ALMOST to the day Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds returned to Cardiff, a year after playing the Motorpoint Arena.

This time it was the opening date to his tour, in the illustrious and beautiful settings of Cardiff Castle.

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The main support was provided by Gaz Coombes, who plays all his own solo stuff.

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Rather than rely on the former glory of Super Grass, he pulled from a wealth of his successful solo career.

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This made a refreshing change, with him and his band pulling off a tight and well played set.

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Shortly after this, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds swaggered on stage. #

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Grabbing their instruments, wasting no time, they fired up with their 2017 song Fort Knox which worked perfectly as an opener, as the crowd started chanting "Keep Holding On, Keep A Holding!"

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They went straight into Holy Mountain to a cheering and jumping audience, keeping the beat with a smooth groove of Keeping On Reaching.

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They continued with It's A Beautiful World, She Taught Me How To Fly and the new single Black Star Dancing before opting for an Oasis song, Talk Tonight.

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Contrasting their tireless no nonsense start to the set, they proceeded with a barrage of Oasis songs including The Importance Of Being Idle and Little By Little.

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They continued their monster set, with their own songs Dead In The Water, Everybody's On The Run, If I Had A Gun and AKA... What A Life, before moving into Oasis' Half The World Away, Wonder Wall, Stop Crying Your Heart Out and more.

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They closed the show with a great cover of All You Need Is Love by The Beatles.

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With nearly a decade established in the music business, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds are a well-oiled machine. They played almost note perfect and recreated the sound of their records live, with Noel himself stoically grafting away, putting real effort into his vocal and guitar performance. He seems on top of his game.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds UK tour continues through June.

Photos and review by Jeff Oram