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Yes brothers and sisters. What a beautiful morning, no? It is where I am. On the way to Heathrow Airport that is. On the way to Belfast. Are you coming?
That Roundhouse gig was fuckin' far out. Those were there will tell you. James Bond! He was there. As was Russell Brand. Who incidentally has caused what seemingly has turned into a major shit storm. A sad sign of the times, I'm afraid. We live in a country where fat ugly columnists can somehow dictate to the rest of us what we should and shouldn't think. Who gives a shit anyway? Me? You? Max Clifford? And as for the 10,000 people who it took 5 days to be offended??......... go back to your coffee morning crosswords and fade to grey. Anyway, ask him he was there.
Just landed in Belfast. Pissing down. Still a bit fucked from Sunday. Gotta stop this drinking until breakfast malarky. Right I'm off.
Noel Gallagher says that the band would now have to think twice about coming back to Belfast again after some idiots constantly threw coins at them (Oasis) throughout the gig.
Noel was interviewed by local Northern Ireland radio channel "coolfm" , after last nights show at the Odyessey arena.
Noel said he was hit twice on the hand and that Andy Bell was hit in the head.
(Probally explains why Noel didn't speak to the crowd last night as he did on the first night)
Celebrated Sun photographer Dave Hogan's career � Illustrated in Words and Pictures
Covering 25 years of working closely with celebrities, rock stars and personalities Access All Areas features photographs from some of the most famous and infamous events on the planet. This is more than just a collection of his most famous photographs. Accompanying some of the most iconic images in the entertainment world today are the stories behind the shots; this is one of the most fascinating books of the year from the man with unprecedented access to the most famous stars of their time.
Dave Hogan began his photography career at Stringfellows over 25 years ago and has since shot every major pop, rock and film star and red carpet event including Live Aid and Live 8. He is Getty Images' and The Sun's celebrity photographer. This book is a fascinating roller-coaster ride through his 25 year career photographing stars from Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, U2, Duran Duran, Madonna, Britney Spears ( yes that kiss was one of Dave Hogan's shots!), Kylie Minogue, and many more.
Dave Hogan was famously run over by Madonna and appeared on the front page of The Sun with the headline 'Maimed by Madonna'. Despite the world-wide furore Dave Hogan refused to sue Madonna and went on to photograph her again.
Published by Green Umbrella and available through play.com.
Oasis songwriter could definitely (maybe) help save the industry
I�d love to know Noel Gallagher�s thoughts on pubs. The mono-browed Mancunian songwriter seems to have strong opinions on most things.
His latest outpouring has been on the subject of the Beeb�s Manuelgate scandal (quelle surprise, or should that be, que surprise) - and hits the spot in a roundabout way.
Gallagher told BBC Radio Ulster's Across The Line show the media had overreacted to the incident, describing it as at worst as a �juvenile prank�.
�Personally, I'm outraged that, yet again, the joyless f**kers who write the columns in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph or The Observer have dictated the tone and are telling people how to behave,� he said.
�I've seen the Daily Mail, they said that Russell should be arrested and charged. Arrested for what? For taking the p*ss? It's so typical of the English in general. 10,000 people get outraged, but only days after it has happened.�
Quite. Now, admittedly Noel was a frequent guest on Brand�s show and considers him a friend � so Noel has a certain personal interest in the matter. And in the past i haven't always agreed with his opinions.
But here I think he makes a valid point about the media witch-hunt that followed a full two weeks after the broadcast.
Yes, it�s no way for anyone to behave � least of all two highly paid stars who should know better.
But the reaction has been completely over-the-top � and much darker forces are at play in the way the media has attacked the Beeb, particularly the Daily Mail.
Anyway, I�m sure the subject will continue to spark deabate in pubs up and down the country in days to come.
Oh, and if anyone happens to bump into Noel, supping on a pint of Guinness � see what his thoughts are on helping save the industry�
NOEL GALLAGHER still blames his brother Liam for Oasis's failure to crack America.
They have been the biggest band in the UK since the middle Nineties, but blew their chance to become the biggest band in the world by not following U2 and Duran Duran in making it big in the US.
The early Nineties had all but forgotten British rock with American grunge reigning supreme.
In Britain, Oasis's brand of indie punk and singalong anthems was a breath of fresh air. America was waiting for Britain's latest exports.
But in August 1996, a week after pulling out of the band's MTV Unplugged gig, Liam walked out of Heathrow airport minutes before the band were due to leave for Chicago for the start of their American tour.
They never regained the momentum.
Noel said: "I still blame him for the fact we never cracked the US.
"When we had one of the biggest selling albums in the world, and were about to begin a crucial US tour, he arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse that he couldn't get on the plane and left us stranded."
At the time, Liam ranted:"I'm mad for it, but I have to move house. I can't go looking for a house while I'm trying to perform for silly f*****g Yanks."
The momentum they had as the UK's hottest new rock band, that had seen their 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? going to No.4 in America and selling four million copies there alone, was lost.
Although 1997 album Be Here Now went to No.2 in the US, it only sold a million there and subsequent albums didn't grace the American top 10 until current long player Dig Out Your Soul, which went to No.5 this month.
When Liam did arrive in America, his appearance at the MTV Awards in 1996 was appalling. He swore, hurled a can of beer into the crowd and spat.
At least Amy Winehouse had the sense not to turn up.
Nowadays, the Gallagher brothers seem to have swapped roles. Liam has become the consummate professional - a family man who keeps fit and likes watching SpongeBob Square Pants.
It's been left to 41-year-old Noel to keep the Oasis rock 'n' roll star credentials in shape.
He may have a young son, Donovan Rory MacDonald, with Scots girlfriend Sara and eight-year-old daughter Anais with ex-wife Meg Mathews, but Noel is happy to slag everyone from Amy Winehouse to Dannii Minogue.
And he was pushed over on stage by a fan in Toronto last month. Noel thought he'd been stabbed when the man shoved him from behind and is still on medication for three cracked ribs while on a UK tour.
Oasis play Aberdeen tomorrow and Sunday before Glasgow's SECC on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Noel still can't believe what happened and once again has taken a pop at Liam. He said: "People are talking about how well Liam reacted.You can see him on the clip going to hit the guy who attacked me.
"But if you look carefully, you'll see he only starts to react when I'm surrounded by security guards.
"The guy had been backstage where it had been raining. He hit me from behind and I fell on to the monitor. I immediately felt a really sharp pain in my back - where the ribs had cracked.
"Then I looked down at my leg and he had left wet footprints on me. I thought it was blood. I was s******g myself.
"Up until that point, everything had been going great.The tour was going really well, PaulWeller had just been on before us and we had a monumental p**s-up planned with him later that night. Next thing I know, I'm in hospital.
Where were security?
"Obviously now we have to rethink our security situation, but we don't want to get like Madonna and travel around with 400 people."
THE band are also proving that they haven't become a heritage act like The Rolling Stones, who can sell shed-loads of tickets for gigs but whose new albums are outsold by Bob The Builder.
As well as their seventh album, Dig Out Your Soul, going straight to No.1 in the UK and hitting the American top 10, 500,000 tickets for their 2009 stadium tour, including a date at Edinburgh's Murrayfield on June 17, sold out in five hours last Friday.
They could do another Knebworth - the two huge gigs Oasis played in 1996 that one in 20 Britons applied for and 250,000 people saw live.
Indeed when tickets went on sale for their Slane Castle gig in County Meath next June, 50,000 of the 80,000 tickets were snapped up in just an hour.
Love for Oasis seems as strong as ever with Noel becoming the godfather of British indie music.
But he reckons he's always kept his feet on the ground.
He said:"Despite all that has happened - those massive selling albums, those huge gigs at Knebworth, being called the saviours of British music - I've retained my identity.
"Even at the very height of our success, I never thought I was any better than the next person.The opposite is probably the case. I'm still sitting here waiting for my luck to run out."
Of course, we all know the story. Noel was a roadie for the Inspiral Carpets when he heard his young brother Liam had started a band calledThe Rain.
Noel joined and, on a trip to Glasgow to play KingTut's in 1993, was spotted and signed by Alan McGee to his Creation Records, despite Bono's label Mother Records offering them three times the cash.
Noel said: "That was a lot of money for unemployed Manchester kids.
"We stayed with Creation because Alan had the contracts done up and had always said how much he believed in us."
Debut album Definitely Maybe and debut single Supersonic were an impressive statement of intent.
And it only got better. Subsequent singles included Live Forever, Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger followed from second album (What'sThe Story) Morning Glory?, which is the UK's third biggest-seller.
But cocaine took hold of the band and although Be Here Now sold over 420,000 copies on the first day of its release in 1997, it failed to live up to the hype.
Noel said:"I still tell people that the Be Here Now is the best advertisement against taking cocaine. It goes on too long, it's smothered by its selfimportance - the same as coke users are.
"When I was writing these 11-minute epics, I kept waiting for someone in the studio to turn to me and say"I think that's a bit long" but no one ever did.
"I often think of going back to that album, using ProTools and re-editing the whole thing.The same as Paul McCartney did when he took Phil Spector's strings off The Long And Winding Road.
"Then I think, 'Hold on, that album is part of the rollercoaster ride of being in a band'. There's going to be all these ups and downs and ins and outs. Otherwise you might as well be in Keane".
And while Noel claims he's going to do a solo album, he also has 30 songs going spare from Dig Out Your Soul.
Never great with lyrics, Noel said:"I was talking to my manager last week about hiring a lyric writer to come in and finish them off. I can hear girls singing three of the songs. But no, Amy Winehouse isn't getting them."
