By: Adam Harrison (@AdamRHarrison) –
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds performing at Echo Beach n Toronto on July 10, 2016. (Photo: Adam Harrison/Aesthetic Magazine)
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds landed at Toronto’s Echo Beach on July 10th in support of their second album, Chasing Yesterday. It seems as though the band have been chasing yesterday for well over a year now, with this being their second visit to Toronto since their two dates at the Sony Centre last May. With the success of Gallagher’s pair of platinum-selling solo albums, 2011’s self-titled album, and the aforementioned Chasing Yesterday, the High Flying Birds project has proven to be a triumph for the singer-songwriter since his split from Oasis in 2009.
The 100-minute set began with a collection of songs from Gallagher’s two solo albums. Leading singles, “The Heat of the Moment” and “The Death of You and Me,” received the most boisterous reaction until Gallagher covered Oasis’ 1995 mega hit “Champagne Supernova”, which sparked the first sing-a-long of the night.
Gallagher, despite being mostly stationery throughout the set, won the crowd over with his arrogant British wit. Between songs he took jabs at fans in the front row, but in a way that came off as rude and charming at the same time. “Are you an athlete?” He pestered at a 6’9” male in the front row. After learning the man was a figure skater he responded, “how embarrassing.” Another fan kept signaling Gallagher for a guitar pick. “Are you a collector?” he asked, “ Well, this is one pick you won’t have for your collection.”
The highlight of the entire night came during the encore starting with Gallagher’s rendition of “Wonderwall.” The change in melody and vocals by Noel, instead of Liam, were a welcomed adjustment to the karaoke heavyweight. “AKA… What a Life” followed, during which an intoxicated fan took a tumble in view of Gallagher. “Did you collapse from the sheer brilliance of that tune?” seguing into the finale, “Well this is the last song, before somebody fucking dies.”
The night appropriately ended with Gallagher’s anthem “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, as he left the audience to fill in the chorus and thousands of voices belted “And so Sally can wait…” But hopefully we won’t have to wait very long to hear from Gallagher again.
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