On Friday, April 19, London's iconic Brixton Academy re-opened after being shuttered for 16 months following the tragic death of two people in a crush on December 15, 2022, caused by ticketless fans trying to force their way into a sold-out show by Afrobeat star Asake. The following Friday, April 26, as the venue eased its way back into full operations again, it played host to two tribute bands, the UK Foo Fighters and Definitely Mightbe, an Oasis tribute act.
But last night, May 7, fans attending the first of three scheduled shows by The Black Keys, were treated to a surprise appearance onstage by the real Noel Gallagher, as Oasis' former bandleader joined the Akron, Ohio duo to guest on encore tracks Only Love Matters and On The Game. Both tracks are included on The Black Keys' recently-released Ohio Players album, and both were co-written with Gallagher at London's Toerag Studios.
“Everyone told us, ‘He doesn’t co-write with anybody. He never does that’,” The Black Keys vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach told The Irish Independent newspaper earlier this year, “but we reached out, and he said he’d be interested if we came to London. So we hopped on a plane and we took a chance... He’s funny as hell to be around, and it was incredible to watch him do his thing and work his magic.”
Fans at Brixton Academy got to see Gallagher work his magic with the duo once more, and you can watch the performance of Only Love Matters and On The Game, filmed by fan Stanislav Rastvorov from the front row, in the footage below:
