Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Live Review – Halifax Piece Hall

By Victoria Holdsworth, June 2022

The summer solstice brought the heat, the sunshine and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds to Halifax with some catchy tunes and savage cheek, completely selling out the Piece Hall. Yes, every square inch was crammed with fans, who were very hot and up for a good singalong by the time the band took to the stage.

Soaking in the deafening applause, the band kicked off with ‘Fort Knox’ and ‘Holy Mountain’, and you can see why this venue is becoming so popular on the live music scene. The sound and set up are superb at showcasing any note played on the stage, and even makes Noel look and sound phenomenal.

As the crowd surged to get closer to their idol, the set list paid equal homage to music past and present from the Mancunian’s career. ‘She Taught Me How To Fly’ really started to warm people up, despite them already being mafted from the heat. The song’s psychedelic, swirling guitar riffs and rebellious underbeats segue into what some would consider a Christmas tune, ‘Wandering Star’.

“Frenzy”

Sy what you want about Noel, but he is very eclectic when it comes to putting together a running order for his songs, and ‘Rattling Rose’ is a stand out tune, with its New Order vibe, and tribal hypnotic beats. ‘Black Star Dancing’ showed a different disco infused flavour, much to the crowd’s delight as they threw themselves into a bobbing frenzy, and I have to say I was really impressed at the change of pace he provided, creating a feelgood factor, making everyone feel like they were at a festival.

A large amount of kudos here to the sign language interpreter, who did an amazing job. So refreshing to see that gigs these days are catering more for those who are disadvantaged in the hearing department.

A majority of the crowd, who were clearly die hard Oasis fans (some even wearing parkas in the stifling heat), were itching for him to get to that band’s tracks, and as Noel pointed out: “Now, what’s going to happen here, is this. I’m going to play you some songs from those EPs we had out a year-and-a-bit-ago. So, you are going to have to stick through that, because not one of you f*cking know any of them if the streaming is anything to go by. So, we’ll do a bit of that and then if you make it through that, it is going to be f*cking hit after hit.”

“Ground shake”

Between songs there is always time for some segregational banter, and like a Disney villain, Noel creates some mischief amongst his followers, who are vehemently chanting “Yorkshire! Yorkshire!” at the front man, by announcing that “Yorkshire, apart from the tea, is a s**thole,” which brought about a loud chorus of friendly collective booing.

But true to his word, Noel then delved into his vast back catalogue, belting out six Oasis tunes to round off the set, including ‘Little By Little’ with it’s lulling verses and explosive chorus, which was sung back to him word by word, and sounded out of this world.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way shape or form a huge Oasis fan, but they did produce some damn catchy tunes, and ‘The Importance of Being Idle’ is one of my personal favourites. You could hardly hear yourself think with the noise being generated at the Piece Hall, with everyone in fine voice, almost making the ground shake with all the good vibrations.

Whatever, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Half A World Away’ came in quick succession, the crowd revelling in songs from a seemingly bygone era.

Before ending his set, Noel takes another pot shot at his Yorkshire crowd, displaying his beloved Sky Blues of Manchester City, proudly behind him on stage telling them: “I want to make a dedication, it’s not a good dedication, to Leeds United. When you are all crying with your f*cking shirts off at Elland Road on the last day of next season remember this moment.” before the opening bars of ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ ring out across the raucous and rowdy revellers.

“Soak up”

The encore had a more sensitive feel, and after returning for his final three songs of the night, Gallagher delivered a stunning rendition of ‘If I had A Gun’.

‘AKA…What A Life!’ saw everyone that didn’t have heat stroke throw themselves into an indie dancing frenzy. For me, it has to be the best song of the night. Indicating that this would be the last song of the night, Noel cheekily wished everyone the best as he imagined they would be “Heading home to watch Love Island cradling a portion of chips” which did not sit too well with his audience, shelling out countless booing, to which the quick witted Mancunian retorted, “I’ll take that as a compliment,” before ending on probably the most recognisable Oasis tune of all time, ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, which actually saw Noel break out into a beaming grin, as he watched the masses soak up his every word, sloshing pints around, all hugging and swaying in unison.

Despite what some might say, Noel Gallagher isn’t the greatest singer-songwriter of recent times, but he has blossomed into a great performer, arrogance and cocksureness aside. He knows how to work a crowd, and most – including me – left the Piece Hall feeling very satisfied.

images: Cuffe & Taylor