Garbage And Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

It was another GenX fest last night as the Garbage and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds co-headlining tour descended on the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater on a steamy June evening.

Luckily, it was the last night of the tour that Garbage was the headliner. That's who I was there to see. However, I was intrigued to experience Noel Gallagher's relatively new musical venture. Garbage played at this Tampa venue last summer in support of Alanis Morissette. I opted not to go. While Alanis is undoubtedly talented, I didn't want to pay a headlining price to see an opening act. I'm glad I waited.

Garbage has been an Alt-Rock mainstay since the mid-90s. And from the moment Shirley Manson took the stage last night, she made it clear we were in her house for the next hour or so.

Garbage opened with Supervision and jumped right into #1 Crush, with deep red lights flooding the stage. Next, the feminist icon dedicated The Men Who Ruled the World to "Stormy."

Manson kept the audience on their toes for much of the evening. While most bands have a standard setlist for each tour, Garbage is mixing it up. Certainly, there's a core set of hits each night, but five or six songs appear to be different at each show.

In addition to #1 Crush, last night's mainstays included I Think I'm Paranoid, Stupid Girl, Push It, I'm Only Happy When It Rains, and Vow. Another great moment included a thrashing cover of goth icon Siouxsie and the Banshee's Cities in Dust.

Manson intro-ed Bleed Like Me with a brief commentary on how some people, unfortunately, interact with one another each other. I'm a little weird, you're a little weird, everyone is a little weird. Let's let everyone be weird and leave each other alone.

At one point, Mason called out one of the few younger concertgoers --a 15-year-old girl--and expressed gratitude for her knowing every word to every song. At another, a fan in one of the first couple of rows drew a bit of ire out of Manson by repeatedly shouting a request for a song. In a lighthearted way, Manson shouted back we'll hear many of the songs we want to hear and a few we weren't expecting, but this isn't about that guy. It's about her!

After a 15-song set, Garbage took a brief break before a one-song encore. As Manson retook the stage, she talked about her big Scottish heart and ripped through the final song, When I Grow Up, which the song the fan repeated requests.

There certainly were some noticeable omissions from the setlist --like Queer and The World is Not Enough--but that's going to happen on a co-headline tour. Overall it was a great set.

Garbage is a rarity not just in the music world but in life. All four original members have stayed together since the band's formation in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1993.

The stark alternative to this was noticeable compared to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, who took the stage before Garbage. No doubt, Gallagher is a talented musician and an exceptional songwriter. The songs from this newer venture, which formed following the explosive Oasis breakup in 2009, sounded great. They had a bit of Sgt. Pepper's vibe complete with carefully crafted stage decorations.

But make no mistake, Gallagher is bitter. Half of the 14-song set list was High Flying Birds, and the other half was Oasis covers. Despite many fans knowing every word of High Flying Birds song, Gallagher couldn't resist telling the crowd we needed to hear a few more songs we didn't know before he played the songs we know.

And if anyone dared ask him to play a song made famous by his estranged brother, his response was, "The only place you'll hear that is on Spotify." Once was funny. The multiple times after that just came off as overly bitter.

Noel also gave the impression that he can't be easy to work with.

The set list was carefully crafted to ensure he changed guitars after every song. The band included THREE keyboard players and three backup singers who didn't add much value. All a bit pretentious.

Gallagher wants to be respected as a musician, and he is. But. pleasing the crowd isn't a priority. It probably would have been better for him to leave Oasis behind. He's clearly not over the band or his brother. When he played Oasis songs, he didn't appear to enjoy it.

A couple of highlights included a cover of Bob Dylan's Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn). and the set's final song, Don't Look Back in Anger. Noel needs to follow his own advice.

Canadian indie rockers Metric did an admirable job opening the show.

One side note, this was our first time at the Amphitheater since pre-covid. Prior shows at this 20,000 venue were always sold out or close to it. Last night it was only 30-40% filled, which made parking, exiting, and accessing concessions a breeze. Still, are better venues for this size event.

Here are the setlists:

Garbage:

Supervixen

#1 Crush

The Men Who Rule the World

Run Baby Run

Special

Wolves

Beloved Freak

Bleed Like Me

Cities in Dust

(Siouxsie and the Banshees cover)

Play Video

I Think I'm Paranoid

Stupid Girl

Push It

No Gods No Masters

Only Happy When It Rains

Vow

When I Grow Up

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds:

Pretty Boy

Council Skies

We're Gonna Get There in the End

Open the Door, See What You Find

Easy Now

In the Heat of the Moment

AKA... What a Life!

The Masterplan (Oasis cover)

Going Nowhere (Oasis cover)

Little by Little (Oasis cover)

Half the World Away (Oasis cover)

Live Forever (Oasis cover)

Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) (Bob Dylan cover)

Don't Look Back in Anger (Oasis Cover)