Noel Gallagher Flies High In Bangkok

Thai fans were once again treated to Noel Gallagher's great musicianship and unique compositions last Thursday night at Bangkok International Trade and Convention Centre (Bitec).

This time appearing with his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, the former Oasis star, who played here in 2001 and 2006 as part of the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival, packed the venue with both Thai and foreign (mostly British) fans, winning them over both with songs from his own album and classic Oasis tracks.

After local rocker Hugo, playing with an ensemble that included Jack from Fly, Tor from Silly Fools and Eak from Taxi, left the stage, Gallagher kicked into gear with Oasis' early hit, "(It's Good) To Be Free", that had fans screaming in excitement, then turned it down a notch with "Everybody's on the Run" from his self-titled debut.

He wasted no time chatting, continuing the concert with "Dream On", "If I Had a Gun", "The Good Rebel", "The Death of You and Me" and "Freaky Teeth". Then, as if realising he was now the front man, he made the first attempt to address the crowd. "Are there any British people here?" he asked. The crowd cheered. "Sex tourists. Come on, you know what you are. You know why you come here," he joked.

The Manchester singer switched to acoustic guitar and swung into "Supersonic" - another Oasis mega hit, giving fans a chance to sing along to every word. He paused and chatted some more, asking if there were any Scottish or Irish people in the house - a more muted cheer - before belting out "(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine", "What a Life!", "Soldier Boys and Jesus Freak", "Broken Arrow", "Half the World Away", "(Stranded On) the Wrong Beach" and "Let the Lord Shine a Light on Me".

After a short break, he came back out on stage and performed three final songs - all Oasis hits: Whatever", "Little By Little" and "Don't Look Back in Anger", which again had almost everyone singing.

Gallagher's music is captivating, engaging and refreshing and because his showmanship is nowhere as obnoxious as that of his brother, Liam, he made the show pleasant and interesting just by sharing his passion.

The organizer, Rock N' Rolla, had said earlier that this was the first concert in Southeast Asia to be equipped with L Acoustic's high quality K1 sound system. And it rocked. The sound was great throughout the show and gave a high level of dynamics and clarity to the show. If this is the best sound quality available to us right now, the concert definitely set a new standard for live music performance in Thailand.

Another positive aspect of the evening was that the audience was there to enjoy the music rather than play with their phones and tablets. Unlike teenagers, the fans - mostly in their mid-thirties or early-forties - did not see the need to religiously take pictures of the concert and post them online every 15 minutes so there was none of the blocking of the stage that has become such a pain at most of today's live shows. It must be more pleasant for the artist, too: surely a performer looking into the crowd would rather see people interacting and having fun that a sea of kids busy uploading blurry clips to YouTube and Facebook.

Source: www.nationmultimedia.com

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds embark on a UK tour in September and will tour the US and Canada alongside Snow Patrol and Jake Bugg later this year.

More details on the above dates and more can be found by clicking here.