'He arrived at the airport, gave some ludicrous excuse that he couldn't get on the plane to the US and left us stranded'
Liam Gallagher on Discovering the Beatles and the Death of the Rock Star "Why would you want everyone to like you?"
With their new album Dig Out Your Soul out and an international tour underway, Rolling Stone caught up with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher to chat about the first record that blew his mind, how he measures success and God's musical prowess.
I was listening to Dig Out Your Soul on My Space and reading through the comments. Did you check out any of those?
No, I don't do any of that nonsense, MySpace rubbish. I don't listen to comments. I just make the record and hope people like it; if they don't like it I give a shit. I wait to go on tour. That's how I work. That's the music Oasis are making and that's how I judge success, is by making the music you want to make and not having to fucking sell out and make music what other people want you to make.
But the comments have been phenomenally positive, with people saying it's your best album since '95.
That sounds good. That's what I like to hear.
The record has a lot of live energy. Were you thinking of how it would translate to the stage?
I wasn't personally 'cause they're the musicians. I always sing it like it's fucking the last song I ever sing. But I think Noel definitely wanted to be a bit more heavy and not so acoustic.
I know you did a tour with the Black Crowes. Chris Robinson recently was talking to me about the fact if you stay around long enough you become cool again. Seems like that's happening with Oasis here as well.
That's something I think about a lot and I remember Paul Weller telling me that. But I don't worry about that; I'm happy with the way Oasis is. But he was talking about the cycles; it comes and goes. It's like songwriting. It's not a race. It's about the quality you put out more than the quantity. And I love the Black Crowes. The way I judge success is we're doing it on our own terms and that outweighs any fucking success. If I can get through this, the whole Oasis thing, knowing I didn't fucking suck cock, then that is a huge success to me.
Tell me about "I'm Outta Time."
That's a song I had about three years ago and I demoed it in our studio. I got the verses and the music, the chorus took like fucking years to write, I just couldn't get anything. One day I was fucking about and it just happened. I thought, "All right, that's the song done. It's fucking done." I was playing it and the outro goes round and round, it needs something � obviously I'm a big John Lennon fan and it's got a bit of a Lennon vibe, so I thought, "Well, I've got to find a bit of him speaking." So we went through all these old interviews, that's the first one I found, and it just sort of worked. It's not a tribute to John Lennon because if you sat down and tried to write a tribute to John Lennon it'd be fucking rubbish, but it's kind of a nod.
How old were you when Lennon was shot?
I was eight. "Imagine" is the song for me, because I was putting the TV on and I remember that song being on all the time and just thinking, "Who's this guy?" and all that and then obviously you forget about it and go to school. Later on in life I got into the Beatles, the whole band and stuff.
So what was the first record that blew you away?
I never got into music until I was about 16, man. The first record that blew my head off was the Stone Roses album. That was the one I thought, "That's it." I mean, we had the Smiths and all that around the house, and the Specials and all that, but I was out playing football. It just wasn't my time yet. [Noel] brought home the Stone Roses record and I was ready then. I was at that age, so I was just hooked. And then that opened the doors to all this,"What does that sound like? And I need more music that sounds like this. I wonder what their influences are." Hendrix, the Who, Beatles, the Stones, and it just opened the door to all this other music.
When you recall hearing Stone Roses, do you ever think about the fact that you now have albums that have that same influence on kids who are 16?
I appreciate that people feel that way about the music, but to me it's all bollocks. But I can go with it and I know what it's like for kids to go up to me; that's why I've never been a cunt with anyone who wants to meet me or meets me in the street 'cause you can make or break their day. When I met Ian Brown he was just the coolest geezer ever for me; we've become kind of mates. That's what it's all about. And that's another way I can measure success. People don't buy records and shit these days, but we've sold our fair share of records and I'm quite proud of what we've done. But meeting cool kids that come up to you in the street, that's another level of success I like.
Are you guys big fans of your tour opener Ryan Adams?
Well, I'd never heard any of his music. I've heard of the guy himself, but I tell you what, mate, he blew me away. I thought he was pretty fucking great.
Have you heard his version of "Wonderwall"?
No, I've never heard it, but that was the only way I'd heard of the guy, there's some guy called Ryan Adams who's done "Wonderwall.'" "Bryan Adams?" "No, Ryan Adams." I tell you what, he's a serious musician, that kid, he's mega. I don't like many people. But it was a privilege for us to play gigs with him.
Do rock stars exist anymore?
I'm sure these kids in bands think they're rock stars these days, and I'm sure they are to a certain extent. To me, there's a lot of people making music in bands and there's not so many rock stars around. And I don't know what it is, mate. I think they're trying too fucking hard and it's coming across really fake.
Are there any bands at the moment you're digging?
The band that I like at the moment is Kasabian. They've got it; they've got the look, the tunes, they say just the right amount of stuff, they don't fucking rub it and rub it and rub it. I like them and the Arctic Monkeys are great, but they're not rock stars. That's really it. I like the Kings of Leon, but I don't know about this fucking new record. I like the old stuff, but I like his voice, you can always tell his voice when it comes on. But it seems to me they've gone for the bucks, man. When they first come out I was going, "Who the fuck is this?" They were cool and now they've all got their sleeves cut off. And I'm not dissing them because I fucking really like them, but it's like they've got this U2 sound and you can do better than that.
I've always believed if everybody likes you, you're doing something wrong. Well yeah, why would you want everyone to like you? That was the beauty of things growing up; not everyone was into the same music as you and that's what stood you apart from everyone. You go into school and you go, "I'm different from you, man." "Why?" " 'Cause I like the fucking Stone Roses. Who do you fucking like? You like Madonna." If everyone's all into the same thing that's when you lose your identity. And it's like the clothes you wear, that's what I find today in England, all the people that are in bands are wearing the same fucking clothes � wearing skinny jeans, wearing these pointy fucking shoes, a little tie, a little waistcoat, a little tight T-shirt and it's like, "Fucking A, do you all live in the same fucking house? Do you all shop at the same fucking shop?" Everyone in bands, they're all wearing the same fucking clothes, they all must shop at the same fucking shop. It's like, "Fuck that."
I was reading an interview where the guy asked you what you'd be doing if you weren't a musician ?
I'd buy a ticket for Oasis.
Well, in this interview you said you'd be God, that's the next highest thing to being in Oasis. So where would being in the Beatles rank on that list?
It's got to be being in Oasis, man.
So, how about the Beatles versus God? It's got to be being in the Beatles. When was the last time God made a decent record?
Hardly offensive' says guitarist about radio debacle
Oasis' Noel Gallagher has said he is "outraged" at the furore surrounding his friend Russell Brand's radio scandal.
Presenters Brand and Jonathan Ross are suspended from the BBC after making prank calls to actor Andrew Sachs, during which they made comments about Brand sleeping with his granddaughter.
Brand subsequently quit his post as a BBC Radio 2 presenter.
Gallagher told BBC Radio Ulster's Across The Line show that he believed that the media furore surrounding the incident was an overreaction, and described the incident as "at worst a juvenile prank."
"I spoke to Russell, he told me he was going to fall on his sword," Gallagher said. "Personally, I'm outraged that, yet again, the joyless fuckers who write the columns in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph or The Observer have dictated the tone and are telling people how to behave.
"I've seen the Daily Mail, they said that Russell should be arrested and charged. Arrested for what? For taking the piss? It's so typical of the English in general. 10,000 people get outraged, but only days after it has happened."
Gallagher added: "At worst it was a juvenile prank that wasn't unfunny but it's hardly offensive. I feel bad for Russ, 'cause he really loved doing the show. I loved being on it as well."
More of the interview with Gallagher will be broadcast Across The Line's Monday evening (November 3).
The Killers and Glasvegas were caught up in the Brand/Ross scandal, with the former having their appearance on 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' pulled and the latter having an appearance on 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' shifted.
IT IS the moment 17,000 Oasis fans have been awaiting for nearly three years.
The legendary Manchester band make their long-awaited return to the north-east this weekend, playing two sell-out concerts at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Tickets for both concerts sold out in a record seven minutes back in August, making the Britpop heroes the fastest selling single act to ever visit the venue.
This latest tour coincides with the release of the band�s seventh album Dig Out Your Soul, which was recorded at Abbey Road studios.
In a recent interview, guitarist Gem Archer, who joined the band around 1999 after the departure of original members Paul �Bonehead� Arthurs and Paul �Guigsy� McGuigan, said: �I still love it.
�The cliche is normally that bands can�t wait to get away from their music once it�s recorded, but I nearly listened to it again last night.
�In the past, if you�d been out with Liam (Gallagher) at night and you ended up back at his house after the pub had shut, he�d play you the new album 15 times, but this time around, you might get it 30 times. That says it all.�
Oasis last performed before a sell-out crowd in the Granite City back in December 2005.
The Manchester band, famous for hits like Wonderwall, Don�t Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova, will be hoping for a warmer welcome than they got in Toronto, Canada, last month, when Noel Gallagher was attacked and pushed over during an incident on stage, breaking three ribs.
Tickets for both concerts are sold out, but check the classified section of the Press and Journal for tickets from private sellers.
Tickets for the Oasis gig at Murrayfield next summer go on sale at the Aberdeen Music Hall tomorrow between 10am and 6pm. Fans will have to buy their tickets in person.
Gallagher's Get High Level Briefing on Peace Process
Oasis superstars Noel and Liam Gallagher were brought up to speed about the peace process by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness on board a flight to Belfast yesterday.
The brothers found themselves seated next to the Sinn Fein man on an afternoon flight from London ahead of last night�s Odyssey Arena concert.
Eyewitnesses on the plane said Mr McGuinness seemed to be in deep conversation with the world-famous rockers.
