noel gallagher – Kat Goes To Shows

(a) setlist

Everybody’s on the Run
Lock All The Doors
In the Heat of the Moment
Riverman
Fade Away (Oasis cover)
The Death of You and Me
You Know We Can’t Go Back
Champagne Supernova (Oasis cover)
Ballad of the Mighty I
Talk Tonight (Oasis cover)
D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman? (Oasis cover)
The Mexican
Half The World Away (Oasis cover)
Listen Up (Oasis cover)
If I Had a Gun…
Digsy’s Dinner (Oasis cover)
The Masterplan (Oasis cover)

Encore:

Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
AKA…What a Life!
Don’t Look Back in Anger (Oasis cover)

(b) highlights

NOEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
I have been waiting to see Noel Gallagher live since the beginning of time, this show was incredible
people who hate on Noel Gallagher: I have one question for you – did you write “Champagne Supernova”? No? Then sit the eff down and shut it.
“Talk Tonight,” “The Masterplan,” “Wonderwall,” “Champagne Supernova,” “Half the World Way,” “If I Had a Gun…” LIKE OH OKAY
“Don’t Look Back in Anger” is one of my favorite songs ever written. like. of all time. It meant so, so, so much to hear it live, you have no idea
Noel Gallagher’s in-between song banter is what puts him just about “National Treasure” into “Perfect Human” category
for the most part, the crowd was super into everything and dead awesome

(c) lowlights

my friends and I stood up during “Champagne Supernova” because we are human and the people behind us got annoyed. even though we also had people standing in front of us. and these people were fully capable of standing. and instead of just asking us to maybe sit, they threw a cup at me. LOOOOOOL.

(d) overall thoughts

Noel Gallagher is a genius. The end. Not much else to say.

But I guess I could go on. The Beacon Theatre is completely gorgeous and I’d been looking forward to this show the moment I heard about it. I first really got into Oasis about 12 years ago, so I never got to see them when they were still touring and the Gallaghers didn’t fully hate each other yet. I’ve always thought Noel was the real talent between the two (sorry Liam), so getting to see him during his solo work was amazing. Chasing Yesterday is a killer album and that live band really brings home the goods. And I don’t think a single person in that venue wasn’t singing along to “If I Had a Gun…” Man, how great is that.

Noel has always said that he plays so much Oasis material because they’re his songs – he wrote them – and the dude’s got a point. I freaking loved every minute of it. You can’t deny the significance of Oasis or Noel Gallagher or Britpop in general when you walk into the venue and hear “Champagne Supernova” echoing off the walls. Noel is pretty much just standing there in simple slacks and a button-down, with his guitar, and a modest screen behind him. That’s it. There aren’t big shiny laser lights or huge theatrics. Just these massive songs with incredible feeling and emotion. And for all the jokes Gallagher tells and all the times he swears he doesn’t give a shit about anything…you know he cares about those songs. How could you not?

Noel started the encore by saying, “This next song pays for my wages. And the band’s wages. And got me a house. And probably paid your wages too. It’s because of this song, that I can do anything at all.” Some might find that cynical or whatever – hell, I admit that I laughed – but, also…how freaking special is that? Because “Wonderwall” is a song that exists in the world, literally thousands of people get to do what they love and witness something really freaking cool. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” is one of my favorite songs ever – really, truly ever – and you know that a musician or songwriter has unbelievable power when he doesn’t even have to sing the words; the entire crowd sang it back to him. Every person in that theatre sang every chorus of the song right back to Noel and, Christ, there are few better moments in live music than that.

Bottom line: Noel Gallagher is one of my favorite people ever, so seeing this show is something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. Not only is Noel freaking hysterical in every way, but he’s a killer musician who’s still consistently putting out stellar music. Who else can say they wrote one song that changed the world? Not many.

(a) setlist

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
The Electric Co.
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Iris (Hold Me Close)
Cedarwood Road
Song For Someone
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Raised By Wolves
Until the End of the World
Invisible
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
Ordinary Love
October
Every Breaking Wave
With or Without You
City of Blinding Lights
Bullet the Blue Sky
Pride (In The Name of Love)

Encore:

Beautiful Day
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

(b) highlights

this was my first time seeing them!!!
U2 is INCREDIBLE, haters may proceed to the LEFT, BYEEEE
so so SO many great ass songs, like look at that encore, LOOK AT IT
making fun of Bono while also worshiping Bono is like my favorite thing to do ever
their production notoriously costs about $2947203 million dollars but damn, it is so worth it – I can’t even describe how intricate and unique the use of art and screens and projections was during this show, like wow
“Ordinary Love” was dedicated to Nelson Mandela because it was his birthday; then Bono just started naming people like Desmond Tutu and Yo-Yo Ma and like Angelina Jolie or whoever, saying they were all in the crowd tonight; like can you imagine what the U2 VIP guestlist must look like
Bono was top-notch Bono-y, I loved it

(c) lowlights

would’ve liked to hear “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” 😦 but damn that setlist was so good, so this complaint is a very minor one

(d) overall thoughts

I fell in love with U2 the summer of 2005 pretty much on accident. They, like the Beatles and the Beach Boys, had kind of always existed in the world I grew up in, but I somehow became enamored with their Best Of (1980-1989) when I was 14. I’ve heard for years that their live shows are next-level and with crazy cool production, so I was freaking psyched for this. And I totally was not disappointed.

I feel like a minority in saying that I actually enjoyed U2’s last album Songs of Innocence (and not just for the William Blake reference!) because most of the songs were genuinely great and, oh, sorry, I’m not gonna hate on a super popular band for literally GIVING ME THEIR ALBUM FOR FREE. (Why was everyone such a dick about that Apple thing? I really don’t get it. You got a free album. It’s a standard setting on iTunes for albums to NOT download, so you had to go OUT OF YOUR WAY to make sure iTunes put that album on your phone. Everyone is a douche, bye.) The newer material told a beautiful story that not only Bono spelled out for the audience between and sometimes during songs, but the visual story-telling with the projected artwork and jumbo screens was seriously awesome.

My friend and I were the youngest people in the crowd who weren’t there with their parents, but the crowd – for the most part – was pretty damn into it. Belting out the appropriate numbers (“Pride,” “Where the Streets,” and “With or WIthout You”) with everyone cheering and waving their arms made me wanna close my eyes and just listen to the individual notes. It was impossible to not smile throughout.

Also, hearing “One” for the first time almost exclusively reminded me of my favorite Noel Gallagher quote of all time: “(to Bono) Shut the fuck up about Africa and just play ‘One’!!”

Bottom Line: U2 is amazing, providing true evidence that showmanship is not dead, and everyone wants to be a hater for no reason because people don’t want to be reminded that their stupid lives are inherently better than poor kids in Africa, so everyone shits on Bono when he’s a wonderful man and his band is great, so SUCK IT.

Note: I took 14,283,382 photos, you’re welcome.