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Review: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, HMV Forum











After the all-seated nostalgia of his solo debut in the Albert Hall last year, Noel Gallagher proved surprisingly essential viewing at the weekend. This wasn't a sombre post-Oasis wake but a second coming, powered by an elated crowd having Titanic moments on the balconies and singing every word.

A perfectly pleasant debut solo album caught fire in concert. The lyrics of songs just two weeks old, largely nonsensical in the Oasis tradition though they may mostly be, had already been memorised for optimum bellowing. If anything Noel's High Flying Birds were even less watchable than Oasis, who among their static number at least had one absolutely furious man who was inevitably wearing something ridiculous. But unlike Liam Gallagher's current Beady Eye project, who stubbornly and suicidally refuse to play songs that they haven't written, Noel still has Oasis classics in his arsenal. He's the divorced parent who dispenses the most ice cream, starting with the telling lyrics of old B-side (It's Good) to be Free and building up to yet another arms-aloft singalong of Don't Look Back in Anger.

He even did Wonderwall, admittedly as the Ryan Adams version, though with so many people howling the original melody it was hard to notice the subtle distinction.

New B-side The Good Rebel carried on a long tradition of resembling Beatles tunes (Ticket to Ride this time) but there was fresh energy in the pounding piano of AKA … What a Life! and the drum assault of Dream On. The acoustic Talk Tonight became a full band number; the traditionally Liam-sung Supersonic was stripped down to its bones.

While no one can sing like Liam, everyone reckons they can do Noel's bits and they duly did, creating an electric atmosphere for a new start that's going places.

Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk

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