You don’t get many chances to see one of the greatest musicians of all time play a huge homecoming show in front of nearly 25,000 of his own, so Noel Gallagher’s massive Manchester gig in Wythenshawe Park was always a must-not-missfor us.
To be fair, you don’t even need to be from these parts to understand how big a deal it was for so many locals to get the chance to see someone from ’round their way hold not only one of the biggest concerts of the year but the first ever live concert Wythenshawe Park has ever seen.
It’s only been a couple of months since Noel and his High Flying Birds released Council Skies, the eldest Gallagher brother’s fourth solo studio album, but we’ve had plenty of time to sit with it since then and can comfortably say it’s some of the best stuff he’s released post-Oasis.
That being said, it felt beyond special to hear something with that title played smack bang in the middle of one of the biggest council estates in Europe and enjoy an album that celebrates a lot of what growing up in places like these is all about among a predominantly Manc crowd. And that was just one part of what was a great day of music.
Wythenshawe has never seen anything like this (Credit: The Manc Group/mcrjh.pix via Instagram)
It was a massively busy day for Greater Manchester as a whole and, in truth, with so much going on in the city centre alone we didn’t manage to make it over to the 109-acre park until around 5ish, just before support act Future Islands got going — a gig we’d normally pay good money just to see on their own.
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However, The Manc office favourites unfortunately only got a few songs in before the weather turned on us and frenetic frontman Samuel T. Herring, already pretty soaked from the rain, had to inform the crowd that they were going off-stage for a little while because of a thunder warning.
Ironically, the break came in what was a moment of calm before the literal storm, as the American synth-wave outfit were playing their latest single, ‘Deep in the Night’: a slower, more solemn tune compared to the likes of ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’ — a fan favourite hit that they had no trouble getting started with.
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Sadly, however, we weren’t to know that they wouldn’t be coming back on and as the big screen flashed up with the message “temporary show stop”, the thunder and lightning arrived right on cue. What we did here from them was as magical as always and rest assured, we’ll be seeing them again soon.
Noel Gallagher Live at Wythenshawe Park didn’t get off to the best of starts…
Once the deluge had ended and we seized the opportunity to get some proper scran in us as thousands took shelter under tents, trees and the small overhangs of food vans, we ventured back out into the big field with our hoods up and our spirits still high.
The whole scene was as quintessentially Manc as you can imagine: rain falling on a sea of Adidas trainers, parkas, arm-swinging walks, bucket hats and the rest of it. You get the picture.
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We got even more British festival vibes when the second support act, Primal Scream, came out too. Legends in their own right, it almost felt like just any old Tuesday for the Scottish indie pop and alt-rock veterans, who didn’t mess around when it came to understanding the assignment.
Playing all the hits from ‘Movin’ on Up’ and ‘Come Together’, to ‘Rocks’, ‘Loaded’ and more — all while dressed to the nines and backed by an incredible choir of backing singers, might we add — it felt like everyone’s mums and dads were twisting away as the younger lot watched on at them rolling back the years as if to say, ‘oh yeah, they’ve done all this before’.
All time bop.
And then when the moment finally came (after a fairly long break, we have to admit) and Noel himself took to the stage, it felt like the perfect marriage of that same nostalgic feeling and all those who have come along for the journey of listening to his more recent stuff.
From where we stood, at least, it didn’t seem like there was a single song people didn’t know and love. Be it the very first High Flying Birds tunes that people fell ever heard like ‘If I Had A Gun…’, ‘AKA… What a Life!’ and ‘Everybody’s on the Run’, to ‘The Dying of the Light’, ‘Dead in the Water’, ‘Pretty Boy’ and everything in between, we barely heard a word missed.
It was a reminder of just how many incredible songs the 56-year-old has written even in the time since Oasis called it a day. We don’t think you’ll find many other artists that have continued to pump out so many recognisable tunes and incredible lyrics after what most would call their heyday — Noel included.
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Whether you’re on board with his and Liam‘s posturing, opinions and general cocky image they’ve been maintaining for 30-odd years now, one thing you can never dispute is that this particular Gallagher brother remains one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters to ever do it.
Of course, the main event for most people in that field was when he started playing Oasis songs and while we’d waited quite a long time to hear some of those HFB tunes, most of us had waited even longer to hear ‘Little By Little’, ‘Live Forever’, ‘Half The World Away’ and countless other classics live.
Having shoved Pep Guardiola and Man City down our throats for a considerable amount of the night — a bright blue illuminated badge and a cardboard cut-out of the Catalan coach watching over the entire stage — he even got one last dig in by playing B-side ‘Going Nowhere’ and dedicating it to United.