When the flight arrived at George Best Belfast City Airport the Deputy First Minister shook their hands before alighting.
One woman, who did not wish to be named, said she could not believe her eyes when she saw the Gallaghers.
�I went over and got my photograph taken with Liam. He was really lovely but a lot smaller than I imagined,� she said.
The band were then ushered out through an emergency exit at the airport.
Last night a spokesman for Mr McGuinness confirmed that he had met the Gallaghers on board the flight to Belfast and that they had seemed interested in the ongoing Ulster peace process.
�Martin has met the Gallagher brothers before at Heathrow Airport and, yes, he was talking to them again yesterday,� he said. �They seemed genuinely interested in what is going on here and seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about the situation as well.�
The spokesman said that Mr McGuinness liked the band�s music and that his favourite Oasis song was their massive hit anthem Wonderwall. But he said he would not be attending either last night�s or tonight�s shows at the Odyssey due to work commitments.
IN THE mid-1990s rock was in a perilous state as manufactured groups Take That, The Spice Girls, and Boyzone dominated the charts but a group of Mancunians called Oasis were about to bring guitar-based music back.
Swaggering lead singer Liam Gallagher was like a cross between Johnny Rotten and John Lennon and his brother Noel was an expert songwriter. With Paul �Bonehead� Arthurs on guitar, Paul McGuigan on bass and Tony McCarroll on drums, their album Definitely Maybe in September 1994 became the fasting selling British debut of all time.
Bonehead is now a solo singer-songwriter and plays an acoustic show at The Crane Bar on Wednesday November 5.
Bonehead, Noel, and Liam Gallagher grew up in the predominantly Irish area of Burnage and attended local Catholic schools. Their formal education was short as from an early age they took jobs in the construction industry.
Both families had Mayo connections. Bonehead�s father Ben is from Foxford and the Gallagher�s mother Peggy is from Charlestown.
Bonehead worked as a plasterer alongside his father but by the mid 1980s he had formed his first band Pleasure And Pain. By the late 1980s he got together with Chris Hutton, Guigsy, and Tony McCarroll to form The Rain - the precursor to Oasis.
Bonehead said of the group in the 1996 Paul Mathur�s book Take Me There: Oasis The Story: �Rain were really, really sad - absolutely terrible. I had this weird long hair - bald on top - and Guigs was really fat. We did cover versions of songs like �Wild Thing� and we were playing these s**t gigs round Manchester, going nowhere.
�Eventually we sacked the singer - which wasn�t exactly a smart move because none of the rest of us could sing. So we were looking for a replacement and someone said, �Have you heard Noel�s brother Liam? He sings a bit.� So we got him along to an audition and he was really good. We thought �Right, let�s have him in the band. Maybe we can really do something.��
Liam renamed the band Oasis and when his brother Noel was home from an American tour with Inspiral Carpets he invited him along to see the group. Noel described Oasis as �utter sh**e�! Unperturbed Liam invited Noel to come on board as main songwriter and leader of Oasis.
�He had loads of stuff written� Bonehead recalled to John Harris in 2004. �When he walked in, we were a band making a racket with four tunes. All of a sudden, there were loads of ideas.�
Under Noel Gallagher�s leadership Oasis quit their day jobs to concentrate on the group full time. At a club in Glasgow in 1993 they were �discovered� by Creation Records owner Alan McGee and he was so impressed that he signed them to the label four days later. The rise of Oasis over the next 18 months was meteoric.
However, the band�s drink and drugs intake had spiralled out of control and in early 1999 the relationship between Bonehead and Noel Gallagher had broken down. That year Arthurs quit Oasis to �concentrate on other things�.
Since then he has formed a short-lived band with The Smiths� Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke and has also toured with Thai superstar Sek Loso. He has also become a noted DJ and co-presents a show on BBC Radio Manchester with Terry Christian.
On the night Bonehead will be joined by Pete McLeod. Support is from Whipping Boy�s Ferghal McKee.
For tickets contact The Crane on 091 - 587419 or go to www.thecranebar.com
Noel Gallagher's Comedian Pal Russel Brand Quits BBC Radio
Russell Brand has resigned from his Radio 2 show over prank calls he made with Jonathan Ross to the actor Andrew Sachs.
The comic said he took complete responsibility and that due to the strong public reaction, he thought it was only right he stopped doing the show.
He said: "I got a bit caught up in the moment and forgot that at the core of the rude comments and silly songs were the real feelings of a beloved and brilliant comic actor".
Mr Brand also lent his support to Jonathan Ross and said that he now hoped "Jonathan and the BBC will endure less forensic wrath".
He addded "I've loved working for the BBC and am very proud of the shows myself, Matt Morgan, Nic Philps, Mr Gee and Noel Gallagher have made and I apologise to all of them for damaging their careers - except Noel, whose band are doing quite well."
Ryan Adams who is supporting Oasis on their US tour leg plays secret show in New York coffee shop
Singer gives 100 fans a lunchtime treat
Ryan Adams and The Cardinals celebrated the US release of new album 'Cardinology' yesterday with an eight-song acoustic performance at Caf� Select in New York's Soho.
The singer/songwriter was in jokey spirits, according to a report on the Modern Age blog, and spent the gig chatting with the crowd and taking requests.
"Shit's going to get weird and awesome," the singer later told told Billboard. "Because we're into bands like Oasis and Foo Fighters: big, monolithic rock bands who really explore all those areas. That's what The Cardinals is. That's the work I want to do."
Watch footage from the lunch time gig below.
Ryan Adams played:
'Born Into A Light' 'Evergreen' 'Natural Ghost' 'Fix It' 'Magick' 'If I Am A Stranger' 'Cherry Lane' 'Let Us Down Easy'
'Cardinology' - the tenth studio album by Ryan Adams, and his fourth album with The Cardinals - was released on Monday (October 27).
via L4e source: nme.com/youtube/photo: Kyle Dean Reinford
Oasis fans are advised to be on the lookout for fake tickets and ticket scam websites.
We have been alerted to an unauthorised web site trading as oasistickets. This site is registered with an anonymous domain registry in Madeira and is hosted in Hungary. It has been reported to the police as suspicious. We have also discovered a number of high quality ticket forgeries on the current Oasis UK Arena tour.
We would urge Oasis fans not to buy tickets other than through established, well known authorised ticket agencies to avoid disappointment.
In addition to Oasisinet, the official agencies for the Oasis 2009 UK and Ireland Stadium tour are:
Ireland - Ticketmaster and associated outlets
Scotland - Secxtra, Ticketmaster, and See Tickets
England and Wales - See Tickets, Ticketmaster, Gigs and Tours, Ticketline, Ticket Factory and Stargreen (London only).
Oasis' Noel Gallagher has revealed that he has written and demo-ed his band's next album and has got the ball rolling for his solo album.
The guitarist told Billboard that songs set for the follow-up to the band's recently-released seventh album 'Dig Out Your Soul' include 'I Want to Live in a Dream In My Record Machine' and 'Come On It's Alright'.
He described the two songs as "psychedelic epics", and said he planned to recruit a choir to contribute vocals to them.
Gallagher said the new material echoed the work of The Kinks. "They all seem to be based around the same four or five chords," he expalined. "It's vastly different from what ['Dig Out Your Soul'] is."
He added: "There's stuff about soldiers and religious people and rock stars and travellers. They seem to be all songs about people, but not people I know. And they all seem to have a narrative; it's kind of like a story which follows on from song to song."
Speaking about his solo album plans, Gallagher said: "I'm going to do one sooner or later � hopefully sooner rather than later.
"I'm kind of hoping Liam might be arrested soon, and then I'll have time to see it through."
Dig Out Your Soul, Oasis� seventh studio has been described as the band back in rocking form, with many claiming that the notorious brothers Gallagher have finally got their swagger back. The best received Oasis record within the last decade, it�s has been compared to their world-famous debut Definitely Maybe. What the fans really want to know is, �what�s changed this time around?� Have the band taken up yoga, gone all macrobiotic or has fatherhood sharpened their pens? Funny or Die, the world�s most successful comedy web site, have created a spoof video interview of the brothers Gallagher as they explain the new influences feeding their musical mojo and talk us through the highlights of the latest album.
Watch Liam ingeniously compare songwriting to �making a sandwich with your face - bit of bacon, bit of cress, yellow pickle, brown pickle.....� and get some exclusive audio snippets of the band�s new material from the sun-soaked reggae ska tune, Jamming In the Sunshine to the happy hardcore referencing, Wings Of Love. The highlight of the album has to be the ballad, Nicole, which has nothing to do with Ms Appleton but rather is the tale of Liam �aving it with a f***in bird, who just happens to be called Nicole and wasn�t in a band called All Saints.� Noel ends proceedings by stating that �...at the end of the day, that is it,� but leaves us hopelessly in the dark as to what exactly �that� is.
OASIS Dig Out Your Soul (2008 promotional goodie bag containing; a metal pin badge measuring approximately 1'' diameter with Oasis logo in gold; a full deck of playing cards [56 in total with picture cards for the kings, queensand jacks] housed in a maroon coloured box measuring approximately 3 1/2'' x 2'' with custom Oasis logo printed one side in white; a 'smokey' 1 Watt guitar amp built into a cigarette packet with input jack, external speaker jack and 2''speaker. The red and white coloured box measures approximately 3 1/2'' x 2'' and displays an all-over custom printed Oasis logo design in black and blue; an unworn 'large' short-sleeved white T-Shirt made of 100% cotton, with big 'apple' print design in black, blue and red; all housed in an ecru/ natural coloured cotton canvas tote bag brandishing a custom screen printed Oasis logo design on one side in black, blue and red, with two sturdy carrying handles. Size - approximately 16'' x 15'' [rising to 28'' with the handles included] - a fantastic one-of-a-kind promotional package!) more here.
