Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds @ SECC

The crowd waits expectantly for Noel Gallagher

You know exactly what you’re going to get from Noel Gallagher – he will never match the inventiveness of his old Britpop foe Damon Albarn or do a Kid A, but he will give you great hooks and melodies in abundance.

In a no-frills set at Glasgow’s SECC, he gave the crowd exactly what they wanted – songs from his chart-topping debut solo album, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, mixed with Oasis standards.

Shorn of Liam Gallagher’s classic rock ’n’ roll bluster, classics like Supersonic and Whatever were given a folksier edge by Noel’s preference for an acoustic guitar and his more laidback introspective vocal style.

Shorn of the pressure of being the leader of Britain’s biggest band, Noel can pick and choose what songs he plays these days – Oasis B-sides like (It’s Good) to be Free and Talk Tonight are preferred to hits like Wonderwall and Live Forever.

Singles from his latest album, like Death of You and Me and AKA What a Life are lapped up by the crowd, but it’s the classics that they’re here to see. An encore made up entirely of some of Oasis’ biggest singles, like Little by Little and Don’t Look Back in Anger, is the perfect climax and sends the adoring crowd home happy.


Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will return to Scotland this summer for gigs at Edinburgh Castle and T in the Park  - for further information visit www.noelgallagher.com