Alternative rock fans in Bangkok so often suffer through droughts of quality international bands coming through, but recently with Suede and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds playing, we have enjoyed at the very least, a mere trickle.
The concert was held at BITEC which for anyone who has never visited before is a collection of colossal eyesores which has the day job of being an exhibition centre. They do hold occasional concerts in the very practically named “hall 106” and to their credit, considering the size and height of the hall, the quality of the sound is managed well.
Support came from Hugo, a half Thai, half British “luuk khrung” of royal descent who is based in New York and is signed to Roc Nation, Jay Z’s label. This ragamuffin of a lad looked every part the post 1960s bluesman with flares and only a grizzled beard in sight underneath his fedora and his music followed suit. Hugo played his set drawn entirely from his English language debut album Old Tyme Religion with the exception of one Thai track. The track which stood out was Hopelessly Stoned, a heavy blues rock track with an attitude problem and somewhat reminiscent of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Since signing with Jay Z’s label, Hugo has created a cover of 99 problems. His take is a thumping bluegrass number with banjo picking away around a very solid bass drum. His songs were well received and as a virgin to his music, I’m sure I wasn’t the only person researching Hugo the following day.
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For Hugo’s set the crowd looked suspiciously Thai but at the point Noel came to the stage, the crowd got fatter, balder and more farang-ier (any English teachers want to help me out here?) and normal Oasis fan protocol was resumed. Mercifully though, cups of piss weren’t being thrown and we were spared the monotony of UK legs of Oasis (or anything related) concerts, where anyone who has ever visited Manchester claims to be a die-hard Mancunian and therefore, superior to all.
Noel and Co. warmed up with the formerly Liam fronted, “It’s Good To Be Free” an old Oasis b-side, and Noel shows that anything Liam can sing, Noel can sing better. Liam may have the attitude and the swagger that brought Oasis fame, but realistically, his voice is nowhere near as strong as Noel’s. An excellent version of the old song.
“Everybody’s On The Run” was our first look at the new material and the longest track on the album and not exactly a sing along track but one which shows his talent as a songwriter. One wonders if the line “You’ve been drifting and stealing, trying to walk in my shoes, but they don’t belong to you” was written for his dear brother.
“Dream On” came next and showed us that Noel still writes belting pop songs. This is a three minute pop piece and follows in a similar vein to “The Importance of Being Idle” with its slightly whimsical lyrics: “I’m hiding from a razor blade, it’s hanging in the kitchen. The kids outside, they’ve drank up all the lemonade, the bitch keeps bitching.” Surely it doesn’t mean anything, but that doesn’t stop this sounding great.
The gang ran through three more High Flying Birds tracks before the interlude including the two singles “If I Had a Gun and The Death of You and Me.” They also played “D’yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?” the b-side from Shakermaker. It is quite impressive how he sounds identical to the record which came out 18 years ago.
For the interlude, Noel ran through an acoustic version of “Supersonic” which was rapturously sung back by the audience and even though Noel has probably heard a crowd sing that song at him thousands of times before, still had a grin on his face.
Noel and The HFBs played a few more before the encore including Oasis classics “Talk Tonight” and “Half the World Away” which he dedicated so kindly to English ex-pats whom he said “If you live here, I salute you.” Always nice to get some recognition from your heroes.
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The encore began with “Let The Lord Shine A Light on Me,” probably the most Oasis sounding song by the HFBs. This song really showed just how well Noel can still sing. He is 45 years old and still hits notes with the required amount of accuracy for a rock singer without sounding polished. On this song, he particularly showcases how powerful and distinctive his voice is.
To finish with, a three song singalong of Oasis classics starting with “Whatever”which as we all know was actually a Coca Cola advert with Thai children humming the melody. “Little by Little”followed next and the crowd made sufficient effort but really all the energy went into the last song of the evening “Don’t Look Back in Anger.”Having seen Oasis before, I would say this sounded better. Tighter, more powerful and so well balanced between guitar and piano. The crowd knew every word and went crazy for this song. A great end to a great show and we hope that any promoters watching this show will think about how large the audiences were for Suede and High Flying Birds and that it is time they flooded Bangkok with more top quality alternative rock acts. That doesn’t mean Maroon 5!
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