South Facing Festival 2023: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

South Facing Festival:

Crystal Palace Bowl used to be one of the hottest spots for live music in not only London, but the entire country. Music has been played in the bowl for well over 150 years, with some all-time greats such as Bob Marley, Pink Floyd and Elton John all previously playing the venue. However, since the 1990's the usage of the venue has drastically decreased, almost completely removing it from the city's music scene... That is until South Facing Festival came along to completely revive the venue and create one of the country's best and fastest growing festivals. 

Having debuted in 2021 the festival has already seen mega-stars like Richard Ashcroft, The Streets and London Grammar headline, and show no signs of slowing down as they head into their 2023 line-up. Today's headliner is the legendary Noel Gallagher with his High Flying Birds, being supported by the iconic Johnny Marr and the brilliant Everyone You Know

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds:

Amidst all the talk of an Oasis reunion, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds prove that the main man is more than capable of carrying on his original band's legacy without need for a reform. This set was 90 minutes of musical perfection combining some of the High Flying Birds' biggest hits, new music and of course a solid dosage of Oasis hits to keep even a casual fan happy.

Noel's set felt almost like a theatre show split into several Acts. In this case act 1, the opening few songs of the setlist, was a string of five songs of the High Flying Bird's most recent album 'Council Skies'. Pretty Boy' provided a brilliant opener to the set, being followed by the album's title track and the incredible 'Open the Door, See What You Find'. The council skies section was ended with two stunning renditions of 'We're Gonna Get There in the End' and 'Easy Now', By this point the crowd are fully engrossed and excited for what's to come.

The next 'Act' would be a 'Best of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds', with the band playing a number of their biggest hits, such as 'AKA... What a Life!' and 'If I Had a Gun....'. These were received insanely well by the capacity crowd, who erupted in applause at every opportunity possible

Noel then bought in 'Act 3' the Oasis section with the quick with that had been on display throughout the set. "Anyone remember a song called Stand By Me? Right, well we're not gonna do that one" Noel joked with the crowd before playing the track's B-Side Going Nowhere. This was followed by a number of the band's big hitters including 'Importance of Being Idle', 'The Masterplan' and 'Half The World Away', with the latter being dedicated to "the real royal family". 

The main set was closed by a rousing rendition of Little by Little', before the most brilliant encore. A cover of Bob Dylan's 'Quinn the Eskimo' opened the encore, before some of the loudest singalongs you would ever hear to 'Live Forever and 'Don't Look Back in Anger'. These songs define an entire generation and brought an end to the most enthralling day at South Facing Festival

Johnny Marr:

Before headline act Noel Gallagher took to the stage, all in attendance were treated to an hour of music brilliance by guitar icon and all-round musical legend, Mr. Johnny Marr. Johnny's set was the perfect blend of old and new, curating a career spanning setlist that covered everything from The Smiths, Johnny's early solo music, and songs off his newest record 'Fever Dreams'. 

Opening his set with 'Armatopia', Johnny and his world class band immediately had the crowd on their side. The 2019 track provided the perfect song to get everyone up off the floor and start moving their feet. With the whole audience now dancing along, the only thing left for Johnny Marr to do was get them singing... This is where a Smiths classic comes in.

The introduction to one of The Smiths' most iconic songs 'Panic' was met with easily the loudest cheer of the day so far, which soon turned into an emphatic singalong, with everyone chanting "Hang the DJ" in unison. Johnny than tapped into his more recent releases with an outstanding rendition of Spirit Power and Soul', before playing what is arguably his most iconic guitar riff, the intro to 'This Charming Man'. This version of The Smiths' classic had the flawless guitar work that you come to expect from Marr, but also had vocals that more than rival those of Morrissey. 

This was consistent across the rest of the set with some of the band's most iconic songs 'How Soon Is Now?' and 'Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want' also being played. These 'The Smiths' hits were intertwined with top-draw solo material including 'Somewhere', 'Hi Hello' and 'Easy Money'. This was not the only thing that made the set career-spanning as Marr also tapped into other previous projects playing former band Electronics 'Getting Away with It, and Depeche Modes 'I Feel You' which Johnny released for Record Store Day 2015.

An emotional performance of 'There Is a Light That Never Goes Out' closed the set, dedicated to Sinéad O'Connor and Andy Rourke, provided a perfectly poignant ending

Everyone You Know:

Opening the stage ahead of two of music's biggest names sounds like a mammoth task, but Everyone You Know made it look the easiest job in the world. Brothers Harvey Cox and Rhys Kirby-Cox alongside drummer Paige Procter delivered a high energy set that took any hesitancy the crowd had to move and blew it out the water

Lead singer Rhys had the crowd in his hands from the get-go, taking to the stage with a conference swagger that any good frontman should possess, yet showed the crowd masses of gratitude and appreciation, making sure he never stepped over the line of arrogance. His live vocals were spot-on, flawlessly guiding the band through bangers like 'Paper Aeroplanes and 'When the Sun Comes Up', backed by the incredible guitar and synth work of Harvey, and the brilliant drumming of Paige. The trio put on a live show that is up there with the best

The band got their biggest responses when playing an amazing cover of Sam Fender's 'Play God' and a huge rendition of their biggest hit (which also appeared on FIFA 20 for those who rely on the FIFA soundtracks to fund their music taste) 'She Don't Dance'. Both songs were played to perfection, garnering adoration in the form of crowd singalongs all across Crystal Palace Bowl

In June this year Everyone You Know released their first lead single for over a year, bringing in a new era for the band. The momentum from this has clearly carried on into this summer's live shows as the band are putting on some of their best shows to date. 

It feels like Everyone You Know have been growing and evolving over the last 5 years as they discover and refine 'their sound', and this performance at South Facing suggests they are just going to get bigger and bigger