On The Beach is a series of summer day concerts run with British station Radio X, all set on a giant stage on Brighton Beach. Past iterations have brought the likes of Royal Blood and Noel Gallagher in 2023, The Kooks and The Libertines in 2024, and both Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party last year. For this July, the other events cover ska and electronic music, with Madness on the 24th and Moby on the 26th, while Fatboy Slim is booked for three shows in his spiritual home across the 17th, 18th and 19th. The Maccabees, who play the biggest night of music in this years event on the 25th of July, chose to split and send the band off with a farewell tour in 2017, but returned for live shows starting with Glastonbury and a headline set at All Points East last year.

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The full lineup was announced yesterday on Dan O’Connell’s Evening Show on Radio X, as he sat down to chat with co-host Felix White, guitarist for The Maccabees. Under its former name XFM London, the station was the first to promote the group before their breakthrough, and Brighton was the place where they initially rose to prominence. Prior to the news, White was asked whether there might be new music in the pipeline for the band, to which he responded cautiously “it’s not a no at the moment.”

The day opens with local indie quartet Lime Garden, before singer-songwriter Damon Gough, better known as Badly Drawn Boy plays. Northern Irish cult classic rock band Ash take to the stage third, before the incredibly talented singer-songwriter Anna Calvi makes her appearance. Miles Kane is next up, bringing his captivating solo show, and Editors fill the penultimate set with their brand of darker post-punk. Finally The Maccabees close the night with what will most definitely be another emotional, long-awaited headline set.

Radio X On The Beach with The Maccabees runs from 1PM to 10:30PM on Saturday the 25th of July at Brighton Beach. The new wave of tickets go on pre-sale on Tuesday the 31st of March, with a sign-up link here. The Maccabees play On The Beach as part of a UK tour with tickets for other dates here. You can find the full tour dates below:

• 06/07 – Corn Exchange, Edinburgh
• 07/07 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
• 09/07 – Alexandra Palace Park, London
• 11/07 – Eden Project, St Austell
• 23/07 – Bristol Amphitheatre & Waterfront Square, Bristol
• 23/07-26/07 – Truck Festival 2026, Abingdon
• 25/07 – Brighton Beach, Brighton
• 31/07 – Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird’s will also embark on a set of outdoor performances throughout the summer, including a number of festival appearances. The 55-year-old rock star and his band are set to headline big festivals in the summer, including PennFest, Splendour Festival, On The Beach Brighton Festival, Hardwick Festival and the Rock N Roll Circus. His upcoming shows will be among Gallagher’s first performances since his career-spanning set which he performed at Glastonbury festival in 2022, on the pyramid stage. The band also announced a USA tour, which consists of 26-dates.

The announcement of the tour came after the release of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird’s latest single, ‘’Dead to the world.’’ The single has been released prior to Noel Gallagher’s forthcoming album release, Council Skies, which is his fourth studio album release with his High Flying Birds. The album is set to debut Friday June 2. ‘’Easy Now’’ and ‘Pretty Boy’’ are the other two songs already released from the album.

Whilst speaking about his brand new song, ‘’Dead to the world’’, Gallagher said the single is ‘’by some distance my favourite tune on the album. It has this film noir vibe. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done before. It’s very melancholic, but I like that. I’m a Gemini – I’m as up as I am down, and the trick is to meet somewhere in the middle and turn that into music.”

