When Oasis first played Glastonbury in 1994, Noel Gallagher had just turned 27. He, Liam, Bonehead, Guigsy and Tony McCarroll appeared second on the bill at the NME Stage (now The Other Stage) on that Sunday afternoon, despite only releasing two singles (‘Shakermaker’ and ‘Supersonic’). It was so early in their rise, in fact, that Noel wasn’t even on backing vocals.
Fast-forward 28 years (!) and The Chief has graduated to the Pyramid Stage, now an all-singing solo artist. “Good evening Glastonbury”, he says, stepping out with a grin on his face, dressed in a black bomber jacket and jeans. “We are the High Flying Birds”. Here’s everything that happened next…
The solo stuff goes down well
Three chart-topping albums into a solo career and Noel still gets “Play ‘Wonderwall'” requests the moment he peaks his head around the curtain. No matter, 2017 single ‘Holy Mountain’ (his Oasis-worthy rocker from latest record ‘Who Built The Moon?’) gets the Madferits on board immediately, with the Bowie-inspired ‘Black Star Dancing’ also helping to kick off another Pilton party.
Noel knows himself
You can’t be the main songwriter in one of the world’s biggest ever bands and expect to get away with playing lesser-known tunes. “What’s gonna happen now is I’m gonna play a few more tunes that you don’t give as fuck about,” says Noel, self-aware as ever. “Those ones are for me. But if you stick around for a bit, after that there’s gonna be a lot of happy people in bucket hats.”
He slagged off the Queen
Yes, we all got an extra holiday. But down on Worthy Farm, no one gives a fuck about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, least of all Rkid. “‘Ello, did everyone have a good silver jubilee, yeah?” says Noel, to much laughter. “Well, this next song’s for the real Royle family, from Manchester.” Cue ‘Half The World Away’.
It was the perfect primer for Macca
Oasis owe a thing or two to The Beatles, so it’s probably right that Noel helped warm up Glastonbury for tonight’s legendary headliner. In an ideal world, perhaps the Gallagher Brothers would’ve settle their differences and joined the Fab for a raucous rendition of ‘I Am The Walrus’ – a set staple at Oasis gigs.
He brought out the Oasis bangers
After front-loading his setlist with the best of the Birds’ output, Noel makes the entire second half of his show a boozy Oasis singalong. ‘Little By Little’ and ‘The Importance of Being Idle’ make for a raucous opening salvo, before ‘Whatever’, ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Half The World Away’ turns Worthy Farm into a ‘90s nostalgia fest. “Thank you everyone who has stuck by us”, he says, leading a boozed-up crowd of bucket-hatters through ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ for his big encore finale.
Noel Gallagher played:
‘Fort Knox’
‘Holy Mountain’
‘It’s a Beautiful World’
‘She Taught Me How to Fly’
‘We’re on Our Way Now’
‘Black Star Dancing’
‘Dead in the Water’
‘Little by Little’
‘The Importance of Being Idle’
‘Whatever’
‘Wonderwall’
‘Half the World Away’
‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’
‘AKA… What a Life!’
‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’
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