And don't forget to check out the EIL Oasis Collectors Store for prices slashed up to 50% Off
Oasis' latest album, "Dig Out Your Soul," has only been out three weeks, but Noel Gallagher says he's "already written" and demoed the group's follow-up.
Gallagher tells Billboard.com that he started writing the songs while mixing "Dig Out Your Soul" in Los Angeles. The "psychedelic epics" "I Want to Live in a Dream in My Record Machine" and "Come On It's Alright," on which he hopes to use a choir -- were in place for the current album but put aside when Gallagher's brother, Oasis frontman Liam, "ran out of time" to record them.
Noel compares the new material to "mid-era Kinks," referencing songs such as "Dead End Street" and "Harry Rag." "They all seem to be based around the same four or five chords," Gallagher says. "It's vastly different from what ('Dig Out Your Soul') is."
There's also a thematic unity that he likens to Neil Young's "Greendale." "It's kind of like that, but modern," Gallagher says. "There's stuff about soldiers and religious people and rock stars and travelers. They seem to be all songs about people, but not people I know. And they all seem to have a narrative; it's kind of like a story which follows on from song to song."
With a tour underway -- and a North American leg starting Dec. 3 in Oakland, Calif. -- Gallagher won't predict when we'll ultimately hear this new music, however. "This tour's gonna take us to the end of next year," he says, "and then it depends on what everybody wants to do. I think it'll happen when it's meant to happen. We just work on our own timetable."
Gallagher, who's almost fully recovered from injuries suffered in an onstage assault Sept. 7 in Toronto, is also still planning to make a solo album but isn't sure where that will fit in the timetable, either. "I'm going to do one sooner or later -- hopefully sooner rather than later," he says. "I'm kind of hoping Liam might be arrested soon, and then I'll have time to see it through."
Questions Wanted , Tickets Available and Matt Costa Onboard
Ask Noel
Every fan has a bunch of questions they'd love to ask their favourite band and in a special interview, to be broadcast this Boxing Day, Radio 2 will be giving you the opportunity to submit your questions to Noel.
The deadline for entering your questions is midnight on Sunday 9th November so have a think what you'd most like to ask Noel then click here to submit.
OASIS UK STADIUM SHOWS: LIMITED ADDITIONAL TICKETS AVAILABLE
A very limited number of additional tickets have become available for Oasis' 2009 stadium shows. These are credit card returns from orders cancelled after credit card processing. A very small number of tickets are available for all shows.
So Oasis didn�t trash their hotel rooms or swear at staff when they stayed at the Captain�s Club in Christchurch last week.
These are four fortysomething family men who are known to take healthy eating seriously and are happy to discuss their fitness regimes rather than chuck their tellies out of the window and throw up in the foyer.
And 15 years ago they filled their boots to the brim with the rock �n� roll temptations of drink and drugs. Back then they were twentysomething survivors of a Burnage sink estate with more than a few quid in their pocket and wholly likely to continue doing exactly what their peers did.
What set them apart, even then, was that they rehearsed solidly for at least five hours a day and, according to Noel Gallagher, if anyone couldn�t make a rehearsal they were kicked out of the band.
It was that fierce self-belief, coupled with a cocksure swagger and unashamedly classic songwriting that made Oasis so important to millions of fans worldwide.
Far more telling was the way the band rallied round new drummer Chris Sharrock as he was reunited with a long-lost drumming pal from Liverpool, Bournemouth-based youth worker Joe Musker.
Having been tipped off about Joe�s website, offthestreets.co.uk/music/ drums, Chris contacted Joe and invited him and his son James along to see Oasis on Tuesday on the second of their two BIC dates. After the show Chris and Joe chatted about their old drum tutor in Liverpool, catching up on old times and talking about their kids� musical exploits. Guitarist Gem Archer spent time with 14-year-old James, taking an interest in the lad�s guitar playing and the drumming skills he�s inherited from his old man.
The enduring appeal of Oasis lies in the fact that the individual members are not that different from the people we are.
They�re not boys next door any more, they are hugely wealthy rock stars privileged to have seen and done things many people only dream about, but they have the good grace to maintain an ordinariness about them that millions can relate to.
l Joe has organised the Drumming For Life event on Saturday, November 8 in aid of the Youth Cancer Trust. A series of drum kits set up in six youth centres across Bournemouth and Poole will spring into life from noon when Paul Weller�s drummer Steve White gives the nod to Joe for more than 20 drummers to start playing at Linwood Youth Club in Winton.
Oasis attracted a star-studded audience as they closed the BBC Electric Proms in style at the London Roundhouse.
The Manchester five-piece drafted in the Crouch End Festival Chorus for six songs, including their most famous hits Wonderwall and Don�t Look Back In Anger.
James Bond star Daniel Craig, Joe Cole and comedians Russell Brand and Ralph Little were among the stars at the gig.
The show rounded off five days of music spread across Liverpool and London.
�Best ever�
Dean Swift, 17, from Wellington said the performance was the best he�d ever seen Oasis play.
He added: �That was blinding. That�s the best gig they�ve done. I saw them at Wembley Arena the other week but the choir added something different to them.�
Natlie Lawrenson, 22, from Barnsley travelled all the way down from Leeds to see her heroes perform.
She said: �I�ve seen Oasis a few times now but that was out of this world. To see them at such an intimate venue was just breathtaking. The choir added that extra wow factor too.�
Kicking off with Rock �n� Roll Star the band played a host of songs from their back catalogue along with six new tracks from their current album Dig Out Your Soul.
Both frontman Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel dedicated songs to their wives, who were watching in the audience, during their set.
Noel then introduced the band�s 50-member backing choir, who were dressed in plain clothes, at the beginning of Wonderwall b-side Masterplan.
�This is the Crouch End Choir, I won�t introduce them all by name because there�s 50 of them and we�ll be here all f*****g night,� he joked.
James Bond
The ensemble also teamed up with the band for I�m Outta Time, Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, I Am The Walrus and Number One hit Don�t Look Back In Anger, which saw the whole venue singing.
During the show, Noel spotted Daniel Craig in the crowd and said: �James Bond is upstairs, I might see if I can blag it so that he can get me the next James Bond theme tune instead of f****g dopey Americans doing it all the time.�
The actor was then greeted with chants of, �Who are you? Who are you?� from the fans before Noel interjected, �He�s Bond, James Bond�.�
He also pulled a similar trick with comedian Russell Brand later in the show when he dedicated Falling Down to the Radio 2 presenter.
�Russell will have been up there tonight trying to wangle some introduction to James Bond so he can become some effeminate James Bond baddie,� Noel added.
The band wrapped up the show with their cover of The Beatles classic I Am The Walrus before Noel added: �Thanks for coming. We�ll see you at Wembley next year.�
Earlier, Glasvegas opened the night by performing a host of tracks from their self-titled debut album including hit singles Geraldine and Daddy�s Gone.
Singer James Allan told Newsbeat that Oasis inspired him to form his own band. He said: �Before I saw Oasis I�d never really felt the urge to be in a band. They made me pick up a guitar.
�It�s great too because tonight I get to see them for free.�
Lucky Oasis Fan Catches Liam's Tambourine Again...10 Years Later
LEE Thomas is the world�s luckiest Oasis fan having TWICE caught a tambourine thrown by singer Liam Gallagher at two concerts more than a decade apart.
The Cardiff headteacher could not believe his luck when at Thursday�s Oasis concert in the CIA in Cardiff history repeated itself and he caught the lead singer�s tambourine when Liam tossed into the crowd. The same thing had happened when Lee was among the 8,000-strong crowd at the same venue on December 10, 1997. Lee said: �I was at the concert with my wife and father-in-law. They wanted to hang around near the back so I went up the front of the crowd for the first song, Rock �n� Roll Star.
�I have always been a big Oasis fan so I thought I would relive my youth and get up close. The song ended and Liam put it in his mouth. It is moon shaped so he was making a smiley face with it and then he threw it into the crowd and before I knew it I had grabbed it. �I put it up my jumper and made my way back to my wife Jo. I was absolutely delighted but I could not believe my luck and neither could Jo.� The chances of this happening twice in the CIA are around 64 million to one making Lee one of the luckiest Oasis fans in the world.
Lee returned to work in Meadowlane Primary in St Mellons on Friday with the tambourine to show the pupils. But the excitement was not as great as it had been in 1997 when he was a teacher at Marlborough Junior School in Penylan and Oasis were still one of Britain�s biggest bands.
�I had to give them a few clues last week. �They did not know Oasis but they did know songs like Wonderwall. �Both tambourines are exactly the same size and I will certainly look after them as a piece of Oasis memorabilia.�
Lee has another chance of adding to his collection of �shaker makers� next year when he will be among the 60,000-strong crowd at Oasis� gig in the Millennium Stadium in June.
Rock N Roll Star Lyla The Shock Of The Lightning Cigarettes And Alcohol Meaning Of Soul To Be Where There's Life Waiting For The Rapture The Masterplan (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus) Songbird Slide Away Morning Glory Ain't Got Nothing The Importance Of Being Idle I'm Outta Time (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus) Wonderwall (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus) Supersonic Don't Look Back In Anger (Acoustic) (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus) Falling Down Champagne Supernova (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus) I am the Walrus (with the Crouch End Festival Chorus)
From Noel Gallagher's Official Tour Diary on oasisinet.com
Yes people. We're on the bus. Leaving the Wales. Heading back to London. Cardiff, the shows and the people were brilliant. There was quite a bit of violence at both gigs. Not nice. Can't those fuckers take it outside. Or at least sort it out in the car park before the gig? Just a thought.
