Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds Descend On Robin Park As Part Of A Huge Week Of Music For The City OF Wigan, UK, 18th July 2024

July 19, 2024
UK Concert Reviews
by Michael Bond Photographer/Writer

WORDS AND IMAGES MICHAEL BOND

With a run of open-air summer shows, Noel Gallagher and the High Flying Birds bring their “Council Skies Tour” to Robin Park, home of Wigan Warriors. Following the release of their 4th studio album back in 2023, tonight promises to be a night primarily focused on Noel’s solo work from the last 10 years or so, but with a good chunk of absolute classics too.

First up taking to the stage are Manchester’s own Slow Readers Club. The band have been on the road over the last 12 months touring the 2023 album ‘Knowledge Freedom Power’ and are well received, with sone diehard fans out early to catch them.

Next up we are treated to The Lottery Winners. Tonight, is a huge local gig for the band and front man Thom Rylance makes no apologies, taking every effort to enjoy himself. Pulling out a copy of Oasis’ ‘Be Here Now’ he reminisces as a kid, when he got the bus into town with his dad, to buy the album. How he studied it and what a privilege it is to be sharing the same stage tonight, with one of his idles. In an effort to get the crowd fired up, he also breaks out into a Freddy Mercury style Live Aid call and response with the crowd ‘EO’, ‘EEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOO’, ‘EO’, ‘EO’, which seems to do the trick. This energy continues throughout the set, with the whole band looking like their savouring every moment. Ending the set with ‘Start Again’, the crowd participation continues all the way through.

As you would expect, the anticipation has really started to build, with the 11 + thousand fans ready for a night to remember and straight out of the traps the band open proceedings with ‘Pretty Boy’. From here the setlist is exclusively focused on the 2023 LP with ‘Council Skys’ up next, followed by ‘We’re Gonna Get There in the End’ and moving into ‘Open the Door, See What You Find’. Noel is clearly giving his new music the platform it deserves, grouping these tracks up as an opening package. From here, we are taken back over his solo archive, with the next portion of the set focusing on a mix of songs from the Chief’s 2011 self-titled album and 2015’s ‘Chasing Tomorrow’, with ‘In the Heat of the Moment’ and ‘AKA… What a Life?’ being two key highlights.

This portion of the night concludes beautifully with ‘Dead in the Water’ which Noel performs on an acoustic guitar accompanied by the piano. It’s crazy to think this track almost didn’t make it onto 2017’s ‘Who Built the Moon?’. This goes to show the quality of Noel’s output over the years, and makes you think what else might be sat in the archives, that hasn’t made the cut.

Now for act 3 of the night. The rest of the band make their way back onto the stage as Noel shares ‘We’re gonna keep going back now and end up in the 90’s, the best f*^kin decade of all’. Opening with ‘Going Nowhere’, the b side theme continues with ‘Talk Tonight’ up next. When it comes to b sides the early Oasis era has a wealth of options to choose from and for some, these songs are equally as recognisable as any a side or album track ever was, and if people weren’t already singing along there’s definitely no excuses now. Predominantly keeping the theme of Oasis songs Noel originally sang, we are now treated to ‘Half the World Away’, which is dedicated to everyone who’s travelled in from Manchester and ‘Masterplan’, another highlight, closing the evening off with ‘Little by Little’.

With a brief break Noel and the band are back out again to deliver the encore and what an encore it is! Starting with ‘Stand by Me’ we next get treated to a re-orchestrated version of ‘Live Forever’, which again a has been a theme through other songs in the set, and the night closes with ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’. A song that in recent years, has took on a life of its own and has been launched into the stratosphere. I would go as far as to say there are very few bands/acts that can play the opening note(s) to a song and literally just stand there and play along to the crowd without uttering a single lyric, and this is one of those rare songs. Scanning across the crowd, you can really sense the emotion of the 11 thousand strong choir and this feeling, this coming together, bringing a close to an amazing summer evening of live music.

In the year that celebrates the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel has played a fitting tribute tonight, while still looking forward. He has created a balance that sees him embracing the past, choosing songs that still feel relevant to him after all these years and mixing that with some of his best solo work to date.

SETLIST

1/ Pretty Boy

2/ Council Skies

3/ We’re Gonna Get There in the End

4/ Open the Door, See What You Find

5/ You Know We Can’t Go Back

6/ We’re on Our Way Now

7/ In the Heat of the Moment
(Dedicated to someone in the crowd called Lola)

8/ If I Had a Gun…

9/ AKA… What a Life!
(Dedicated to all Manchester City supporters)

10/ Dead in the Water

11/ Going Nowhere
(Oasis cover)