Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performing at The Piece Hall Halifax on Tuesday 21st June 2022

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

Halifax’s picturesque Piece Hall was swathed in sunshine on Tuesday night for the 5000 fans that had turned out to see Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds put on a brilliant performance. Arriving on stage to rapturous applause and cheers from the sold out crowd, they opened with the dynamic Fort Knox.

After forming the now eight piece band in 2010 following the well documented break up of Oasis, they have released three studio albums, a compilation album, and four EP’s with their self titled debut album topping the charts back in 2011, so obviously some of their own material was given an outing.

Holy Mountain, It’s A Beautiful World and She Taught Me How To Fly, from 2017’s Who Built The Moon? landed well with the adoring masses as he motored through nine HFB songs in total. Wandering Star teased the fans into singing along, but it was a mass sing along to Dead In The Water that really got the show going.

Fronting his own band and not being able to hide behind his brother Liam, has meant that he has to put himself out there and as a result his between song banter was hugely entertaining. He told the adoring crowd that Yorkshire tea was the best but that Yorkshire was a shit hole, and of course the subject of football was never far from being mentioned. Throughout the set Noel was his usual snarly self, but obviously getting more comfortable being the front man because now he actually gets to smile.

Then came the eagerly awaited Oasis classics. Little By Little got a huge cheer as did The Importance Of Being Idle whilst Whatever had the crowd singing the words back to him. With the run in to the end of the set including the brilliant Wonderwall and Half The World Away, Stop Crying Your Heart Out had everyone with their arms aloft revelling in a mass sing along.

For the encore there were a couple of HFB songs which included the tender If I Had A Gun…which was a highlight as was AKA…What A Life! with the crowd forming their own choir. And finishing the set with a song that has encapsulated so much in recent years and means so much to so many people, the ultimate sing along Don’t Look Back In Anger was a truly astonishing moment and capped off an unforgettable summer’s evening in Halifax.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performing their Who Built The Moon Tour at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Monday 30th April 2018.

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

The man who was once part of one of Britain’s most iconic bands looked completely at home taking centre stage at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena last night, supported by his High Flying Birds which included his former Oasis band mate Gem Archer and scissor playing Charlotte Marcionneau.

Touring to promote his third studio album, Who Built The Moon, Noel Gallagher began his set with four new songs which were already familiar to this packed crowd. Fort Knox had the rocking beats of the 1990’s and Holy Mountain was pure glam, with a riff not too dissimilar to Bryan Ferry’s Let’s Stick Together.

Other new songs, Keep On Reaching and It’s A Beautiful World were followed by three offerings from his 2015 release, Chasing Yesterday. Dressed in a denim jacket he powered through tunes which included In The Heat Of The Moment, Riverman and The Ballad Of The Mighty I, which were backed by everything from trombones to tambourines and even Marcionneau’s tin whistle.

And all of this was accompanied by footage of orange suns, vintage newsreels and spinning kaleidoscopes, which added to the impression that Gallagher is moving away from the Oasis style lad rock to a more psychedelic sound, as shown by Be Careful What You Wish For and the lovely She Taught Me How To Fly.

A man of few words is Mr Gallagher and in fact nine songs had passed before he uttered a word, and that was only to ignite the fans with words about their local football team. But they completely forgave him when he delved back into the Oasis catalogue. Favouring less celebrated but clearly appreciated gems such as The Importance Of Being Idle, the jaunty Half The World Away and the anthemic Little By Little, Gallagher heard his penned words being sung right back at him.

Finishing the main set with Wonderwall and AKA…What ALife! Gallagher’s stony face final broke into a smile. Back for a rousing rendition of The Right Stuff alongside a female vocalist as part of his encore, whilst Go Let It Out and Don’t Look Back In Anger gave ample opportunity for men in the audience to put their arms around each other and bellow along to the words.

The proud Mancunian rounded the night off with a joyful performance of The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, before leaving the stage saying “Thanks for coming to see us…I’ve been me” as he bid this still singing crowd farewell.

U2 with special guest Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performing their Joshua Tree Tour at Twickenham Stadium London on Saturday 8th July 2017.