We did have much fun though. Caught up with Rhys and The Peth. Lovely, lovely lads.
The Peth - Shoot On Sight
The Roundhouse is up next. For them Electric Proms. With a 50-piece choir. Rehearsals were immense. Celestial in fact. I wish you could all come along and hear it. There's always YouTube though, eh?
By the way, if any of you got involved in any of that ticket buying business yesterday I thank you from the bottom of my guitar case. Can't speak for anyone else but I promise that I'LL be brilliant at those shows. Saying that - who knows where we'll be next year? There's plenty of time for the shit to hit the fan before then, eh?
BBC Radio 1, 21:00 to 22:30 'Oasis Live at the BBC Electric Proms'
Britain's greatest rock n roll band Oasis are the final headliner on this year's festival bill. Oasis are set to treat music fans to a very special performance at the festival and will be accompanied by the Crouch End Festival Chorus. Expect classic Oasis anthems and tracks from their highly anticipated latest album Dig Out Your Soul.
Radio 1 comes direct from the Camden Roundhouse in London for the finale of this year's BBC Electric Proms, featuring Oasis performing with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.
BBC HD, BBC 2 Scotland, BBC 2 England and BBC 2 NI are all at 2310 BBC 2 Wales at 2355
Edith Bowman presents the grand finale of the Electric Proms 2008. Oasis front a night of anthems with accompaniment from the 50-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus.
A Fan threw a Jumper at Noel Gallagher's Head during a concert at Cardiff International Arena yesterday. A visibly annoyed Liam came running to his brother's side. Not a very clever move on the fans part with the recent stage attack at Toronto's V Fest still in every body's mind.
From Noel Gallagher's Official Tour Diary on oasisinet.com
Now then. Hello there. I'm on a choo-choo train. On my way to Cardiff. I travel alone today. Sitting in silence. People watching. Perfect. I've got that bastard cold, see? Have you?
Bournemouth was odd. Strange clientele (I thought so anyway). Good shows though (I thought so anyway).
Just stopped at Reading. No one got off. No one got on. Just got a COFFEE from the "buffet trolley". I'm not much of a fan of coffee. Too middle class for me. But as I won't be served tea by anyone other than my missus, "coffee" it is.
Just stopped at Swindon. A person got off. Couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. They was too fat, y'see?
The scenery has become more green. it's nice, innit...the greenery? A couple of lads just come to say hello. They're going to see the gig, they say. So am I. They're already on the piss. Nice enough lads though.
That "coffee" was shit by the way. Better than the tea I expect though.
Why do trains do that thing? They all of a sudden go from 1,000mph to walking pace for 20 minutes. Why? Is it sleepy time for the cows and sheeps or summat? We're going REALLY fast again. Why?
We're stopping at Bristol. Let's see what happens here then, eh? Hmm..not a lot. 2 more stops to go. Newport and then Cardiff.
Oasis spent yesterday deep in rehearsals for their debut choral show � as my exclusive shot, below, shows.
The rockers play the BBC Electric Proms tomorrow night at London�s Roundhouse with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.
The choir will add new shades to the outfit�s towering rock anthems and you can catch the set on BBC2 at 10.45pm.
Meanwhile, the lads have added a third night to their Manchester and London shows next summer after tickets for the original gigs sold out within hours yesterday.
The band originally scheduled June 6 and 7 in their hometown�s Heaton Park and July 11 and 12 at Wembley Stadium.
But they will now also play Heaton Park on June 4 and Wembley on July 9.
As I revealed earlier this week, next year is set to be a brilliant 12 months for live music.
Not only do we have the Oasis shows, but Coldplay, Take That and U2 will be playing mega-gigs too.
Metal titans Metallica had a good day too.
Their first UK tour in more than a decade went on sale yesterday and sold out entirely.
Daniel Sullivan, the man accused of tackling Oasis singer Noel Gallagher on stage in Toronto last month, has had his case put forward to Nov. 25. He did not appear in court.
Sullivan was charged with assault after he allegedly managed to get on the stage at this year's Virgin Festival and jump on Gallagher from behind. The suspect then rushed towards Liam Gallagher but was tackled by security guards. Noel suffered injuries to his ribs and the British band was forced to cancel a number of concert dates.
The 47-year-old married father of three young boys works as a general contractor and lives in a middle class Pickering neighbourhood. He has not spoken about his case.
Sullivan was represented in Old City Hall Court today by lawyer Taragh Bracken, who refused to comment following the 30-second hearing. Crown attorney Ruth Nielson told popgoesthenews.com there are "outstanding disclosure" issues and added that Sullivan is not required to be in court on Nov. 25.
Oasis Sell Over Half a Million Tickets on First Day of Sale
Record breaking Oasis add Coventry show to 2009 tour
Oasis have revealed that their UK and Irish stadium tour has broken box office records - and they've added yet another date for summer 2009.
The band will now play Coventry's Ricoh Arena Stadium with support from hometown boys The Enemy on July 7.
Tickets for that show go on sale at 9am on October 30.
Sunderland, Edinburgh and Dublin are now also sold out, along with the original two nights at Manchester's Heaton Park and London's Wembley Stadium, which reached capacity earlier this afternoon.
Oasis have since added third nights in Manchester (June 4) and London (July 9) at the same venues.
With tickets going on sale at 10am (BST) this morning (October 24), the band had sold half a million tickets by 3pm.
Oasis co-promoter Chris York of SJM Concerts speculated that "this has to be the most tickets ever sold by an artist in the UK in one day".
A spokesperson for the band added: "This proves Oasis continue to go from strength to strength and increase in popularity. Following their fantastically received arena tour this autumn and critically acclaimed new album, these will be the must-see shows of 2009."
The full Oasis tour is now:
Manchester Heaton Park (June 4, 6, 7) Sunderland Stadium Of Light (10) Cardiff Millennium Stadium (12) Edinburgh Murrayfield Stadium (17) Dublin Slane Castle (20) Coventry Ricoh Arena Stadium (July 7) London Wembley Stadium (9, 11, 12)
Oasis have announced a third gig in their home town next summer after tickets for two planned shows sold out.
More than 140,000 tickets were snapped up within two hours for the open air shows as part of their Dig Out Your Soul World Tour.
The band will play the extra show on June 4, set to take place before the previously-announced shows at Manchester's Heaton Park on June 6 and 7.
The Gallagher brothers will also play at Sunderland's Stadium Of Light, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium, Dublin's Slane Castle and London's Wembley Arena.
The band are bringing fellow rockers Kasabian and the Enemy - both bands from the Midlands - as support for the shows.
Frontman Noel Gallagher said the bands were an obvious choice.
"Kasabian, we toured with them in the States a couple of year ago and we've since become quite close to them," he said.
"So we've always said when we were doing the big super gigs again we'd give them first option and as they're gonna have an album out it fits perfectly.
"And the Enemy, I've liked since I heard their first ever single. And I think with all three bands their on the one night, if I was 16 o 17 I'd be there."
OASIS WEMBLEY STADIUM CONCERTS ALSO SOLD OUT: THIRD NIGHT ADDED!
Following hot on the heels of their Manchester shows, both Oasis concerts at Wembley Stadium in July 2009 have now sold out and due to the phenomenal demand the band have announced a third night's performance in Britain�s showcase Stadium. Oasis will now be playing a third and final night Wembley Stadium, London on Thursday the 9th July, 2009 once again with very special guests Kasabian and The Enemy.
A very limited number of tickets are available for the remaining shows and fans are urged to book quickly to avoid disappointment.
Or in person at: Murrayfield Stadium: �2 plus c/card fees for credit cards. No b/f for cash/ debit card Aberdeen: Music Hall - �2 cash/ debit card Aberdeen: One Up Records - �2 cash/ debit card Dundee: Grouchos Records - �2 cash/ debit card Edinburgh: Tickets Scotland - �2 cash/ debit card Edinburgh: Ripping Records - �2 cash/ debit card Glasgow: Tickets Scotland - �2 cash/ debit card
Or in person at Slane Castle Estate Office (+35 341 982 4163) or at over 100 Ticketmaster outlets North & South (total �76.50 incl booking fee for personal callers to TM outlets)
Time for a confession � despite my regular attempts to position myself at the very crest oto position myself at the very crest of the zeitgeist wave at all times, I am a member of that exclusive and not very lauded group who has loved Oasis for 14 years without once wavering or admitting that they aren�t as good as they used to be.
I say �admit�, but that suggests I secretly believe they�ve lost it, so I should say �concur�, because I still can�t utter out loud, or commit to print the notion that Liam and Noel ever went off the boil.
I�m aware that there are many who will assume I�m both mutton-headed and out of touch for my loyalty to the brothers Gallagher, but there may be a few who will understand my heartfelt commitment to the cause. For me, betraying Oasis would feel like giving up on a much loved family member who changed my life when I was young by injecting it with such excitement, hope, passion and romance that I saw the world differently for evermore. Something far deeper than infatuation occurred when I fell in love with Oasis, and for those beautiful, heady times, I will always be grateful.
I first saw Oasis in March 1994 in the Tramway Theatre in Glasgow. I would have missed them� they were second or third on the bill � but my boyfriend at the time happened to have met them when he was a member of the long-forgotten Scottish indie band 18 Wheeler and briefly signed to the same label, Creation Records. Despite their rather unnerving reputation as troublemakers, my ex said that Oasis were �brilliant guys�, that Noel was �an undiscovered genius� and that the lead singer was �completely your type�.
