clearly moved by the ovation the crowd gave him, the band too revelled in the well deserved adoration thrown their way. As live shows go, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds should definitely be on your must-see list.
Just to finish, I spent most of the day with a copy of the setlist rolled up in my back pocket. When I took it out for us to grab a photo of it with Noel in shot, the reaction from the crowd was incredible. Never have I seen a piece of A4 paper garner as much attention as this. So, for those of you that have asked for it, here it is.
