Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
(Sour Mash/ Mercury)
Forget about flying south for the winter. Instead, Noel Gallagher former Oasis linchpin and lead songwriter is bringing his act stateside with an appearance at Boston’s Wang Theater on Saturday.
Touring behind the release of his debut solo album Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Gallagher will be performing his second-ever U.S. show as a solo artist. And fans in the commonwealth will be treated to a set filled with not only new material, but also classic Brit-pop staples such as “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “Wonderwall,” “The Importance of Being Idle” and many more.
While beaten to the shops by the other members of Oasis, who released their own record Different Gear, Still Speeding under the Beady Eye moniker in February, Gallagher’s latest effort is a considerably more polished release and one that nearly doubled the sales figures accumulated by Beady Eye when comparing each disc’s first week on the U.K. charts.
Co-produced by Gallagher and former Oasis producer Dave Sardy, NGHFB’s features contributions by The Lemon Trees drummer Jeremy Stacey, percussionist Lenny Castro and even the massive sounds of the Crouch End Festival Chorus on the album-opening “Everybody’s on the Run,” a number Gallagher has described as “the last postcard from the Oasis years.”
First single “The Death of You and Me” cleverly includes a welcome horn section, and later tracks “AKA…What A Life!” and “Stop the Clocks” take turns dabbling in genres like dance music and psychedelic rock respectively.
Watch the official video for the Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds song “AKA…What A Life!” here:
Though comparisons to his former band are inevitable and indeed will likely be commented on ad infinitum by the world press, perhaps the most notable aspect of Gallagher’s latest work is his ability to keep experimenting where a lesser artist would be content to stick with the same formula that has proven so successful over the years.
Fortunately for those lucky enough to be in attendance Saturday, the continued growth by such a revered elder statesman of rock ‘n’ roll has already unearthed some very interesting results. And with a second album to be released in 2012 also in production, there’s certainly more songs yet to come.
Personally, I can’t wait Chief. Leave Liam on the sidelines and show the world what Big Brother can do.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds with openers The Hours perform Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m., $35-75, Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston, (617) 482-9393, www.citicenter.org/theatres/wang/.
For more information on Noel Gallagher or to see future tour dates please visit www.noelgallagher.com.
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Don’t forget to celebrate Veteran’s Day on Friday. Thank a soldier and let the troops know how much we appreciate everything they’re doing for us overseas. And then when you’re finished with your Armed Forces lovefest, throw up the Devil horns and get ready to rock.
November 11, 2011 has been unofficially dubbed National Metal Day by VH1. And in honor of one of the greatest metal gods of all time, a separate movement has also been started to coin Friday Nigel Tufnel Day, in honor of the infamous Spinal Tap guitarist who likes to turn his amps up just one more to…you guessed it…11.
So go ahead, spend the day giving everything you do that little extra push over the top. You may not ever be able to play a solo quite like Tufnel, but there certainly couldn’t be a better day to try.
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