Having seen Oasis numerous times before this gig, including Noel Gallagher’s “proper” solo show the night before, I knew that this performance was going to be something special.
As the small crowd was led into Vodafone Live at the Chapel, I was seated literally metres from the stage that would soon be inhabited by Noel Gallagher himself, fellow Oasis member Gem Archer and percussionist Terry Kirkbride. After looking around the candle lit room, it was somewhat startling to note just how small it was. Noel Gallagher, the Noel Gallagher, accustomed to packing out 70,000 capacity stadiums, would soon be playing his special, stripped down, “semi-acoustic” show to a crowd of just 150 people.
When Gem, Terry and Noel walked on stage, the very relaxed crowd seemed somewhat stunned to be in the presence of this brilliant songwriter. As the set opened with a b-side from the Whatever single, It’s Good To Be Free, it became obvious that Noel would not be playing a typical hit-laden set. Terry, playing a tambourine and a snare drum, Gem alternating between organ and guitar, and Noel playing acoustic guitar, ran through a set dominated by lesser known tracks from the Oasis back catalogue. Noel himself even admitted that playing a venue such as the Chapel seemed “weird”. He soon invited comments from the crowd, all of which were met with a quick-witted, humorous response. “Nice jacket!” one person says, to which Noel responded: “Yours isn’t!”
After running through amazing renditions of Fade Away and Talk Tonight, the audience, although unfamiliar with most of the set, loved it. Many people were brought to tears when Cast No Shadow, a very underrated but beautiful song from the epic What’s The Story Morning Glory album, was brilliantly performed. Listen Up was fun, and when Noel started to play the opening chords of Wonderwall, the crowd (for the first time of the evening) vocalised their excitement. Noel stopped playing and announced: “One song! You get excited about one song?!” He then restarted the song, before stopping it once again. Upon the third attempt, the audience made sure to keep quiet. Then at its conclusion Noel stated that Ryan Adams’ famed cover of the song was better than what he had just played.
It was Slide Away that really stole the show, so different from the version that appeared on the brilliant Definitely Maybe album over ten years ago, but so compelling. It was songs like this that reminded me just how many masterpieces this man has written and what a superb catalogue he has at his disposal. The final three tracks of the night, including The Beatles cover Strawberry Fields Forever, Married With Children and arguably Oasis’ best known song to date, Don’t Look Back in Anger, left the audience bewildered. What a set, what a songwriter, what a performance, what a venue! One of the great concerts this reviewer has seen. Thank you Noel for bringing it to Melbourne.
