Rob Goald

Rob Goald | The High Flying Birds | Concert Review

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

By Rob Goald
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Concert Review - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
The Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Hotel and Casino
Friday April 20, 2012 at 8PM


Noel Gallagher, the more coherent brother and singer/chief songwriter of the late, great band Oasis brought his melodic and thoughtful brand of rock n’ roll to the Pearl Theater with gusto and panache. Noel left Oasis in 2009 and now fronts a solo band, “The High Flying Birds”, named after a song by 60’s super group Jefferson Airplane. His 100 minute set opened with “(It’s Good) to Be Free” and ended with the 1996 Oasis hit “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. Gallagher made it abundantly transparent that he will perform work from his Oasis days and featured no fewer than nine tunes from the storied band. He left out, however, his most famous song “Wonderwall”. When asked to play it by an insistent fan he replied “save your f--king breath”.

"I still feel that I'm living someone else's dream," says Gallagher, the superstar singer-songwriter. "It's nighttime somewhere, and there'll be a kid in a bar with an acoustic guitar and he'll be playing one of my songs, like 'Wonderwall' or 'Don't Look Back in Anger.' How dare I be bemoaning that I'm famous and I've got all the money in the world when this kid's f--king playing my songs for $10 a f--king night. What the f--k is that all about?"
The material he performed with his new band held up well when compared to his Oasis days. Among the new material that stood out was “If I Had a Gun” and a wonderful ((I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine. Another song “Everybody’s on the Run” paid homage to Gallagher’s idols the Stone Roses. The evening started 40 minutes late due to transportation problems but Gallagher’s professionalism made everyone feel the wait was worth it.

Setlist
1. (It's Good) To Be Free
2. Mucky Fingers
3. Everybody's on the Run
4. Dream On
5. If I Had a Gun...
6. The Good Rebel
7. The Death of You and Me
8. Freaky Teeth
9. Supersonic
10. (I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine
11. AKA... What a Life!
12. Talk Tonight
13. Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks
14. AKA... Broken Arrow
15. Half The World Away
16. (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach
17. Encore:Whatever
18. Little By Little
19. The Importance of Being Idle
20 Don't Look Back In Anger

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