Review: Noel Gallagher – Teenage Cancer Trust Show, Royal Albert Hall


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It’s Noel Gallagher’s first gig since quitting Oasis in August, and the irony is not lost on me when he open’s the set with the classic B-side, ‘It’s Good To Be Free’. It’s not the first time he’s chosen to play this first, but tonight it took on a whole new meaning. The mass sing-along it induced also confirmed that tonight’s crowd is definitely not made up of the ‘part-timer’ variety.

It was a welcoming surprise to see Gem Archer in the live line-up, especially after Noel had previously said in a statement shortly after he left Oasis that he was disappointed in the lack of support from band members. With no change in his usual semi-acoustic line up, which included Jay Darlington on keyboard duties and Terry Kirkbride providing percussion, it was as if all that trouble in the past hadn’t happened. The much touted rumour that former Stone Roses bassist, Mani, would be making a guest appearance failed to materialise, but the Crouch End Choir and Wired Strings more than compensated.

Noel was clearly in good spirits from the outset, probably the best mood I’ve ever seen him in on stage. There was plenty of banter and chatting in between songs – a far cry from his moody and subdued appearances on much of the last Oasis tour. When introducing the choir, he said: “If you’re a burglar then get down Crouch End, because they’re all here tonight.”

Any hope of hearing new material was ruled out very early on when an audience member requested he play a new song. “New song? No.. I don’t play new songs for charity” Noel responded. He had previously said in interviews that tonight he would stick to the “golden oldies”, and that’s exactly what he did, bar The Importance Of Being Idle which perhaps isn’t quite an oldie but is definitely golden.

After sailing through storming versions of some early Oasis B-sides including ‘Talk Tonight’ and ‘Half The World Away’, we’re now onto the anthems as Noel introduces ‘Cast No Shadow’. If there was one song that was born to be sung with a choir then it’s this one. The “pride” refrain was spine tingling – a ridiculously high note that Noel still hits with ease at the grand old age of 42. Sadly the choir were too low in the mix most of the night and definitely needed turning up to be fully appreciated. The Wired Strings didn’t have this problem, and played an invaluable role on an exceptional performance of ‘Don’t Go Away’.

Slide Away’ was arguably the crowning moment of the gig, followed closely by ‘Listen Up‘. The crowd were in good voice, singing back “I don’t know, I don’t care, all I know is you can take me there” with conviction. This was the sort of moment at a gig that you wish you could relive again and again. It wasn’t only the crowd that were on good vocal form, as Noel once again demonstrated what a great singer he has become in recent years. You only need to watch one song from the well known MTV unplugged gig in 1996 to see how much Noel’s singing has improved. He’s now less a shouter and more a singer, the former is now left up the crowd instead.

Approximately halfway through the show and Noel hasn’t thrown in many surprises, but then he drops a bombshell. “We’re gonna play Rockin’ Chair”. This was a brilliant rendition of yet another vintage B-side, one that I’m sure he’s been itching to play for a while, and one the fans have wanted to hear live for years. Gem handles the guitar solo with grace and Noel belts out the chorus with as much feeling as Liam did on the original recording. This wasn’t the only surprise, and they don’t come much bigger than this next curve ball. “This next song was once described as a romp” Noel says. Yes – it’s ‘Digsys Dinner’, what else? For a song that gets an undeserving amount of stick, this performance reminded people how much of an uplifting and much loved song it actually is. You can gripe about some of the lyrics (‘we’ll have lasagne’), but when you’ve witnessed thousands of people singing “These could be the best days of our lives” then none of that matter’s. It encapsulates the energy and spirit of early Oasis and it went down a treat.

Despite all the classics Noel has handpicked to play, it was rather disappointing for him to disregard much of his output from the last decade. With a choir at hand, he definitely missed a trick by not playing ‘Sunday Morning Call’. Why he did not play ‘Waiting For The Rapture’ I will never know, but I suppose he can’t please everyone.



Aside from these two concerts, it’s unlikely that we’ll see him performing a full set of Oasis songs in the near future. After a messy end to the band and a tour plagued with problems, this may give Noel closure on Oasis and inspire him to get on with that solo album that we’re patiently awaiting.

Matt Humphrey


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2 Comments

  1. Mike Miller 31 August, 2013
  2. Live4ever 31 August, 2013