Sunday, 30 September 2012


Seven days and the Magic refuses to fade away.

A bit of retromania, an ounce of yesteryear heroes and a dash of the latest rage. Voilà!  A perfect recipe. An entertainment line-up with universal appeal. And why not? When the world is looking at the year's mega-event and you have enthusiasts from diverse walks of life figuratively coming under one roof, you got to please 'em all!

2012 Singapore Grand Prix. A three day event when the atmosphere is nothing but electric. That of course if you leave aside the build-up.


The final day race will forever remain etched in the memory of Formula 1 fans,
Why? A snapshot before we embark on the musical blitz …

Lewis Hamilton shocker! Lap 23 and the 2008 world champion and McLaren-Mercedes driver retires from the race after his gearbox failed.
Seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) crashes into Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) halfway during the race: Schumacher recently got penalised with a 10-grid placing for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari) clash: No penalty for Senna but he retired from the race after reporting a loss of power.
F1’s youngest double champion: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) claimed his second win of the year in front of McLaren's Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) finishing third. Vettel, who also won in Singapore last year is now chasing a world title hat-trick.
And: Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)'s took a notable fourth and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) was fifth.


Getting back to the entertainment aspect…musical entertainment to be precise, Asia's reigning R&B king Jay Chou, had the ladies swooning on the opening day. Moreover, the stellar line-up comprised a distinct range right from superlatives such as The Pretenders who gave a sprightly performance and Chrissie Hynde,  sure lived up to the rocker chick persona. One of the beloved groups of a bygone classic era, Bananarama, who is now a duo, gave a taste of the 80's. Not to forget, pop-rock superstars Maroon 5 whose thrilling performance had female fan screaming and getting boisterous at the mere sight of front man Adam Levine. Moves Like Jagger with a snippet of Gangnam Style, surely sent the fans into a tizzy!

Raising the benchmark on the final race day, we had Noel Gallagher (the backbone of the legendary band Oasis)and his band Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. 2012 Singapore Grand Prix spectacularly wrapped up with amazing fireworks display, but not before the much anticipated performance by Billboard's Woman of the Year – Katy Perry who was the perfect icing on the F1 cake! Making a grand entry standing on top of a racing car, her performance was nothing short of energetic. Her fans had already swamped the fan zone with banners and fun gear from 2 P.M. even though the performance was at 10.30 P.M. ! She surely didn’t let any of her fans down with an electrifying show.  

However, the performance of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at the Padang stage, playing material from his critically acclaimed and successful self-titled debut album truly enthralled me, along with the Oasis / Noel fans who had gathered since early afternoon.


At around 6.40 P.M., just when the gathered fan's eagerness was hitting a crescendo, a recorded sound clip of AKA... What a Life! (The Amorphous Androgynous Remix) began to play. Shortly thereafter, Noel and friends walked onto the stage calmly and composedly to start off with one of Oasis' underrated songs (It's Good) To Be Free. It did feel that Noel was now free to do anything with the High Flying Birds. This laid a solid foundation to play a few tracks from the band's self-titled debut album. The first two psychedelic rock track were Everybody's on the Run and the catchy  Dream On.

If I Had a Gun… which is a slower track, had fans relish every bit of it. Followed by, The Death of You and Me which sure felt like a revisit to The Importance Of Being Idle.



Much to the delight of fans (after chanting hysterically for quite some time), the audience was treated to a "Noel-ised" version of Wonderwall, which was followed by a thunderous applause. (I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine, reminiscent  of his great work on Oasis masterpieces was lapped up by fans.

AKA...What a Life!, which in Noel's own words is a "disco-tune" gave a distinctive feel to the concert followed by Oasis' Talk Tonight.




After a pounding (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach, the band played three consecutive Oasis tracks, starting with the soulful Half the World Away. To this point, the F1 engines on the track started roaring deafeningly and Noel didn’t seem too happy about it. One of my personal favourites Little by Little (the music video of which has Robert Carlyle in it) was played next. Now the crowd wanted Supersonic and Don't Look Back in Anger. But given the tight timeline (the F1 race was to start within a few minutes), the last song played was the epic Don't Look Back in Anger. The mass singalong was a highlight which will stay in our heads for a long time even though the concert was crisp and short.

Oasis or no Oasis, Noel Gallagher can still deliver memorable and quality tunes. Here's hoping he breaks some new ground on his second album.