Noel had been conversing with the fan throughout the night. Well, really the fan, in an excited and intoxicated rabble shouted whatever he could get across during the transitions between songs. Noel being a good natured yet sarcastic Mancunian played along. It turned out the fan was a musician soliciting Noel to listen to his band’s demo. The demo brought to the elaborate Boston Opera House last Saturday night with the hope that while Noel Gallagher and His High Flying Birds promoted their latest record; Chasing Yesterday, that maybe, just maybe, the man who inspired him most would give it a listen.
In the stadium seated Opera House, we all watched in interest as Noel asked the fan to rate the CD demo on a 10 point scale. The fan said it was an 8.
“An 8?” Noel asked, feigning an incredulous and unimpressed look before holding out his hand for the CD. The fan threw it onto the stage, which landed nowhere near Noel. A roadie emerged from the shadows to pick it up and quickly hurried away. I thought he was going to take it off stage and destroy it, but Noel motioned to see it. The audience loudly cheered as Noel glanced at the CD.
“Right” he said, quieting the audience, “now there are a lot of young people here… when you’re giving away CDs of your shit” he pointed to the demo, “there’s not even a fucking name of who it is, or what it’s called, or a phone number, or nothing. No song titles, no name, no nothing…. Now unless this is some psychedelic fucking album project, I’m saying, this cunt’s going nowhere.”
The crowd hollered as Noel turned to the fan. “Thank you very much, what’s your name? The Invisible Man? No only joking… the Memo?” he asked with a sincere look of shock and amusement. “The Memo? Do you fucking get the irony of that? A CD with nothing written on it by somebody called the Memo. Fucking hell” and with a devilish grin he looked to the fan, “don’t make me say it.” Then, while placing the CD at his feet, Noel turned to his band and went right into “If I Had a Gun”, a ballad with a slick and catchy melody an anthem of a chorus, ringing guitars, crashing cymbals and all.
The encounter accurately summed up Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Bird’s night in the ornamented concert hall. Music and comedy combined for memorable entertainment; an Opera, Noel Gallagher Style. The master of melody, Noel and his band filled the air with souring chord progressions and dreamy and soft, yet surprising powerful vocals. In between several tunes we got a taste of his famous wit. When we could understand him that is. The Manc mumbles worse than Mayor Menino but when he spoke clear, Noel always got loud laughs from the audience.
When Noel asked if anyone in the audience was from Mexico (in reference to a song of his latest album), one fan threw a small Mexican flag upon the stage, to which Noel replied, “Oh thank you, is there a brick of cocaine in here?” Another fan asked if he would play “Wonderwall” and Noel responded with a “Yeah, that might happen… when I’m dead”. Some yelled for a free t-shirt. “What the fuck are you on about?” Noel asked, “Go buy a badge, they’re competitively priced”
With the wit were Gallagher styled songs that carried the night. Not jam band acid jazz or hip hop electronic dubstep, these were smooth sing-along pub rock rockers, ballads, and anthems tied to a tight backing band complete with a horn section. Playing off of Noel’s sweeping style, the High Flying Birds layered upon one another with confidence to match Gallagher’s own swagger. The three piece horn section were the unsung heroes of the night. Songs such as “The Death of You and Me” and “Riverman” a became a sincere treat to hear live. The saxophone solo on latter hearkened to 70s prog ballads and the fun loving trombone solo on the former was enough for a fan to throw her bra towards the stage. Or so my photographer alleged.
Every song and every joke made the audience feel closer and closer to band. Yes, Noel and his Birds brought power and professionalism to the music. They focused mainly on entertaining the audience with tracks from his two solo albums. They opened with fast paced rocker “Do the Damage” before moving into the jumpy “(Stranded on) the Wrong Beach” and soon took the audience for a ride with “Everybody’s on the Run”; the bombastic opener to Noel’s first album. Other highlights from Noel’s solo discography included “In the Heat of the Moment” (the first single of his latest album) “The Dying of the Light” and “AKA Broken Arrow”.
But it of course was not a pure Noel Solo Show. Noel is a great showman and he knows his audience enough to play some of the old hits. Surprisingly one of them was the playful and underrated “Digsy’s Dinner” from Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe. A fun loving romp that was performed with the same bounce that’s found on the 20 year old record. But it was “Champagne Supernova” that drew the biggest cheers and the probably the strongest bit of the set. The classic Brit Pop anthem seem to fish out memories from the 30+ year old audience members as they gleefully relived, if only momentarily, the feeling of freedom of their mid 90s youth. Even in my case, and for the other youngins who were late to the Oasis train, we sang along with the passion of an angsty yet optimistic past.
Truth be told, with such energy radiating from the old song, I wish Noel played more Oasis. “Champagne Supernova” nearly brought the house down. I can’t imagine what would have happened if he had played “Live Forever”, “Slide Away”, or “She is Love”. But I don’t blame him for holding back on those tracks. I bet he has had enough time playing the classics. It seems Noel wants to establish his solo work as its own enjoyable entity. Fair play, Noel definitely did that job.
The only downside of the night was that Noel’s style of songwriting makes certain tracks blend together, and for better or worse, all the new songs sounded quite similar. Especially since the lyrics never really say much at all. You can only rely on melodic strength for so long before the ear calls for some curveball of imagery, rhythm, or harmony. Or maybe its because I don’t know the songs as well. Probably a mixture of both.
Still the night was exciting and the show was top notch. From Noel’s own engaging stage presence to the mesmerizing displays. As the music moved in churning waves of pop, the light work of blues, maroons, and oranges jumped around the stage from place to place. The stunning visuals helped bring a level of movement that Noel is famous for lacking. Noel just wants to stand in place and play his tunes. He let the lights do the dancing. Meanwhile a live video feed was projected upon a canvas behind the stage and its trippy editing gave art school circus for the eye.
As we came to an end the crowd was not disappointed to hear a mixture of old and new hits for an encore. We were treated to “”The Masterplan”, where the horn section nailed their parts to perfection, “AKA… What a Life!”, with its dance beat and piano riffs that allowed the rest of the band to show their chops, and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” as the grand finale that brought the audience right into the performance. On that song’s famous chorus, Noel let the crowd do the singing, in full sway with pure bliss, completely grateful to cap the night by emptying their lungs of any remaining admiration. At the end, Noel and his High Flying Bird’s bowed to the audience, and Noel clapped to his fans, clapped to his band, looked around a smile on his face and (I swear) a slight tear in his eye. He seemed to enjoy the night as much as we did. Or maybe he’s just glad he’s done with his US tour.