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 2023 UK Arena Tour Dates

30/8/23 – Hull Bonas Arena – Hull

14/12/ – Wembley Ovo Arena – London

15/12 – Utilita Arena – Birmingham 

17/12 – International Arena – Cardiff

18/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds

20/12 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow

21/12 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds Scheduled 2023 Outdoor Summer Shows

21/07/2023 – PennFest – Buckinghamshire 

23/07 – Splendour Festival – Nottingham 

28/07 – Crystal Palace Bowl – London

30/07 – On The Beach – Brighton

05/08 – Essex Audley End – Saffron Waldon

19/08 – Caldicot Castle – Monmouthshire

20/08 – Hardwick Festival – Sedgefield

24/08 – Vivary Park – Somerset 

26/08 – Wythenshawe Park – Manchester

27/08 – Kilmainham Royal Hospital – Dublin

01/09 – Rock N Roll Circus – Sheffield 

Deluxe Council Skies Album Track list

Disc 1

1. I’m Not Giving Up Tonight

2. Pretty Boy

3. Dead To The World

4. Open The Door, See What You Find

5. Trying To Find A World That’s Been And Gone

6. Easy Now

7. Council Skies

8. There She Blows!

9. Love Is A Rich Man

10. Think Of A Number

Disc 2

1. Don’t Stop… 

2. We’re Gonna Get There In The End

3. Mind Games

4. Pretty Boy (Instrumental)

5. Dead To The World (Instrumental)

6. Council Skies (Instrumental)

7. Think Of A Number (Instrumental) 

8. I’m Not Giving Up Tonight (David Holmes Remix)

9. Think Of A Number (Pet Shop Boys Magic Eye 12” Remix)

10. Pretty Boy (Robert Smith Remix)

11. Council Skies (The Reflex Revision)

12. Flying On The Ground (Radio 2 Session)

13. You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (Radio 2 Session)

14. Live Forever (Radio 2 Session, 08.09.21)

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday March 31. A special pre-sale will be available on Wednesday March 29, for fans who pre-order the forthcoming album, Council Skies, from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds official store. To access the tickets on the day of release, click here.

The mancunian legend is best known for his work in the band, Oasis, with his brother Liam Gallagher. He has developed a strong fan base throughout his successful career within the music industry and is now primarily focused on his rock band, High Flying Birds, which was formed in 2010. The band consists of former oasis members, Guitarist Gem Archer, Pianist Mike Rowe and Drummer Chris Sharrock. The group also has former Zuton’s band member, Russell Pritchard, who plays bass. On a Jonathan Ross interview in 2011, supporting his first studio album with the band, Noel confirmed that the name of the band was inspired by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac album and Jefferson Airplane’s song ‘’High Flying Birds.’’

Oasis split up in 2009 after an altercation between brothers Noel and Liam at the French Festival, Rock en Seine. Fans across the country have been calling on the feuding brothers in desperation for the band to come together for a reunion tour and when asked if an Oasis reunion will ever be on the cards, on BBC Radio Manchester earlier this year, Noel said ‘’You should never say never’’ but added ‘’It would have to take an extraordinary set of circumstances, but that’s not to say that those circumstances would never come about.’’

Liam has also been vocal about his views on an Oasis Reunion. In a 2022 interview with The Times, saying, ‘’I’d love Oasis to get back together. If it happens, it happens.’’ He also added ‘’we should never have split up, but we did, and this is where we’re at.’’ In another part of the interview, he explained “We split up nearly 13 years ago. It’s ridiculous. We can go on about whose fault it is, but he’s his own man. If he really wanted to get in contact, for my mum’s sake, he could do it, but he obviously doesn’t want to. There are only so many olive branches you can offer.” 

On June 2nd, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are set to release their fourth studio album Council Skies. Two singles from the album have already been released, ‘’Pretty Boy’’ and ‘’Easy Now.’’ This album is the follow-up to his most recent album release, which debuted in 2017, Who Built The Moon? Self-titled album Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Bird’s (2011) and Chasing Yesterday (2015) are the band’s previously released studio albums. When speaking about the upcoming album, Noel Gallagher expressed his visions for the new release, “It’s going back to the beginning. Daydreaming, looking up at the sky and wondering about what life could be … that’s as true to me now as it was in the early 90’s.’’

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will perform at the On The Beach Sunday event on July 30 2023. The tickets go on sale Friday 24 February at 10am. To access pre-sale tickets for the event, click here.