Noel Gallagher‘s High Flying Birds have announced former Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan as the support act for their 2023 UK arena tour.
Gallagher and his band will hit the road later this year for a series of gigs behind new album ‘Council Skies’.
Now, it’s been confirmed that Meighan will support the band on the December dates, which begin in London at Wembley Arena. It comes after he played with Gallagher at an Essex show this weekend (August 5).
Meighan was convicted of abusing his partner, Vikki Ager, in 2020 and sentenced at Leicester Magistrates Court to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty.
Around the time of the conviction, he parted ways with Kasabian – the chart-topping band he co-founded in 1997 – and explained that he had struggled “for many years with alcohol addiction” as well as seeing the events as a “wake-up call”. He and Ager went on to be married, with Meighan diagnosed with ADHD and saying that he was “deeply ashamed” of his abusive actions.
He went on to launch a solo career at the end of 2021, and play a number of headline shows and festival dates.
Tom Meighan. CREDIT: Gus Stewart/Redferns
Earlier this year, organisers of Sheffield’s Be Reyt Festival defended their decision to book Meighan as the headline act for the May event.
In a statement, they deemed the booking a “second chance”. The store and venue Record Junkee along with festival organisers Network issued a statement, explaining why they booked Meighan as a headline act, and encouraged fans to support the artist as he is “working hard to better himself”.
See Meighan’s UK arena tour dates with Noel Gallagher below.
DECEMBER
14 – OVO Arena Wembley, London
15 – Utilita Arena Birmingham, Birmingham
17 – Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff
18 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
20 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
21 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
Reviewing Gallagher’s recent outdoor London gig, NME wrote: “Whether Oasis get back together over the next year remains to be seen. For now, Gallagher senior still makes a pretty good substitute. Plus he’s a damn sight better than any AI replication of the band.”
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