When Oasis appeared that evening, there were about 30 people in the room, most of them sitting down. I�ll never forget the way Liam Gallagher sauntered on stage as if he was coming on to the applause of 100,000 screaming fans whom he had eventually, grudgingly, decided to placate. He nodded approvingly at himself, ignoring the audience, his bottom jaw jutting out with steely determination. He had already perfected that intimidating 1,000 yard stare which, it was later suggested, may be the result of impaired eyesight, but which gave him an immediate aura of entitlement.
My boyfriend was right, he was my type; dark and Irish with a Neanderthal sexiness and a great mod haircut. And then he sang! This was the mid 1990s, remember � British guitar pop was adrift in a sea of weedy, winsome voices like Damon Albarn�s, Jarvis Cocker�s and Brett Anderson�s. This rough-edged Lennon-esque rasp, full of raunch and self-belief, was a shocking, thrilling revelation.
Not many people saw Oasis that night, but NME journalist John Harris did, and he went back to the band�s hotel to record an interview with Liam and Noel that was so hilarious that he released it as a single under the name Wibbling Rivalry a year later (it reached No 52 in the charts). By then Oasis were the biggest band in Britain and the feuding Gallaghers � tough, smart, focused Noel and self-destructive, vulnerable, daft Liam � as well-known to the public as the prime minister.
In the meantime I�d seen them many more memorable times, and spent one delicious half-hour flirting my way (fruitlessly) through a chat with a passionate, funny, warm-hearted Liam. Their first T in the Park appearance, in a small tent, remains my favourite gig of all time. The atmosphere that day was terrifyingly intense, a kind of uncontrolled hysteria as close to Beatlemania as I�m ever likely to witness. As the Knebworth and Loch Lomond shows in the summer of 1996 proved, Oasis could unite hundred of thousands of disparate souls like no one else � they could provoke such violent feelings of love and ecstatic bliss that you were happy to throw your arms around people you would normally have changed trains to avoid.
They also kept surprising people � Liam could be as playful as a puppy or as monosyllabic and sulky as a chastised child. He developed an occasional habit of walking off-stage halfway through a show, or off planes taking him to the first stop on a world tour. In an increasingly stage-managed industry, he kept wafting in like a breath of fresh air.
After their second album in 1995, What�s the Story Morning Glory, Oasis were everyone�s favourite band, but I felt I had a
special connection with them which couldn�t be contested by the Johnny come latelys. Even when, working as a producer at Radio 1, I saw their 1997 single D�You Know What I Mean being delivered by a grim-faced SWAT team to ensure its safe arrival, I refuted accusations that the band�s egos were out of control (Noel unfortunately later confessed that they were).
I had one of the most unforgettable nights of my life in October 1997, when a drunken Noel and Liam came into the Radio 1 studios to be interviewed live by a nervous Steve Lamacq. I sat in the adjoining studio, gazing through the glass, as Liam launched into the most outrageous and funny rants ever committed to tape.
After threatening �old farts out of the day centre like Keith F**king Smitchards� to a duel on Primrose Hill and having a go at Noel for selecting a �sh*t� dance record, he walked out. The papers next day were full of outrage about his disgraceful language but I felt secretly very proud that he had been grinning at me through the glass while he�d been talking, and that I, by clearly enjoying every word, had only encouraged him (the interview can still be heard in all its glory on YouTube).
It may be true that Oasis have never quite repeated the creative highs of their first two albums, but there is always something wonderful on an Oasis record, apart from Liam�s soaring vocal. Be Here Now, which Noel now says was a reflection of their bloated egos and cocaine habits, houses the truly beautiful Don�t Go Away. Heathen Chemistry has the show-stopping singalong Stop Crying Your Heart Out.
Seeing Oasis live never stopped being a hugely exciting and utterly unpredictable prospect � only this week Noel admitted that the craziest show I ever saw, at Wembley Stadium in 2000, during which Liam seemed to be entirely unaware of his surroundings and Noel looked perpetually ready to kill him, was the result of Liam �being out all night with a Spice Girl�.
And perhaps least predictable of all is Oasis� current resurgence. Their new album, Dig Out Your Soul, sold 90,000 copies on its first day of release, making it the fastest-selling album of the year after Coldplay�s Viva la Vida. In America it gave them their highest chart position (No 5) since the hugely hyped Be Here Now more than ten years ago. Reviews have been remarkably positive, with most people declaring the album a true return to form, and ex-Creation boss Alan McGee saying it is the true follow-up to What�s the Story. Is it really that good? Don�t ask me, I really don�t know. Enduring love like mine is both blind and deaf.
Oasis play the Odyssey Arena on October 29 and 30. Both shows have sold out. Tickets for Slane (June 2009) went on sale today and are limited to 8 tickets per person. See ticketmaster.ie or Ticketmaster outlets for details.
OASIS showed exactly what fans will be paying for at the Millennium Stadium next summer with the first of their two dates at Cardiff International Arena last night. Having shifted around 15,000 tickets for these two CIA gigs they will be looking to at least double that number, if not quadruple it, on June 12, 2009 when Kasabian and The Enemy will join them to ruin the turf for Welsh sports teams.
On this evidence Oasis are still well worth the ticket price. They compiled an interesting set list; heavy on hits and their first two albums in particular, with one B-side and a smattering of tracks from the new album, Dig Out Your Soul.
Live, the new album is seemingly not as good as their last, Don�t Believe The Truth, with The Importance Of Being Idle getting a great reception and Lyla, despite Liam destroying the vocal as badly as he might have in 1994, getting the place stomping. It�s easy to say that Oasis are not as good as they used to be, and very true, yet there is no denying they still carry their primal power of yore at times. From the eruption of excitement that greeted Rock N Roll star � the security guards earning their money as a river of people swelled dangerously against the crash barriers � to the stunning melody of The Masterplan, the best stuff was the oldest. You cannot deny Slide Away, Columbia or Cigarettes and Alcohol, which an on-form Liam � lobbing tambourines into the crowd - dedicated to Katherine Jenkins for reasons unknown.
Liam�s best moment came during The Shock Of the Lightening when a white jumper flew from the crowd and landed on Noel�s head, refusing to budge; Noel looked like a caught fish as he tried to shake it off without disturbing this guitar line. Liam strode over and stood in front of him protectively before surreally threatening, "if you want to make people look stupid I�ll make you look like your grandma." Noel excelled where expected, in the big songs, and there were huge responses for Wonderwall and Don�t Look Back In Anger, on which a 7,500-strong Welsh choir offered their voices in full heart.
As the gig edged towards a climax they relied on older material, Champagne Supernova among a four-track encore that eventually closed on I Am The Walrus. "See you next year at that stadium over there," concluded Gallagher senior. Maybe, Noel, but not definitely.
Setlist
F**king In The Bushes Rock N Roll Star Lyla The Shock Of The Lightning Cigarettes And Alcohol Meaning Of Soul To Be Where There's Life Waiting For The Rapture The Masterplan Songbird Slide Away Morning Glory Ain't Got Nothing The Importance Of Being Idle I'm Outta Time Wonderwall Supersonic Don't Look Back In Anger (Acoustic) Falling Down Champagne Supernova I Am The Walrus
Ticket Holders who were disappointed about Oasis' recent cancellation at Eden Project due to Noel's injuries have a new date to look forward to. Emails started going out yesterday:
We are pleased to announce that the Oasis concert at the Eden Project has now been rescheduled to Tuesday July 14th 2009. All tickets for the original date will remain valid for the rescheduled event.
"Mad for it" Oasis fans have started queuing for tickets to see next year's first-ever Stadium of Light concert, almost 48 hours before they're due to go on sale!
A limited number of tickets will be available from the club's ticket office when the doors open at 10am on Friday.
Pals Phillip Young and Chris McGowan, both huge Sunderland supporters as well as big Oasis fans, have made sure they're getting their tickets for next June's Wearside gig, which promises to massively popular.
"We've missed out on getting tickets before, we're not taking any chances!" said 25-year-old Phillip (pictured left), of Hylton Castle.
"I've tried getting tickets for Oasis at gigs up and down the country, without any luck, and I wouldn't miss this one for the world."
Chris, 22, also of Hylton Castle in Sunderland, couldn't believe his ears when he heard about the Oasis concert last week.
"I thought it was a wind-up at first," he said. "But then I knew it was true I was over the moon, there was no way I was missing out this time!"
Despite temperatures of around 8� Celsius overnight, Phillip and Chris are well prepared for two consecutive nights outside - they're well-equipped with a tent, sleeping bags, chairs, food and flasks of hot drinks.
The pair will have queued for 45 hours by the time Sunderland's ticket office doors open on Friday!
Oasis, who have sold more than 50 million record worldwide, will be supported by Kasabian and The Enemy in what promises to be a great night on Wednesday June 10, with all tickets going on sale from 10am on Friday.
The concert promoter would like to advise those purchasing tickets that they will receive an official voucher in the first instance which they will then need to exchange for a guaranteed ticket at a later date, once the actual concert tickets are forwarded to the club by the promoter.
These tickets are for in-person purchases only - bookings cannot be taken via telephone and will be limited to a maximum of four per household.
These are general admission tickets priced at �45 each and subject to a 10% booking fee for all card purchases.
Ticket Information: Tickets are available by phone from the Oasis Lo-Call 24-hr hotline, 0844 412 4638. Alternatively 24-hr credit card hotlines are operating, 0871 2200 260 / 0871 230 6230 / 0871 424 4444.
Ticket price: �45 (plus booking fee).
Online booking is available from www.oasisinet.com, www.gigsandtours.com, www.ticketmaster.co.uk and www.ticketline.co.uk.
