A Noel for All Seasons

November 12th, 2006 posted by robb

Noel Gallagher
Danforth Music Hall – 11.07.06
Rating: 8/10

Close your eyes and try to recall the first time you heard an Oasis song. It was probably “Wonderwall”, and it was probably amazing. I would also hedge a bet that most of us (in a certain age-bracket) could admit that “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory” was one of the first CD’s in their collection. Well, if it hasn’t become painfully clear by now, Oasis is Noel Gallagher’s band and on this night, a small group of lucky fans got to be part of an acoustic set at the sold-out Danforth Music Hall in support of the upcoming Oasis greatest hits collection, “Stop the Clocks”.

Prior to the performance, those in attendance got a first-look at the forthcoming Oasis DVD, a black-and-white documentary entitled, “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down”. Now, I’m a huge fan of the previous Oasis DVDs, however, much of the rock-star posturing and backstage footage looked painfully tried. Dare I say it, but it’s almost as if Oasis has grown up. Long gone are the drunken spats between Noel and his front-man brother Liam. Instead, scathing one-liners and mockery seem to lack their usual Noel vs. Liam bite. Despite these shortcomings, the film has some hilarious moments and the performance clips are superb.

After a brief intermission, Noel hit the stage to a lively (and well lubricated) audience. For this gig, Noel brought along his right-hand man in Gem Archer to handle guitar and organ duties while journeyman Terry Kirkbride provided perfectly subtle percussion for the evening. From the get-go, it is clear that Oasis is more musically-proficient than ever before with Gem Archer ripping solos Noel has made famous. The set-list contained mostly Noel Gallagher classics as well as a few B-sides. “Talk Tonight”, “The Importance of Being Idle” and an incredible remake of “Slide Away” marked some of the highlights of the main set. For the encore, Noel opened with a nod to John Lennon and “Strawberry Fields Forever” while closing out the show with the underrated “Married With Children”.

Although the show was great, it felt somewhat restrained as Noel was almost business-like in his delivery of songs. The banter with the crowd, some of whom insisted on screaming out song requests, was kept to a minimum. But maybe, the subdued nature of the show should not be surprising. After all, Noel has always left most of the posing and smack-talk to his sneering brother Liam. This night, was all about the music that we have grown up loving. It occurred to me, while a thousand people sang “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” word-for-word, that there will never be another band like Oasis in our generation. For the past year, the media has been hyping the ‘next Oasis’ in bands such as the Arctic Monkeys. But can you really picture a bar packed with people singing every word to “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”? No way.

Noel Gallagher is arguably one of the best songwriters to survive the 1990s and on this night, our small group had a chance to recognize it once more. Thanks Noel.

Reviewed by: Brian Smiley

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