Somewhere around 2008-09, my dad came back from a work party and said they had a Guitar Hero competition and when I asked what song he played, it was none other than the infamous Wonderwall. Peeking my interests, I go and listen to the song and thus was my introduction to Oasis. Fast forward almost 15 years later, I’m a massive fan and a couple of weeks ago I got to see the mastermind behind the band which was none other than Noel Gallagher. Not only that, he and his backing band, the High Flying Birds were just a third of a bill that would end up being a great way to kick off the summer concert season for me. Upon arriving to the venue, I was shocked to hear that there were only 5,000 tickets sold out of the 20,000 seat Dos Equis Pavilion. I definitely thought Oasis’ primary songwriter and Garbage would’ve had a bigger draw.
The evening kicked off with a set from Canadian indie rock band, Metric. Going in, I absolutely knew nothing about them. Not even the fact that they wrote a song for the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World which is a film I adore. I’m not the one to skip opening acts for shows, but I was pleasantly surprised about how much Metric took control of the stage from the minute they took the stage. By the time they completed their set, both my dad and I were very pleases with how the night was starting out which would be a sign for what was coming our way next.
As the clock struck 8 p.m., it was finally time to see the man my old man and I came to see, Mr. Noel Gallagher himself. Laying my eyes on the individual mostly responsible for the legendary albums Definitely Maybe and What’s the Story (Morning Glory)? was such a surreal feeling to say the least. Gallagher started his with a track entitled Pretty Boy off of his recent album released earlier this month, Council Skies. To my anticipation, Noel played three more songs off of his latest LP which was followed by two more High Flying Birds hits.
The last half hour of Noel’s performance was something out of a dream and I was just waiting to be pinched. As the band began playing Oasis songs over the back half of set, I had the biggest smile on my face as I got to hear some of the songs I’ve been waiting to hear for what seems like an eternity. The High Flying Birds began this “era” with the song ‘The Masterplan’, an absolute staple of a track of Oasis’ back catalogue and it only went up from there. As I got to hear other Oasis classics such as ‘Little by Little’ and ‘Half the World Away’ which sounded nothing short of fantastic, it was time to experience something I have been waiting almost a lifetime for. Noel closed out the set with two of my favorite songs of the 1990’s ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ which almost felt like a religious experience getting to belt out arguably the most iconic lyrics Noel has ever written.
The show could’ve ended right after Noel’s set and I would have been immensely satisfied. However, Garbage had other plans. I should preface that before this show, I had only heard a handful of songs from the Wisconsin band so I had no idea what to expect. As the band broke into ‘Supervixen’ to open the last set of the evening, Shirley Manson gave her best Liam Gallagher impression, standing right in front of the microphone with her hands behind her back.
Garbage proceeded to blow the roof of Dos Equis Pavilion for the entire duration of their set which was something I was not anticipating not having heard the majority of their catalogue. After opening at a standstill, Manson was flailing back and forth across the stage for quite literally the rest of the show. This included her spotting a young fan sitting right next to me in which she pointed him out and gave him a pair of Butch Vig’s drumsticks. That’s some legendary stuff right there. The crowd went absolutely nuts as they went into songs such as ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’, ‘Stupid Girl’ and ‘Only Happy When It Rains’ but still somehow couldn’t get my dad to stand up at all and off of his phone.
I left Dos Equis Pavilion more than satisfied with what I heard. When I first saw the announcement that Noel Gallagher’a High Flying Birds and Garbage were going to be touring together, I thought to myself, “Huh. What an odd pairing.” After seeing this show however, the pairing of the two iconic rock acts actually works, and if there is someone out there debating on buying a ticket to this tour, I’d more than encourage you to go if you are a fan of either of these bands.
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