A limited number of tickets (maximum 4,000) will be available from the Stadium of Light ticket office for one day only on Friday October 24 (from 10am).
These tickets are for in-person purchases only - bookings cannot be taken via telephone and will be limited to a maximum of four tickets per household.
These are general admission tickets priced at �45 each and subject to a 10% booking fee for credit card purchases.
Details of hospitality packages for the show will be announced in due course.
L4E Forum member j1983 ran into Liam Gallagher at a beer garden after the Wembley gig the other day and got to hang out and chat with our favorite front man about Man City, the love of being on stage and buying Chickens at the super market for the missus.
UK TV and Radio Schedule For Oasis at BBC Electric Proms
Sunday 26th October, times are for the UK.
BBC Radio 1, 21:00 to 22:30 'Oasis Live at the BBC Electric Proms' Radio 1 comes direct from the Camden Roundhouse in London for the finale of this year's BBC Electric Proms, featuring Oasis performing with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.
BBC HD, BBC 2 Scotland, BBC 2 England and BBC 2 NI are all at 2310 BBC 2 Wales at 2355
Edith Bowman presents the grand finale of the Electric Proms 2008. Oasis front a night of anthems with accompaniment from the 50-strong Crouch End Festival Chorus.
Oasis plan to rope in a 50-piece choir to cover a song by The Rolling Stones at BBC Electric Proms this weekend.
The Manchester rockers headline the Camden Roundhouse on Sunday (October 26) for the third year of the London-wide celebrations.
Traditionally rock bands have hooked up with classical musicians for the shows. And Noel Gallagher has revealed that the band are planning to cover the Stones' classic 'We Love You' with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.
The guitarist told BBC 6Music that the plans sprang from aborted sessions for new album 'Dig Out Your Soul'.
"Out of all the songs on the album, there's two that didn't make it that have got a 50-piece choir," he said. "The original idea for this album was to record it with this choir in Abbey Road and for whatever reason it didn't happen.
"When we got offered the Proms, we called them up and said, 'I know we let you down last time but do you fancy getting up and doing a few tunes?' I think they're going to sing on a third of the set and we're hoping to do 'We Love You'."
Gallagher did not reveal whether the abandoned album tracks will get an airing at the show.
Oasis have just confirmed that they will be inviting the Prodigy to perform with them as "very special guests" at Slane castle in June
Formed in 1990, The Prodigy have gone on to become the most successful electronic act of all time in terms of chart success and critical acclaim.
Emerging from the dance scene of the early 1990�s The Prodigy quickly crossed achieved massive chart success with the release of their debut album Experience in 1992 followed up with the critically acclaimed Music For The Jilted Generation in 1994, 1997�s The Fat Of The Land and 2004�s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. An as yet untitled album is due for release in March 2009.
Oasis with special guests the Prodigy come to Slane on June 20. Further acts for are still to be announced.
Tickets for Slane 2009 are priced �76.50 including booking fee, limited to eight per person and will go on sale this Friday, October 24 at 8.00am from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.
also
IN HOT PRESS THIS FORTNIGHT: OASIS, KAISER CHIEFS, KEANE and more!
As Oasis' new Dig Out Your Soul record hits the stands, Liam Gallagher gets gobby for a chat with Stuart Clark. Up for discussion: his move to clean living; hanging with Marilyn Manson and why Jay-Z � and Noel Gallagher! � are "dicks".
Oasis have just added a Dutch date to their biggest ever European Tour. The band have announced they will be playing the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on the 21st January 2009
Tickets go on sale Saturday the 1st November at 10.00am (local time) through Ticket Post Services, Free Record Shops. GWK Offices and the VVV's as well as www.livenation.nl/oasis. In Holland only tickets can be ordered by telephone on 0900 3001250
Oasis last played the HMH in November 2005. On that occasion the tickets sold out within hours of going on sale so fans are advised to get their tickets early.
For more information about the band's forthcoming Western Europe tour, click here.
As loyalty goes in rock �n� roll, it doesn�t come much more devoted than an Oasis crowd.
Checking for a moment the arms-aloft, mile-wide grinning mob singing along to Champagne Supernova during the band�s encore last night it�s hard not to hear it as a national anthem for a credit-crunched generation.
And while those glad smiles and wet eyes may have more to do with euphoric recollection these days than anything else, there were some emotional moments shared between thinning-haired men comfortable for once in their middle-aged spread.
Even as the venue does its best to suck the sonic subtleties out of a roundly accomplished set, the audience feels more like a football crowd than anything else � ready to go through the highs and lows as personnel come and go safe in the knowledge the object of their devotion will always be there with them.
And the latest to be clasped to the collective bosom, new drummer Chris Sharrock propelled the whole affair with reliably beefy beats. More flamboyant than his predecessor Zak Starkey, but never gaudy, he�s a class act that suits the more musicianly, groove-filled songs from Oasis�s new album Dig Out Your Soul and adds new dimensions to old favourites.
Talking of which, it�s the big hitters that inevitably get the biggest reactions. Opening with Rock �n� Roll Star � still the band�s inch-perfect statement of intent � the set unfolds like a recently updated family photo album. Lyla, The Shock Of The Lightning, Cigarettes And Alcohol, even the under-rated Meaning Of Soul from their previous album, Don�t Believe The Truth, are given a robust yet surprisingly agile treatment.
With Liam�s countenance divine still commanding constant attention, Noel looks studious to one side, possibly still feeling the effects of cracked ribs after being attacked onstage in Canada last month, while Gem and Andy stand implacable to the other, and keyboards wiz Jay Darlington makes telling contributions from the shadows.
The extensions to the timeworn Oasis sound can be found in the raga thrum of the Gem-penned To Be Where There�s Life and the rapturous chords of Noel�s Falling Down, while Liam�s heartfelt Outta Time travels well from record to stage.
At times some of the older tunes (Wonderwall, Songbird, Slide Away) sound unwieldy, but a truly awesome Supersonic closes the set before the band reassemble for a touching acoustic take on Don�t Look Back In Anger and we�re sent buzzing into the night after a ravaging assault on I Am The Walrus just like the way they used to do it.
And only a fool would bet on them being any less supersonic tonight.
Oasis are often criticised for being as adventurous as a bunch of six-year-olds at the salad bar � so it's surprising to learn that their latest collaborators are a group who have previously grappled with the sounds of Britten, Glass and Stravinsky.
This afternoon, fresh from last night's show at Wembley Arena, the Gallagher brothers will be joined on stage at the venue by 50 members of in-demand choir the Crouch End Festival Chorus. It's their only full rehearsal for a special show at the end of the month, part of the BBC Electric Proms season, that will finally see the band doing the unthinkable and trying something a bit different.
The Electric Proms have nothing in common with the Albert Hall pomp of the real thing, but since 2006 they have hosted some fascinating concerts that encourage rock bands to be a bit more experimental. Oasis were asked if there was another band they would like to work with, or if they would prefer to be joined by a choir.
Perhaps inspired by Crouch End's backing of Kinks star Ray Davies during last year's season, they opted for the choir.
Last week a dozen members met Noel Gallagher and guitarist Gem Archer in the Muswell Hill front room of Steve Markwick, who has been charged with arranging choral parts for six songs in the finale of the gig. They thrashed out ideas for taking old favourites such as Don't Look Back In Anger and The Masterplan to new heights of singalong elation. �Noel seemed really delighted with the beauty and power of the sound,� CEFC musical director David Temple tells me.
Also planned are a couple of compositions by Liam, presumably including his much-praised ballad from the new album, I'm Outta Time. Most excitingly, they'll sing on an overpowering climax of the band's traditional Beatles cover, I Am the Walrus.
�They do this extended cadenza at the end which is mindblowing. We're hoping to do some surreal improvisation in there, lots of different noises, like a collage of dreams,� Temple says. First they suggested throwing in a blast of Handel's Hallelujah chorus at the peak but that was rejected in favour of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
It sounds like a lot of fun for a choir that has a reputation far weightier than the occasional pop collaboration would suggest. The night before the Oasis show, all 140 members will be singing Bach's Mass in B minor at the Barbican. On 1 March next year, again at the Barbican, they perform a major premiere � The Tension of Opposites by Chicago composer Matthew Ferraro.
CEFC began life in 1984 performing mainly in Hornsey Town Hall and are now known for being game for anything. They'll soon be heard singing on a collection of reworked Kinks classics by Ray Davies, the new album by Welsh opera babe Katherine Jenkins and the soundtrack to a forthcoming comedy horror Britflick, Lesbian Vampire Killers.
But for now, it's the Oasis gig that they're looking forward to. �I love Liam Gallagher's voice,� Temple asserts with passion. �He can hit top As that a classical tenor would die for.�
Oasis are at the BBC Electric Proms at the Roundhouse, NW1 on 26 October. Apply for �5 tickets in a ballot at www.bbc.co.uk/electricproms.
As part of the band's biggest ever European Tour Oasis will be playing the Hallenstadion in Zurich on 1st March 2009.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday 22nd October at 8:00am (local time) through www.ticketcorner.com or 0900 800 800.
'Dig Out Your Soul', the first album to be released internationally on the band's own Big Brother Recordings label, entered the Swiss charts last week at number 2.
For more information about the band's forthcoming Western Europe tour, click here.
T�S a sunny day in north London and over at Oasis HQ, guitarist Gem Archer is talking on the phone to a group of Australian journalists.
�It�s really late over there, and they�d clearly been out. They were trying not to sound drunk,� he says, laughing after the call. �Anyway, come in, man,� he adds, in his unmistakeable accent, part gentle north-east, part hippie.
