Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon - Royal Albert Hall
Coming up on our last week living in London - Kimbo and I were very excited to score tickets to this quintessential Brit-pop line-up, part of the annual benefit concerts to support Teenage Cancer Trust.
We've been to shows at The Royal Albert Hall before and it is a truly spectacular venue. Great sound, incredible views, and just a spectacular building dripping with history.
Tonight kicked off with a very short 25 minute set from ex-Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, performing solo on acoustic guitar occasionally accompanied by metronome.
Damon and Graham from Blur opened with a cover in tribute to recently deceased English psych-folkie Kevin Ayres "May I". Next up they were joined by Paul Weller, for some very experimental free-form jamming behind English "Beat laureate" Michael Horovitz. The combo have recently been recording an album together, so used the evening to premiere first single "Ballade of the Norturnal Commune" and a new untitled piece composed specifically for the evening. It's fair to say the crowd response was fairly mixed to the experimental material - not exactly my cup of tea usually - but it was interesting to see seasoned musicians like Weller, Albarn and Coxon letting their hair down and clearly relishing trying something new. Seemingly to appease the audience expectations of Blur / Oasis burying the hatchet on their long running feud - Weller switched to drums, and Noel Gallagher joined on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, as the very impressive supergroup busked their way through Blur's "Tender".
After a short break, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds took the stage for a storming run through his great solo debut plus some Oasis classics, and even a few deep cuts like b-side "Shout it Out Loud".
Full Setlist:
Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon:
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds:
We've been to shows at The Royal Albert Hall before and it is a truly spectacular venue. Great sound, incredible views, and just a spectacular building dripping with history.
Tonight kicked off with a very short 25 minute set from ex-Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, performing solo on acoustic guitar occasionally accompanied by metronome.
Damon and Graham from Blur opened with a cover in tribute to recently deceased English psych-folkie Kevin Ayres "May I". Next up they were joined by Paul Weller, for some very experimental free-form jamming behind English "Beat laureate" Michael Horovitz. The combo have recently been recording an album together, so used the evening to premiere first single "Ballade of the Norturnal Commune" and a new untitled piece composed specifically for the evening. It's fair to say the crowd response was fairly mixed to the experimental material - not exactly my cup of tea usually - but it was interesting to see seasoned musicians like Weller, Albarn and Coxon letting their hair down and clearly relishing trying something new. Seemingly to appease the audience expectations of Blur / Oasis burying the hatchet on their long running feud - Weller switched to drums, and Noel Gallagher joined on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, as the very impressive supergroup busked their way through Blur's "Tender".
After a short break, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds took the stage for a storming run through his great solo debut plus some Oasis classics, and even a few deep cuts like b-side "Shout it Out Loud".
Full Setlist:
Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon:
1. May I (Kevin Ayers cover)
2. Ballade of the Nocturnal Commune (with Paul Weller and Michael Horovitz)
3. Untitled (with Paul Weller and Michael Horovitz)
4. Tender (with Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller)
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds:
1. (It's Good) To Be Free
2. Everybody's on the Run
3. Dream On
4. If I Had a Gun...
5. Fade Away
6. The Death of You and Me
7. Freaky Teeth
8. Wonderwall
9. Supersonic
10. (I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine
11. AKA... What a Life!
12. Lord Don't Slow Me Down
13. Alone on the Rope (First Time Live)
14. Half the World Away
15. AKA... Broken Arrow
16. A Simple Game of Genius
17. (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach
Encore:
18. Shout It Out Loud
19. Digsy's Dinner
20. Don't Look Back in Anger
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