It was all good fun, of course; large sections of the crowd got their boos in and enjoyed banter with each other but as the show drew to its conclusion, they came back together for one last beautiful moment: belting ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ at the top of their lungs. The man himself didn’t need to sing a word.
The fact is, this part of Greater Manchester doesn’t often get the kind of love and respect it deserves but nights like this proved just how much potential this region still has to offer and we’re pretty confident that after this landmark event, Noel Gallagher won’t be the last big name you’ll see playing Live at Wythenshawe Park.
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Sounded a lot better here than it did all them times leaving Fifth.
Manchester streaming platform StreamGM unveils four-part creative industry careers podcast
Thomas Melia
A new four-partpodcast by StreamGM featuring some of Greater Manchester’s top creatives has launched with the aim of powering creative careers.
Produced by Rebecca Swarray, a.k.a. ‘RebeccaNeverBecky’ – the founder of the Manchester events and arts collective – this podcast is designed to “ignite and elevate creative careers in music.”
Swarray deep dives into the current Manc music scene and beyond with the help of fellow insiders who vary upon each episode.
There are four parts in this latest series and there’s lots to cover, especially in an industry that’s ever-changing and ever-challenging.
Some of the guests and speakers you can expect to listen to on ‘ICAM’ (In Conversations and Masterclasses)Credit: StreamGM/The Manc Group
Listeners can expect to learn all about ‘Women Behind The Music’ as part of the In Conversations and Masterclasses series with Sophie Bee, Sara Garvey and Kat Brown.
The next episode delves into another key music industry area, ‘Promoters, Venues And Events’, which is broken down by Baz Plug One, Strutty, Tashadean Wood and Liv McCafferty.
‘Artist Development And Management’ features Karen Boardman, Karen Gabay, Damian Morgan, and Via Culpan deep in discussion.
The final episode in this four-part series is ‘Videography And Photography In The Creative Industries’, which sees Johan Reitan, Alice Kanako and Ahmani Vidal talking all things visual.
These four features will be an incredible resource for any creative talents as it put together by professionals for upcoming professionals of any age from any background, race, gender and walk of life.
After all, that’s what is all about, right?
Abbreviated to ‘ICAM’, the podcast is certainly one to check out, with for aspiring artist managers, producers, photographers, promoters—anyone driven to make their mark in music and events.
These podcast sessions understand industry challenges, explore career journeys, creative influences, crisis management and lots more creative field concerns.
You can find the first episode in full down below:
The first episode of the new limited StreamGM podcast.
This run of shows is the second instalment by StreamGM: Greater Manchester’s phenomenal streaming platform dedicated to all things music, nightlife and culture.
Whether you’re a budding creative arts talent or just curious to find out insights into this wonderful innovative industry, you can listen to all the episodes from the series directly on StreamGM HERE.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester music news, another very special event is kicking off very soon:
Featured Images — Publicity Picture (Supplied)/The Manc Group
Audio
Interview | Snow Patrol on being at ‘the best they’ve ever been’ and making music that matters
Danny Jones
2024 was the year that Snow Patrol not only returned with their first album in six years but reminded crowds all over the Europe in the 12 months leading up to that release why they’ve still got the following the day to this day.
First formed back in 1994 if you can believe that (yes, it’s been more than three decades since these lads first arrived on the scene) Snow Patrol remain one of the most recongnisable names in contemporary alternative, classic indie and ‘dad rock’ if we’re still throwing that term around.
We’re not using that as anything other than the foundational sound and sheer compliment it is by the way; we often feel it’s almost an unnaitainble kind of sound/vibe at this present moment but one than formed many of our first music memories and still influences our tastes to this day.
More importantly, you don’t get to have been around as long as these without having made an impact on people, so when we were offered the chance to chat with the band’s famous frontman, Gary Lightbody ahead of their Co-op Live debut, we were delighted and beyond grateful. Here’s how it went:
Before the interview, we caught Snow Patrol at their intimate album show back in September. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Gary Lightbody on making Snow Patrol’s ‘best record to date’
I heard you say somewhere recently that it might be the favourite thing that you’ve ever made. Does that still sound true to you?
[He nods with a modest smile] Yeah, yeah. I do tend to make my make sure my feelings are set on a record before it comes out, because I don’t want the reaction to you know to dictate how I feel about it.
But yeah, I think we felt that from pretty early on recording with Fraser [T. Smith], I mean, Johnny [McDaid] and Nathan [Connolly] and I had written songs for it and Johnny had made some extraordinary versions we were referring to as the original version of the song, and that’s what we went in the first time to record with a new producer.
