Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds @ Casino de Paris (06/12/11)

Needless to say, the Casino de Paris has been sold out for ages for the visit of the eldest of the Gallagher brothers. Noel stoped by Paris in his first European tour (a second one is planned for next year with another stop in Paris at the Grand Rex on March 6th).

The opening act was ensured by an indie band originally from Brighton, The Electric Soft Parade. Although they have four albums to their credit, I had never heard of them. Tom and Alex White were alternately at the microphone while Matthew Twaits and Mathew Priest assured on bass and drums. Despite some people from Manchester, the public remained rather passive (personally, I got bored). They  finished their set with a long musical improvisation.

Let's go to the main topic, Noel Gallagher's gig itself! He opened with (It's Good) To Be Free, an Oasis song, which immediately set the tone of the evening and woke the audience up. This was followed by a mix of songs from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (the entire album was played except Stop The Clocks) and from Oasis for the happiness of all. If I Had A Gun was very well received by the public, as the first single from his album, The Death Of You And Me.

Since the 2009 event that everybody knows, Paris is special for Noel. During his visit to the Casino de Paris he stayed in the same hotel as the one he stayed when Oasis was supposed to headline Rock en Seine. Still, he said it was good to play once again in the French capital. During the concert, he was rather quiet and communicative with an ounce of arrogance. During the presentation of his bandmates the audience was applauding and he replied with "Enough, it's enough". Many spectators began screaming names of songs they wanted to hear and Noel answered them "You think it's what you want but it's not." As the spectators did not agree between each others, he kept saying "You do not know what you want, I do. That's Why I'm fucking up here and you're downthere".

In the middle of the show Noel did some acoustic songs such as Wonderwall and Supersonic. Personally, I would have liked to see Oasis's version of Supersonic but I must say that Wonderwall was quite magical to see as a first time!

The public was already familiar with the lyrics of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds such as AKA ... What a Life! or AKA ... Broken Arrow but it's on Oasis's songs that he really illustrated himself. Despite the conflictual relationship between Noel and Liam Gallagher, fans still want Oasis to come back into the music world. Thus the three songs of the encore greeted them. First there was Little By Little from the album Heathen Chemistry that put the public in a state of jubilation, and The Importance Of Being Idle. Noel then took the time to thank his audience that was asking for more but he insisted "You only want one more, you think you want 4 but you don't." He concluded the concert on the best possible way, with Don't Look Back in Anger sang out loud by the Casino de Paris's crowd which remembered Oasis's glory.

I did not get the chance to see Oasis on stage so I can't afford to make comparisons or to emit regrets. I had a great time, especially since the album Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds is one of my favorites of 2011. The concert was filmed so without doubt it will be possible to relive it soon. In the meantime you can find some videos on my Youtube channel.

The setlist:

           
(It's Good) To Be Free 
(Oasis song)
Mucky Fingers 
(Oasis song)
Everybody's on the Run 

Dream On 

If I Had a Gun... 

The Good Rebel 

The Death of You and Me 

Freaky Teeth 

Wonderwall 
(Oasis song) (Acoustic)
Supersonic 
(Oasis song) (Acoustic)
(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine 

AKA... What a Life! 

Talk Tonight 
(Oasis song)
Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks 

AKA... Broken Arrow 

Half The World Away 
(Oasis song)
(Stranded On) The Wrong Beach 


Encore:
Little By Little 
(Oasis song)
The Importance of Being Idle 
(Oasis song)
Don't Look Back In Anger