"Rock The Dock"

Sound Republic, Wardour Street, London

Friday 16th October 1998

Noel [solo]

by Phil Sutcliffe

Alongside a picture of Noel and Steve Cradock strumming and harmonising with Townshend in the background

Set list: Stand By Me, Talk Tonight, Wonderwall, Live Forever, Help!

When worlds kaleid...It's the scond "launch" night at Sound Republic, all chrome and cocktails and biz/media chatterati who won't shut their yap no matter who's on stage. But it's also a Rock The Dock benefit...

...A little later Noel Gallagher and Steve Cradock [of Ocean Colour Scene] join Pete Townshend's band to strum and howl "Oo-wa, the magic bus" with such pan-generational glee that all grouchy passion's spent and a kind of rock solidarity arises to reflect a glimmer of what happened on Merseyside.

...anthems can still be anthemic when they're quiet. Which theorem was at once confirmed by Noel Gallagher. Everybody knows the "nobody know-wos" chorus of "Stand By Me", so he coolly lent back and let the crowd sing it. Point made, though, Gallagher took control. Heavy-lidded, half-smiling, he sang "Talk Tonight", "Wonderwall" and "Live Forever" with a hrad precision which even brought the best out of his much-berated lyrics. In cheery mood, he chaffed, "I've had flu all week and I still sound better than Ian Brown." He played "the first chord of our next single" - it goes "strummmmmmm" - then, undeterred by those curmudgeonly comments from George Harrison, closed with a weighty, slow version of "Help!", full of unexpected feeling on the "I need somebody" and the "Won't you please, please...".

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c 1998 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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