NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS + THE VACCINES + THE CORAL + GAZ COOMBES + PICTURE PARLOUR + LILY KNOTT – BRIGHTON BEACH 30.7.23
When I added the final date of the 2023 ‘On The Beach‘ festival to my calendar for this review, little did I imagine that my visions of a balmy sun-kissed late-July evening would in reality be a windy, damp and sometimes chilly reality.
No matter, myself and a sold-out crowd were here for a good time together with some top drawer music and that is precisely what we got.
Kicking off proceedings at 3 p.m. was Lily Knott, a talented Brighton-based singer-songwriter and a graduate of the city’s WaterBear College of Music. Lily lined up with her three bandmates, her striking red dress piercing the afternoon gloom.
A former BBC Introducing ‘Featured Artist’, it’s clear to see why. Lily’s soulful vocals, R&B vibe and cutting lyrics were the perfect antidote to the inclement weather. Her new single ‘I Hate It When You Do Drugs’ was released on 6th July and framed her voice perfectly. However, the best track for me was her 2022 release ‘Am I Just Bored’ which is well worth checking out. The hardy souls who had arrived early were rewarded with an excellent set of Lily’s fine compositions and I’m certain we’ll be hearing much more about her in the future.
Next up were Manchester/London four piece indie rock band Picture Parlour, no strangers to the Brighton music scene having played the Zahara Club and the UnBarred Brewery back in May as part of ‘The Great Escape’ festival. Singer Katherine Parlour has great stage presence, a unique voice and a distinctive look which combined with a powerful performance from her band (bassist Sian Lynch, guitarist Ella Risi, drummer Michael Nash) got the hitherto sparse crowd dancing along. Their songs have great guitar riffs and twangs allied to a cinematic sound that is made for a big stage and musically, there is great synergy between the bandmates.
There are nods to Patti Smith, T. Rex and even Fleetwood Mac captured within their sound. Their debut single, ‘Norwegian Wood’ (no, not a cover of The Beatles classic) was released in June and can be found across all major platforms including Spotify which is a slow starter and builds to a great crescendo as the track progresses, Katherine’s American style vocals carrying the song along on the back of chugging and swirling guitar chords. For me, the absolute stand out track of the set was the closing ‘Moon Tonic’ which can be found on YouTube as a live performance, a melodramatic and deliciously retro sounding slice of classic stop-start guitar rock which the band wrote at their first jam session.
It’s a shame more people hadn’t arrived to witness Picture Parlour’s exhilarating set, considering they only made their debut live performance at Brixton’s famous Windmill in December 2022, they can already count Courtney Love as a fan. Make no mistake, this is a young band definitely going places fast.
Picture Parlour:
Katherine Parlour – vocals, guitar
Ella Risi – lead guitar
Sian Lynch – bass
Michael Nash – drums
Our third act of the day was ex-Supergrass front man Gaz Coombes who I’d previously seen play an intimate gig at Brighton’s St George’s Church as part of ‘The Great Escape‘ festival in 2015. I noted a more mature and expansive sound this time around. Gaz was lined up with his black-clad four-piece band and the addition of three colourfully dressed backing singers who gave his vocal performance added depth.
The opening track, 2019 release ‘Salamander’ was an absolute cracker, the best of the set in fact, a fusion of post-punk, indie pop and psychedelia with the saxophone really driving the song along, in my opinion his best work as a solo artist. Other highlights included ‘Turn The Car Around’ his heartfelt and melodic current single and the more up-tempo 2018 track ‘Deep Pockets’ with its driving guitars and drums. As ever, Gaz always looks like he is enjoying himself, bouncing off the other band members and the growing crowd certainly appreciated the band’s endeavours.
Next up were Merseyside stalwart indie rockers The Coral who’ve been around since the late Britpop days, but their sound has endured and this was an accomplished set from a very good band who continue to ply their trade whilst many of their contemporaries have fallen by the wayside. Appearing this afternoon as a 6 piece, we were treated to the classics and some newer material.
Their biggest hit, 2003 No.5 ‘Pass It On’ sounded great performed with acoustic guitar and percussion, whilst 2005 No.6 ‘In The Morning’ received an audible whoop of delight from the audience. There was also an excellent cover version of The Doors ‘People Are Strange’ and arguably the best was saved until last with 2002 single ‘Dreaming Of You’ and its instantly recognisable opening guitar chords. The Coral demonstrated here that good music truly stands the test of time.
By now the wind coming straight off the sea was very lively and the organisers may well have been making contingency plans, thankfully this was probably about as bad as it got and things started to calm down weather wise.
The Coral:
James Skelly – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion,
Paul Duffy – bass guitar, saxophone, backing vocals
Nick Power – keyboards, organ, melodica, harmonica, piano, backing vocals,
Ian Skelly – drums
Paul Molloy – guitars
The Coral setlist:
‘Bill McCai’
‘Pass It On’
‘Faceless Angel’
‘Vacancy’
‘People Are Strange’ (The Doors cover)
‘Jacqueline’
‘Lover Undiscovered’
‘In The Morning’
‘Dreaming Of You’
The Vaccines who formed in 2010 were next up just after 7:30pm. Despite never quite hitting the heights they probably should have, this is a band who have had a number one and number two album (‘Come Of Age’ in 2012 and ‘English Graffiti’ in 2015) and have opened and toured with some huge bands including The Rolling Stones and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but remain a very accomplished act in their own right.
I really enjoyed the energy of their set from the moment it opened with charismatic singer Justin Hayward-Young sporting a perma-smile throughout the performance and the audience responding in kind. Flowers attached to the band’s microphones added a touch of contrasting colour to their stylish white shirt and dark trouser ensemble.
