Noel fires festival into big leagues

And boy is Noel Gallagher happy to show it.

It’s 21 years since Oasis played one of Blackpool’s most memorable sets – the Empress Ballroom helping set two feuding brothers from the Manchester suburbs on the road to rock royalty.

Who’d have thought two decades later one would be back on the Fylde coast – leading the mother of all singalongs on genteel Lytham Green.

Noel Gallagher’s headline set at Lytham Festival was a coming of age moment for the event – a genuine British superstar firing the event in the big leagues.

The show was something of a slow burner, the Green, and Gallagher, only truly coming alive with the setting of the sun.

High Flying Birds hit Everybody’s on the Run was a signal of intent at the top of the perfectly paced set – a rousing opener quickly followed by Lock All the Doors and the thumping Heat of the Moment.

For a while it seems Noel isn’t interested in the crowd, an assumption busted when he spots the champagne terrace – a sure fire banter winner and an excuse to finally crack a smile and a gag.

With the sun setting and the crowd on his side, Noel’s ready to roll out the hits and the Oasis classics.

A laid back Champagne Supernova is perfectly timed to coincide with the last rays – Noel stepping up a gear in the dark. And with the party in full swing – thanks to a tender Half The World Away and a fitting false finale with The Masterplan – he finished in style with the best of the new and old. (AKA) What A Life is the High Flying Birds at their finest, the night ending with a 10,000 strong karaoke session. With the words of Don’t Look Back in Anger drifting across the Green Noel is in his element and Lytham has truly hit the big time.