Monday, April 09, 2012

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds thrill Atlanta crowd

Anyone who's followed Triangle Music for a while may know that we wander out of the Triangle from time to time to catch shows that just never seem to make their way to us. On Friday, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds played the Tabernacle in Atlanta and we were there.

The former Oasis leader and principle songwriter kicked off his set by visiting the past with the classic Oasis b-side "(It's Good) To Be Free" followed by "Mucky Fingers," which both sounded fantastic. The rest of the main set relied heavily on Gallagher's new solo work, which works into the set seamlessly with the occasional Oasis classic.

"Everybody's on the Run," "If I Had a Gun..." and "The Death of You and Me" were big hits with the crowd, who seemed to know all of the new music, boisterously singing the choruses to practically every song.

A few songs into the set, Gallagher singled out a young girl in the front row who was attending her first concert. He cheekily joked, "It's all downhill from here." The girl was clearly quite embarrassed about being the center of attention, but Gallagher was charming, checking in with her again later in the set.

Gallagher dropped a new tune, "Freaky Teeth," into the set which will likely to be on his next album that's already been recorded with electronic duo Amorphous Androgynous. The song was rip-roaring psychedelic rocker which is quite a change of pace from the High Flying Birds album.

One of the biggest moments of the night was a stripped back acoustic performance of Oasis' first single "Supersonic." Two songs later came a stark contrast with the danceable "AKA... What a Life" from the new album, which defied expectations by sounding even better live than on the record.

Later in the set came two more classic Oasis b-sides, "Talk Tonight" and "Half the World Away." The band left the stage after "(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach" but quickly returned to play a four-song Oasis encore.

The singalong songs "Whatever" and "Little By Little" got things warmed up which was followed by the quirky "The Importance of Being Idle" which led to the big finale.

The hit single "Don't Look Back in Anger" closed the evening out, which was the climax of climaxes. Even though Gallagher has played the song at practically every show he's played since 1996, he still had a big smile on his face as he stepped back from the microphone as the crowd bellowed out the choruses. It was the perfect conclusion to a fantastic evening.

Setlist
(It's Good) To Be Free
Mucky Fingers
Everybody's on the Run
Dream On
If I Had a Gun...
The Good Rebel
The Death of You and Me
Freaky Teeth
Supersonic
(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine
AKA... What a Life!
Talk Tonight
Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks
AKA... Broken Arrow
Half the World Away
(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach
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Whatever
Little By Little
The Importance of Being Idle
Don't Look Back in Anger

1 comment:

oasisbird said...

Terrific show....absolute perfection...drove down from NC...here are some pics and video...

pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113290020447837006771/NoelGallagherSHFBS?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMSxgKP496__JA&feat=directlink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mzem6F_P7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOafBYOAnN4&feature=relmfu