Brilliant opening track ‘I Can’t Quit’ set the tone for a fast rock’n’roll showcase of mainly short compositions that was to follow. I don’t think there was a bad track, my pick of their songs being 2018 single ‘All My Friends Are Falling In Love’ belted out as the rain came down, ‘I Always Knew’ with it’s thundering drums and ‘Handsome’ a power-packed sub-3 minute powerhouse of a song.
The best track of their performance by a hair’s breadth was ‘If You Wanna’ (taken from their debut album What Did You Expect From the Vaccines) which was a banger, its high-tempo infectious riff had the crowd swaying along.
The Vaccines are indeed a great British guitar band and they certainly left the crowd wanting more, which is always the sign of a brilliant performance.
The Vaccines:
Justin Hayward-Young – lead vocals, guitar
Árni Árnason – bass guitar, backing vocals
Timothy Lanham – keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Yoann Intonti – drums, percussion
Matt Hitt (Touring member) – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
The Vaccines setlist:
‘I Can’t Quit’
‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’
‘Post Break-Up Sex’
‘Wetsuit’
‘Headphones Baby’
‘Your Love Is My Favourite Band’
‘All My Friends Are Falling In Love’
‘Handsome’
‘Jump Off The Top’
‘I Always Knew’
‘If You Wanna’
Just after 9 o’clock the final act of the day strode onto the stage. This was the one we had all been waiting for and certainly the biggest act of the six day musical bonanza, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds who lived up to top billing treating us damp souls to a thrilling set of Noel’s own compositions and classic Oasis cuts. Lining up as part of a five piece band with three backing singers on some tracks, Noel undoubtedly held court throughout.
The set opened with a flurry of five songs from their fourth studio album ‘Council Skies’ released on 2nd June 2023, which was inspired by Noel growing up in Manchester and as such, is a love-letter to the city, written about a time when the stellar success he has enjoyed must have seemed half the world away so to speak.
To me, this seems like his best solo work to date, and the pick of the bunch was the opening track ‘Pretty Boy’ with a beautiful slightly distorted riff running right through the track. It’s already one of my favourite releases of the year. The other tracks were all enjoyable, notably title-track ‘Council Skies’ set against a backdrop of gritty city scenes and the ubiquitous Manchester City logo, an illuminated version of which was present on stage throughout the 90 minute set.
There then followed more songs from his 13 year solo career, the pick of which has always been my favourite track of his HFB career ‘AKA What A Life’ which Noel dedicated to his football club. The final song of this part of the set saw Noel perform alone on stage for ‘Dead In The Water’ replete with acoustic guitar and an atmospheric giant moon over water as the backdrop, taking the tempo right down.
It was then time for the Oasis material to come to the fore opening with ‘Going Nowhere’ from the B-side album ‘The Masterplan’, which I thought was a touch dull but perhaps more one for the purists as there were many appreciative fans. Then the tempo shifted with ‘The Importance Of Being Idle’, the opening chords immediately lifting the crowd and the band performed this great track in front of an impressive backdrop of retro fruit machines.
Next up was ‘The Masterplan’, I can’t say this was a crowd-pleaser, but two that followed definitely were ‘Half The World Away’ which was the theme tune to the witty classic comedy ‘The Royle Family’ and ‘Little By Little’ which the crowd lapped up.
After a brief encore, the band performed an immense cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘The Mighty Quinn’, followed by an exquisite acoustic version of ‘Live Forever’, a top 10 hit from the Oasis debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’. I loved this delicate treatment of one of my Oasis faves and it worked really well.
The final track, the 1996 number one megahit ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ from Oasis’s ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ album needed no introduction, so accordingly Noel invited the audience to sing it in its entirety. There was no hesitation, almost everyone present gave an effusive word-for-word rendition whilst the band played the song, Noel adding just the final line to close out the performance and offering his praise to the crowd for their efforts.
Throughout the set, Noel enjoyed playing the role of pantomime villain, winding up the crowd (and even band members) with expletive-peppered banter, the city itself and Brighton & Hove Albion coming in for particular ribbing. At one point, Noel playfully called out the 200 or so strong crowd watching for free atop Marine Parade and told them “rock stars have to live too you know”.
A chap in a “gore-tex jacket”, a group of Chinese students and a few people at the front did not escape his rapier wit. During the set, he also pretended to ignore a call (insinuating in the process it might be a certain sibling trying to get in touch).
Having attended one of the tremendous recent Blur shows at Wembley, (Review HERE) there is no doubt that when Noel and Liam do decide to get the band back together (and they will) they will have no trouble selling out Wembley or Knebworth again several times over.
Despite the elements, it had been a satisfying day of great music and I for one am looking forward to doing it all again next summer come rain or shine. Probably rain…
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds setlist:
‘Pretty Boy’
‘Council Skies’
‘Open The Door, See What You Find’
‘We’re Gonna Get There In The End’
‘Easy Now’
‘You Know We Can’t Go Back’
‘We’re On Our Way Now’
‘In The Heat Of The Moment’
‘If I Had A Gun…’
‘AKA… What a Life!’
‘Dead In The Water’
‘Going Nowhere’ (Oasis cover)
‘The Importance Of Being Idle’ (Oasis cover)
‘The Masterplan’ (Oasis cover)
‘Half The World Away’ (Oasis cover)
‘Little By Little’ (Oasis cover)
(Encore)
‘Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)’ (Bob Dylan cover)
‘Live Forever’ (Oasis cover)
‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ (Oasis cover) (Sung by crowd)
