Students Experience Noel Gallagher’s Soundcheck
One of the UK’s most celebrated songwriters Noel Gallagher returned to his hometown to play to 15,000 fans at the Manchester Arena, and ten lucky BIMM students were given the opportunity to sit-in on his soundcheck!
When BIMM Manchester’s Freya May Barrett, Molly Brown, Emma Konnanov, Katie Litherland, Joe Mansergh, Sophie O’Brien, Holly O’Connell, Jack Smith, Martina Tubiana and Paul Winstanley arrived at the backstage entrance, there was already a huge crowd waiting outside for a glimpse of the Oasis songwriter and guitarist.
Fortunately, our students were escorted into the venue to watch Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds perform an intimate ‘mini-gig’ ahead of his show that night – a pinch yourself moment for any fan and one that was only made possible through BIMM’s industry connections.
Our students were treated to eight live tracks: Fort Knox, Holy Mountain, Beautiful World, Alone in the Rope, Love is the Law, Black & White Sunshine, The Man Who Built the Moon and The Right Stuff – the majority from Noel’s latest chart-topping album, The Man Who Built the Moon. The students were each given a copy of the ‘bespoke setlist’ as a souvenir.
Manchester Arena was always going to be an emotional gig for Noel Gallagher. It was only a few months since he headlined the We Are Manchester benefit gig there, which also featured fellow Northerners The Courteeners and Blossoms and marked the official re-opening of the venue, following last year’s terror attack.
The former Oasis band leader’s song ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ became an anthem for Manchester as the city attempted to rebuild itself. In fact, Noel wrote this track – and the material for the first two Oasis albums – just around the corner from BIMM Manchester’s Great Marlborough Street site, in his city centre flat at India House on Whitworth Street.
Since Oasis split in 2009, Noel subsequently went solo and formed Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – and he has toured all over the world, releasing three studio albums.
The soundcheck for the BIMM students was arranged by Kathryn Craddock – BIMM’s Artist & Guest Liaison, who was also in attendance. She told BIMM:
“Manchester has, without doubt, one of the most legendary and iconic music scenes in the world. Noel Gallagher is a Manchester music legend, so it was an incredible opportunity for these students to watch this ‘closed’ soundcheck. Noel performed eight songs in their entirety so we all felt like we’d actually been to see the show!“
Freya Barrett, an Event Management student at BIMM, said, “It was a really unique experience with an intense atmosphere – fantastic to be in the presence of Noel Gallagher.”
It was undoubtedly a fantastic opportunity for our BIMM Manchester students to watch a huge star play to such a small audience – it’s not every day you get to see an artist of Noel’s stature in such an intimate environment!
