Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds @ O2 Ritz, Manchester, 18 Jul

The Oasis icon leaves the past firmly in the rear-view mirror with new tracks and reinvigorations

Live Review by Joe Goggins | 19 Jul 2018

Noel Gallagher used to live up the road from here. Definitely Maybe, the debut Oasis record that he not unreasonably personally ranks alongside the likes of Never Mind the Bollocks, came together whilst he was living at India House on Whitworth Street.

He's back tonight with his High Flying Birds, but he doesn't need to be. He undertook the obligatory British jaunt in favour of his stellar third record back in May, hitting his hometown's arena as well as a slew of others. Now, he's on the festival circuit with a few handsome distractions. A couple of weeks ago, he played Scarborough's Open Air Theatre, and provoked outrage when he shut down incessant England chants with a dose of reality.

That feels a long time ago now. Tonight's crowd at the cosy O2 Ritz – "it used to be a penny to get in here, they called it grab-a-granny night" – acts initially as a showcase for Gallagher's enthralling Who Built the Moon?, the record he'd been threatening to make ever since those flirtations with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties.

Opener Fort Knox, with its gloriously cacophonous clash of instruments, surely must serve as his beloved Manchester City's walkout song next season. Holy Mountain is infectiously groovy. It's a Beautiful World, meanwhile, barely needs much-documented, French jack-of-all-scissors Charlotte Marionneau to lend it a foreign, spoken-word kick: it sounds spacey enough as it is.

David Holmes, the Northern Irish scorer of films who produced Gallagher's latest, has clearly coaxed him out of his comfort zone – on past evidence, no mean feat. She Taught Me How to Fly soars theatrically; the backing band includes brass. Finally, for the first time, The Man Who Built the Moon is granted a live airing; it sounds every bit as panoramic as you'd imagine. Gallagher even finds time for a bonus track, and as well he should; Dead in the Water might be the most gorgeous acoustic track he's penned since Talk Tonight.

Then; the inevitable. An avalanche of Oasis dominates the back half of the set, from a breezy Whatever to the strut of The Importance of Being Idle and then the obligatory Wonderwall roar-a-long. Ahead of a thoroughly lovely closer, a heartfelt cover of The Beatles' All You Need Is Love. Gallagher pauses: "I'd like to dedicate this next song to the greatest tambourine artist that’s ever come from this town." A hint at a reunion? No chance, and why would anybody want it? The Chief's only just throwing off the shackles. 

https://www.noelgallagher.com/