Obviously, we’ve been working with Jacknife Lee for 20 years and wanted to try somebody new – not disrespect to him, he’s a f***ing legend – but it didn’t work out the first time, so then we took some time to figure out what we wanted to do and I’d already written ‘All’ with Fraser.
So we decided to go in with him and we could try each other out; he could see if he liked us and vice versa, and it was instant – it was just instant. Every day felt like an adventure and like we were going in the right direction each time.
Some of the songs you know were started by Johnny (the original versions), and then we’d add to those and every time we added, this time it felt like there was something that was expanding the universe of the song, whereas in the previous incarnations it felt like there was something sort of falling inwards like a flan collapsing in a cupboard or something.
Hard not to laugh at that analogy.*
It felt experimental and every time Johnny and Nathan were playing, it added something extraordinary and it was just a joy and an honour to watch them work, and it’s not a joy watching me play the guitar, but it wouldn’t have worked in the reverse.
They’re extraordinary players and so by the end of that time with Fraser, when we’d finished, there was a real strong feeling that the music was as good as we ever made, so that’s when it galvanized with me, that’s when it sort of coalesced with me that this was the strongest album that we’d made.
It hasn’t stopped – I haven’t stopped feeling like that.
After learning what we did in this interview, The Forest Is The Path might just be our favourite Snow Patrol album too.
Amazing, and yeah you certainly feel something’s changed there. How much do you think working with different people in the booth helped that?
Things are always going to change and there has been an evolution live as well. You know, I feel like that the festivals over the course over the summer – we’ve been playing some great shows and it’s been so fun, so I feel like we’re as we’re sharp as we’ve ever been.
You know, you’re from Manchester, I’m from Northern Ireland: we don’t give ourselves, compliments – you know what I mean, this is not what we do, so I’ll do my very best without never being allowed back in Northern Ireland again.
It just feels like we’re everything has got sharper and everything has expanded. I mean, even the small moments feel giant, like there’s a song on the record called ‘These Lies’ and there’s a piano and Nathan’s atmospheric guitar and my vocal and that’s it but pretty early on we were like this is the biggest song on the record.
So it sort of feels like something’s happening creatively that is exciting and I don’t want to overthink it too much because no thought process went into it; nothing ever is strategic about what we do. We start with a blank piece of paper and a couple of instruments, and we’ll always do that.
Yeah, you’ve always done those quiet moments so well, be it ‘Set Fire to the Third Bar’ or even those songs that sound upbeat but there’s a real sadness behind it.How do you find going from those almost Emerald Isle proasic moments to the bigger stuff when playing live?
From L-R, Johnny, Nathan and Gary (Credit: Press Shot via Chuff Media)
I mean, thank you for everything you said there – you’ve hit upon it there: it’s the live thing we think about more than that. You don’t set your sights on live when you’re in the studio but when you do hit upon something and you go, ‘Oh s***, yeah, this will go in the set, yeah’.
We don’t think about like what will go on the radie, like that’s the death I think of creativity when you’re trying to find a blueprint to and wonder what’s on the radio right now.
I mean, it wouldn’t work for us anyway, what’s happening in pop right now – because I’m a fan of a lot of all kinds of music is well-established, you know what I mean; I’m not an indie snob or anything like that I love pop music too, and dance and hip hop and everything – but it’s not something that we can control.
It would just always seem like pushing ourselves into a shape that we don’t quite feel comfortable in, or wearing kind of clothes that you know that’s anytime. You know, we’ve in the past where we’ve had to wear clothes for a photo shoot that are just being taken out of a packet or whatever, so now we just bring our own gear to the photo shoots and stuff, so it’s about sort of feeling kind of comfortable and confident in yourself.
It’s like in the studio itself: this is where where you get into the difficulties, that’s where you get into the heart, the hard places and try and make them more malleable but never think about ‘radio singles’…
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People call this record introspective, but I think that the last one [Wildness] was way more introspective and it didn’t have any singles really. So yeah, it was true [that this is their favourite record to date] and when we finished it we were like a dog with a a bird at the door.
Brilliant. And you know, you touched on the live stuff there and festivals etc. It’s great to have you back on the circuit but how excited are you to be playing these new songs and seeing fans develop a new relationship with them and you?
I try not to look too much at comments because it can send you down a path, but I did see a comment recently: somebody said that they came to see it for the first time and didn’t realisee they knew ‘All’ and didn’t realise they knew so many of our songs.
