Christening a new UK arena tour, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds took the stage at Wembley on Thursday night looking like so many dads cosplaying rockstars – think sunglasses inside and distressed leather jackets.
But as Gallagher slipped straight into the warm musical waters of “Pretty Boy” from new album Council Skies – their fourth since Britpop behemoth Oasis split in 2009 – it was clear that these guys were far from play-acting.
Over the next 90 minutes, the music never faltered – not a measure of sublimity so much as finesse. Perhaps that’s no surprise – some of the songs might be new, but Gallagher has had more than 30 years to hone his craft.
On one hand, it’s a pleasure to watch people do what they’re good at; on the other, that smoothness lent proceedings a certain degree of soullessness. Where was the mouthy rock’n’roll that made his name?
There is an undeniable formula to a Noel Gallagher song – rock drum lollop, quiet-verse-loud-chorus, dreamy outro; rinse, repeat. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having a signature sound. But last night, that uniformity meant that some numbers rather melted into one another.
When a song deviated from the sonic status quo, it really stood out. “Easy Now” and “Dead in the Water” provided pleasant moments of being pulled up short, disrupting the guys-with-guitars miasma and opening satisfying pockets of sound.
Equally standout was Jessica Greenfield, the band’s only female member who lent soulful backing vocals and top-notch tambourine-ing to proceedings.
But despite Greenfield’s best efforts, the aura of blokeyness was often overpowering. Gallagher’s banter didn’t help, telling a heckler that their mouth was full of shit and dedicating 2011’s “AKA… What a Life!” to Manchester City fans everywhere.
With the band accompanied on stage throughout by a cardboard cutout of the football team’s manager Pep Guardiola, its target audience couldn’t have been outlined more clearly. Spoiler: I wasn’t in it.
As the gig came to a head, Gallagher cracked out the music to match. “So we’re gonna go back to the 90s when everyone was cool,” he proclaimed, before diving into 1998’s “Going Nowhere” followed by “The Importance of Being Idle”, the night’s first big singalong number.
Looking around, it was clear that this was what the crowd had been waiting for; friends clambered on to each other’s shoulders as thousands of people sang together – always surprisingly touching.
With the hits in full flow, it was the penultimate song, “Live Forever”, that really stole the show. It is electric, an undeniably great track – and here it retained all its heft and delicacy.
As the finale, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, rang out, I found myself wondering how many times Gallagher had performed those early hits. Hundreds? Thousands?
If it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in something, Gallagher has surely earnt his stripes by now.
While at times last night felt more autopilot than virtuoso, the tour is in demonstrably safe hands. At this rate, Noel Gallagher’s gonna live for ever.