Thursday: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds / Mona @ The LC

You know those concerts that you regret not going to the minute you make up your mind not to attend? In 1994 my friend (and Sony college rep) Andy called and said, “I’m going to Cleveland to see this band called Oasis at the Grog Shop. They are blowing up in the UK the way Pearl Jam is blowing up in the US. Want to go?” Hearing this, I thought Oasis MUST be a grunge band because that was all the rage but when I heard the Gallagher brothers, the music sounded nothing like the music coming out of Seattle so I passed on going with Andy.

I never did see Oasis live though I probably had some opportunities before they broke up. When the Gallagher brothers split off into two bands (Liam with Beady Eye, Noel under his own name), I pretty much decided that the only chance to see either band would be to travel to a HUGE city like New York or Chicago or L.A. So, yeah, I was a little caught off guard when it was announced Noel would be playing at the LC on March 29 and bought a ticket within hours of them going on sale.

The day has finally arrived. As if seeing Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds isn’t great enough (I put his self-titled debut on my “Favorites of 2011” list), the Nashville-by-way-of-Dayton band Mona (who opened – and thoroughly impressed – for The Joy Formidable at The Basement early in 2011) will kick the night off.

If you like peeking at Christmas presents before Christmas, here’s the set list from Noel’s March 13 show. You can bet it’ll be pretty similar – if not exactly the same – in Columbus (lots of Oasis songs in the mix!).