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

It is the thirtieth anniversary of U2’s landmark album, The Joshua Tree; an album which sent Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jnr, through the stratosphere and allowed them to earn and hold their status as the biggest band in the world for more than a decade. And it was a celebration of that album that saw U2 come to London’s Twickenham Stadium last night to show just why they hold that accolade.

With last night’s special guest coming from an equally famous band, expectations were high. Oasis were also one of the must see bands before that acrimonious split in Paris in 2009, and it may have been almost a year since Noel Gallagher last took to the stage with his High Flying Birds, last night he was there supporting the anniversary tour of U2’s Joshua Tree.

It goes without saying that it must take a confident artist to support such a massive show, but then Noel Gallagher has never been short on confidence. With Gem Archer, the former Oasis guitarist joining Gallagher on stage; it was the first time that he had officially joined the High Flying Birds since leaving Noel’s estranged brother Liam’s band, Beady Eye in 2014.

Having been openly criticised by his sibling Liam for not joining him at Manchester’s One Love Concert, Noel may have felt that he had to get the crowd onside. But he was so wrong as this packed Twickenham Stadium rose to their feet to acknowledge what must be one of the UK’s greatest song writers since Lennon and McCartney.

Noel Gallagher is still a man of few words; having previously deferred to his brother Liam to do all the talking. So he looked a little uncomfortable as he came onto the stage to rapturous applause and he thanked the crowd as he reminisced about the last time that he supported U2.

With the sound getting a little lost in this vast auditorium, they opened with Everybody’s On The Run before they carried on with Lock All The Doors, and as he showcased his vocals with In The Heat Of The Moment, he quickly looked at home on the vast stage. The whole of Twickenham erupted for the Oasis cover, Champagne Supernova; the first of the nights Oasis tracks before the set continued with Half The World Away, followed by the groups new track, The Mexican.

Wonderwall got everyone singing, hands in the air and swaying along as did Little By Little but it was High Flying Birds finisher, AKA…What A Life that brought the crowd to their feet in appreciation.

And then it was the perfect time for U2 to do something special. This Joshua Tree Tour is so stripped back it is hardly recognisable. There was not the enormity of The 360 Tour and nor does it feature an LED screen that Bono could literally walk through like The Innocence + Experience Tour. What it did have is the biggest video screen ever used in a touring show, and a really low key presentation from U2.

From the moment that Larry Mullen Jnr. impacted onto the smaller stage and launched into opener Sunday Bloody Sunday; one of four songs before they launched into The Joshua Tree, the crowd were captivated. Holding their attention with the likes of New Year’s Day, Bad and Pride (In The Name of Love), U2 had well and truly arrived.

With the band standing in front of a solid red screen with an illuminated Joshua Tree, this crowd knew that they were about to experience something special. When the opening chords to Where The Streets Have No Name echoed around the Stadium, the crowd were simply euphoric. Performed in front of a desert highway, the video crispness was almost hypnotic.

Following the iTunes fiasco where U2’s album, Songs Of Innocence was forced upon half a million unsuspecting Apple music customers, U2 really needed to get their kudos back, and last night they did exactly that.

Using their phenomenal backdrop, there was the sunrise baked rolling hills that introduced With Or Without You; a song that U2 must have performed a thousand times but which sounded as strong last night as it always has. There was the gorgeous Red Hill Mining Town, which has not been played live before this tour. And whilst The Joshua Tree has aged really well, it is essentially devoid of filler material and remains an elegant record in spite of the ferocity of tracks such as Exit and Bullet The Blue Sky.

When the album was brought to a close it was U2’s encore that was as long as the main concert. There was Beautiful Day, Vertigo and Ultraviolet (Light My Way) which was dedicated to the late Jo Cox, before Bono brought to the stage Noel Gallagher who joined him for an emotional rendition of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back In Anger, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the whole of the stadium.

With the crowd slowly exiting this massive stadium, this band had showed that they are nowhere near the point of calling it a day. You either love or hate U2, but with them selling out stadiums around the world which are as big as Twickenham, they must be doing something right.