It’s great that the songs have got into people because it also takes the pressure off us, because we don’t have to worry about walking down the street anywhere, but the songs have found their way into the public consciousness, which if you could design a way to have success, that would be it: anonymous and successful.
We’ll finally get to stretch our legs a wee bit with the album. Don’t want to hit too many new songs just quite yet for anybody but it’s been really fun over the course of the summer to see the reaction. It’s been confidence boosting because it means, I think, that we can just sort of relax a wee bit and just allow the new songs to be part of the set without worrying too much.
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We’re really conscious as well that people buy a ticket to a show: we want them to have a really fun night out, and that there shouldn’t be a sort of exam that comes along with with a show – you shouldn’t have to, like, do research before you go and if you know the new song’s great, and if you don’t, that’s okay, there’s not going to be tonnes of them, but there’ll be enough to satisfy us.
Do you or the rest of the band have a favourite that you’re really looking forward to playing?
I never really tire of those songs that have sort of a slow build and that kind of go bananas at the end but I think there are [plenty of] songs that would be great to play like ‘Hold Me In the Fire’ and ‘Years That Fall’ that are kind of built for live shows.
We’ll maybe play the three or singles and then one extra each night and rotate that extra one, you know; if people to come to multiple shows – which sometimes they do – then at least they hear you know something new each night as well.
Nice, and do you guys feel there was a particular vibe that you tried to nail for this album?
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Erm, no – it’s a good question but no, not really. I think the vibe was the vibe that was created between the four of us rather than on on any particular song, because I think the songs we just let them be.
That’s the thing: you start with that blank page and then you let the song be whatever it wants to be because any song written on a guitar or piano and has a melody, it can be anything we could make turn into a country song or whatever, you know, I think it’s just allowing the song to be what it feels like it wants to be, so getting out of the way sometimes is good.
But yeah, I don’t think there was a vibe that sort of is pervasive on the record as a whole but maybe lyrically, the vagaries of time is kind of the theme through the record as a whole: time’s not linear. We think it is because we’re told it is, but you just realise that every individual person has their own time.
Depending on how fast your heart is beating, how happy you are, how sad you are; how much grief or joy you are in your life, time will speed up and slow down and almost feel like it’s stopping sometimes, and that kind of is what has sort of been the kind of theme through the whole record coming out the back of my father’s death. I don’t really specifically talk about that in the record, but it’s um, it’s sort of something. I guess that became kind of a um a theme amazing.
Maybe that’s why I love this record so much because I’m obsessed with time. One last question, I saw you say ‘We’ve never been cool, so who gives a s***?’, and I think there’s something unique about a fan’s relationship with those underdog bands – what makes it special do you think?
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That wasn’t exactly how I answered that, but they made me sound a lot cooler than I was. I think I was a bit more equivocal than that rather than but yeah, I mean it’s incredible.
People do say to me pretty often like this, whatever song it was – you know you mentioned, ‘Set Fire’ or ‘Open Your Eyes’, ‘Run’, or one of the quieter moments – they’ll say that this song means this to me because this happened and it was the soundtrack to that happening in my life, you know what I mean?
It could be something joyful, or it could be something extraordinarily painful and sad, and to feel like you were there for a person, you know what I mean? It’s something that you made in solitude, or together as a band – it wasn’t made for a specific person or a specific thing but that person has found it in their life.
So maybe it held them in a moment that was difficult for them or the opposite, or was like the best day of their life was made better by it – either way that makes me very, very happy but yeah, we’re delighted to be ‘that’ band and we’re delighted that anybody still comes to see us play live.
Especially the amount of people that have bought tickets for this tour is absolutely extraordinary. It’s kind of blowing our minds because even with Wildness we didn’t sell anything out, so it blows our mind to still be able to play arenas and mean so much to people. We don’t take it for granted, that’s for sure.
If there was one thing we took away from this interview it’s that we’re just so glad to have such a long-lasting, influential and meaningful band back in our lives and, more importantly, back where they belong: delighting the smallest of rooms to the biggest of arenas – Snow Patrol have always been built for both.
The lads are playing the Co-op Live for the first time ever this Saturday, 22 February and we’re sure it’s going to be an unbelievable show that follows not even a return to form in our eyes but a reminder of just how brilliant a bunch of musicians these lot are.
There are still a handful of tickets left for massive Manchester gig – you can grab yours HERE.
This Saturday, Snow Patrol take to the stage @TheCoopLive
Post-event: – There will be trams back to the city centre from Etihad Campus – Holt Town and Velopark stops will be closed in both directions for approx. 1 hour.
Danny Jones -
27th August 2023 
