Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (23/02/2012)

(image taken by Scott Connon @kneel_b4_zod )

There we were, now here we are!

Coming to you from Newcastle again, but this time from another venue - the Metro Arena of all places, spectacular place to have a gig, one of my favourite venues because it doesn't matter where you're sat, you still get a clear, crisp sound and don't miss one note of what's going on.

I travelled with my friend Jade, with her Dad (Richard) giving us a lift, and also joining us. We walked down to the Metro Arena, going underneath that little tunnel and seeing some people camping outside the parent and children meeting point (maybe as some sort of holiday? Times are tough, my friends). Jade eats pizza whilst we wait to go in, it was £3! £3 for one slice! What a liberty. One other thing that makes me look back in anger, in the Metro Arena, is that they have to take the bottle caps off of bottles, what's the point?! I bought a bottle of Sprite because later when I kicked it over I didn't want all of my pop to drip out like it did! 

Anyway. We're in, a young band of Geordie's called the Smokin' Barrels get on stage, introduce themselves and I cannot understand a word that lead singer, Chris Dawson, is saying. Now, these lads are an ok band - I was expecting a little more of a support act for Noel Gallagher but they were pretty average, if I'd have heard one song by them I'd have probably like them a lot more but every song they sang sounded exactly the same, it was like having constant deja vu's. And the drummer Craig Redpath - sort yourself out lad, learn some more drum patterns at least.

Ah and then it was time for our man to come on. Three lads behind us had introduced themselves to us, one was called Tom - the name's of the others have slipped me but they were canny enough, having us dance and sing with them most of the night. This years Godlike genius walks on, in  my eyes he's not just this years Godlike genius - he is the Godlike genius of every year, our very own Avatar and I'm in the same room as him as he straps on his famous cherry red Gibson 355.

We are treated to a couple of little known Oasis songs to welcome us in, to let us know that that's where his heart really belongs but then comes one of the best performances of a song I have ever seen (or heard!). 'Everybody's on the run' just wow, I couldn't even describe to you how astounding it was, but it's not often you can say that a live version is better than the studio version. The choir! What a treat for us, I never expected Mr Gallagher to have a choir back him up and man did it do him good, it was ghostly to say the least. More Oasis classics he sang include 'Supersonic' - an acoustic version that just left you feeling like you had been punched in the gut. I teared up, it was the first time everyone in the crowd were up and singing - it was beautiful to see everyone unite and scream out that chorus, I could see a little smile approach on Noel's face as we all belted it out, he knew he was doing well. 

In between songs there was great banter between Noel and the audience, one lad was giving him a bit of lip so he just replied 'I'm literally sweating champagne here', he also went on to dedicate a song to Man City fans (which I was a part of!), then after a sea of boo's he went on to take the piss out of the Sports direct arena. He introduced us to his band too, what a great group of lads - weren't the best line up in the world but I'm bound to say that after years of watching Noel play alongside Gem Archer and Zak Starkey, but they were good. Our band were made up of Russ Pritchard (Bass), Tim Smith (Guitar), Mikey Rowe (Keyboards), Jeremy Stacey (Drums), Trombone Trev, Trumpet Jack, Saxophone Andy and our Geordie choir conductor David Temple with his choir Crouch End Festival Chorus. I was most impressed with Tim Smith, what a great lad he was and he played so well, filling in Gem shoes well during the Oasis songs and making a name for himself during our High Flying Birds favourites.

The encore, I'm speechless. Little By Little, Whatever (first of all fooling the audience with playing the intro to Wonderwall, but I knew what was coming - I'd read up on the set list before going), The Importance of Being Idle and Don't Look Back In Anger. For a long time it's been a dream of mine to sing 'Don't look back in anger' with a crowd of people as Noel guided us through it, this song means an awful amount to me - I've loved it ever since I was in nappies and to hear it sung live by Noel Gallagher just took my breath away. I had my arms flung in the air, getting one of them held up by my friend, who wore a Who t shirt, singing with Tom and his friend, in a Pretty Green shirt, and Jade put her arms around me at one point, what a great few minutes. It'll never be forgotten, I'm crossing it off the bucket list as we speak.

If you're lucky enough to go and see Noel do it, it doesn't matter what price the tickets are because I assure you it's worth it. I've never been in a room with so much energy, as everyone clapped and cheered for one person who gave us as much as he had. What a night, what a legend!