Gem is excitable today, enthusiastic about Oasis� new album, Dig Out Your Soul, which they�re back on the road to promote (the band take in the Bournemouth International Centre on Monday and Tuesday.) It�s their seventh studio album, and the third with the involvement of Gem. He and former Ride and Hurricane #1 guitarist Andy Bell joined Oasis around 1999 after the departure of original members Paul �Bonehead� Arthurs and Paul �Guigsy� McGuigan.
�I still love it,� beams Gem when asked how he feels about the album. �The cliche is normally that bands can�t wait to get away from their music once it�s recorded, but I nearly listened to it again last night.
�In the past, if you�d been out with Liam (Gallagher) at night and you ended up back at his house after the pub had shut, he�d play you the new album 15 times, but this time around, you might get it 30 times. That says it all!�
Dig Out Your Soul was recorded in Abbey Road studios, the spiritual home of The Beatles and unsurprisingly, given their track record for homage to the Fab Four, Oasis� latest offering comes with no short supply of Beatles references. There�s even a snippet of an interview with John Lennon used in the Liam-penned track I�m Outta Time.
As always, the bulk of the songs on the album were written by Gallagher Snr, Noel, with Liam adding three songs. The new boys � Gem and Andy � supply one apiece, To Be Where There�s Life and The Nature Of Reality, respectively.
�To Be Where There�s Life started as a jam in my house with my son,� explains Gem. �He�s only 12, but he�s a top drummer, already in his second band.
�I had the demo, which was just an instrumental at the time, and played it to the lads. Noel asked if I�d got any lyrics. I hadn�t, so then I had to stay in and write some.�
Considering Noel has written such widely loved songs as Wonderwall, Don�t Look Back In Anger, Live Forever and Cigarettes And Alcohol, competing with him for space on a new Oasis album can�t be easy.
Gem says he thrives on the competition and thinks it�s healthy for the band.
�I kind of relish the challenge,� he admits. �The very fact Noel is even asking what songs I�ve got is incredible, even though he�s the guy who wrote three songs just while we were in Abbey Road. That�s a bit galling, but come on, it�s Noel. Everyone can fluke one good song, but he�s written a lot of very, very good songs.�
Noel has continued that trend this time around, too. Kicking off with Bag It Up, Dig Out Your Soul starts with a Stone Roses-esque groove, before Liam�s sneering vocal chimes in, leaving you in no doubt who you�re listening to. Among the album�s many highlights is Falling Down, incidentally Gem�s current favourite.
�That song was one of the ones Noel demoed by himself in Abbey Road, the night before we recorded it properly,� explains Gem.
�It was totally fresh when we did it because we�d not recorded it over and over making demos.
�Not only is it one of the best songs he�s written, but the production of it is mega. If we�d recorded demos of that song, we would have spoiled it.�
That formula � of capturing fresh takes of each song � worked across the album. The version of a song you hear on a finished album could be the 10th, 15th or 20th take, and while the method might ensure a refined, polished sound, often a lot of the life from earlier takes is lost.
This time around, the band wanted to avoid that happening and, as a result, Dig Out Your Soul is their most live-sounding album since 1995�s (What�s The Story?) Morning Glory.
Away from music, the band are in fine spirits too, leaner and healthier-looking than ever before. In recent interviews, Liam, once the bad boy of Britpop, has been telling of his new-found love for cooking salmon, jogging and getting an early night.
Gem too says the whole band are �into their fitness� but is keen to point out �We�re not like Sting or anything.
�I was one of those guys who could eat rubbish all day long and didn�t know what hangovers were,� he begins. �I don�t want to be 50 and doubled up. We�ve got a responsibility to keep it together, and it�s not even for the thousands of people coming to see us.
�If we�re going to put ourselves in line with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and The Kinks and The Who, Led Zeppelin � the pantheon of great British rock and roll � then you can�t let the side down.
�We�re thinking ahead here,� he adds.
�Liam invented Stillism � there�s no jogging around on stage like Mick Jagger in this band � so we could be doing that until we�re 90.�
With that, Noel walks in. He�s been absent from today�s interview because of the recent incident in Toronto, Canada, when he was attacked and pushed over on stage, breaking three ribs.
He�s walking with obvious discomfort still, but says he hopes to be healed enough for the forthcoming UK tour dates to go by painlessly. Gem, too, can�t wait to get back on the road.
�I�m looking forward to Liverpool so much,� he beams.
�There�s something about the city that�s been ingrained in me from being a childhood Beatles fan. The architecture, the street signs, everything.
�I love playing live full stop, but we�re playing in Britain, indoors to the perfect number of people for it to still be intimate. It�s going to be insane.�
Bonehead needs no introduction, rising to fame as one of the original members of Oasis. He returns to Brixton Jamm for a rare acoustic set alongside Alan McGee championed Pete Macleod, as part of his first UK tour.
Bonehead and Noel interviewed by Matt Pinfield 1994
Pete Macleod is a Scottish singer/songwriter who has a musical diversity that no-one could question. While Pete isn't quite rubbing shoulders with Madonna, he has certainly shared the limelight with her. He features in the new issue of Q Magazine which has the Pop Queen on the cover and has been given the prestigious accolade of one of the top 50 artists to download. The recognition has now prompted the singer/songwriter to give a little back to his fans and he hits the road for his end of year tour with fellow comrade Bonehead.
With live bands supporting on the night:
The Exiles The Eloquents New Archean Mizaria Vespa The Debris The Chromatic
And our resident DJ's SoulBoyMystic Collective
Location: Jamm, 261 Brixton Road, Brixton, London, SW9 6LH Closest tube: Brixton / Oval Website: www.brixtonjamm.org Tickets: �8 in advance available from website
Being sensible, cultured types, you have better things to do with your Saturday night. But recently I was listening to Russell Brand's show on Radio 2. And suddenly, breaking through the seamless verbal solipsism of the host, a sharp, clear, witty voice emerged. It was someone talking sense with humour. I recognised the Mancunian twang, but couldn't initially place it. Then, roughly about the time Brand called him by his Christian name, it came to me: it was Noel Gallagher.
The founder and driving force of Oasis has developed into a shrewd commentator on subjects as diverse as the credit crunch, English football and the absurd condition of Brand's hair. So quick-witted was he that I thought, as I listened, what a fine contributor he would be to Question Time. But it is about his own output that he sounded particularly - and unusually - self-aware. Gallagher is a man who appears to have come to terms with his own limitations.
Read more by Jim White In 1994, Definitely Maybe, his first record with Oasis, promised huge things. Exciting, passionate, raw, it was stuffed with memorable tunes. Back then Gallagher, chippy about the long dark evening that preceded his success, seemed conditioned to blow his own trumpet. He was almost Brand-like in his self-esteem. His most frequent boast was to encourage comparison with the Beatles. Mind, he wasn't the only one who believed he might have a thesis: to many, his group appeared to have the capacity to develop creatively as their mentors had.
An Oasis of stability in these troubled times Fourteen years on, Oasis's new album Dig Out Your Soul has just been released. It is a record that suggests they have moved about as far as a car left overnight outside the Gallaghers' family home in Burnage, south Manchester, its wheels removed by hospitable locals. While in seven short, hectic years the Beatles grew from Please Please Me to Let It Be, Oasis have been stuck for twice that time in neutral. Their latest is a record about as cutting-edge as Jeremy Clarkson's wardrobe.
But here's the important thing: it doesn't appear to affect Oasis's record sales. This latest album, already shipping out huge numbers, promises to match the sales of everything they have done since their debut. And Gallagher - smilingly cheerful about his continued financial, if not cultural, relevance - admits he has accepted his role in life. Since his album titles tend to reach for aphorism, his next might be best called "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It".
Yet when it comes to remaining precisely where you are, even Gallagher is a novice compared to AC/DC, a group formed in Sydney in 1973. In their early days, the band's unique selling proposition was that Angus Young, their lead guitarist, dressed like a prep-school boy, in blazer, tie, cap and corduroy shorts, his socks gathered round his ankles. Given that he was 17, it was a nicely ironic comment on rock and roll rebellion.
Thirty-five years on, the Aussies have launched their latest work, Black Ice. Apparently sealed in aspic, it is a shameless revisiting of their finest moment - 1980's Back in Black - with the notes arranged in marginally different order. The deal is that in two-and-a-half decades, nothing whatsoever has changed, including Young's stage attire. With his leathery complexion and thinning scraggle of hair, the be-shorted 52-year-old now has the unsettling appearance of Jimmy Clitheroe in his latter days. But this is seemingly of no worry to the band's widening army of fans. The probability is that the only act who can prevent AC/DC from having the number one bestseller in the pre-Christmas rush is Gallagher's Oasis.
A riposte to those self-styled pioneers such as Madonna who strive to remain at the forefront of innovation, the two static caravans of musical progress continue to sell by the lorry-load. Their success is a vivid demonstration of this central economic truth: in hard times, we fall back on the familiar. But it has wider implications for those who wish to steer us through the turmoil ahead: if you have a winning formula, don't let it go in vain pursuit of something - anything - new. At this point of the cycle, we are all anxious to keep hold of what we know. Gallagher's is a lesson that anyone engaged in business, education, the media and above all politics would be well advised to heed.
"It's going to be called the O2? Oh dear," exclaimed Noel Gallagher when asked if Oasis will be playing the new Dublin venue when it opens.
The O2 in London is atrocious so if it's as bad that, then probably not!"
Speaking at the announcement of their headline performance at Slane next year, the Oasis songwriter proved that he's still fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, given that his estranged father Tommy hails from Duleek and his mum Peggy's from Mayo.
"We used to spend six weeks of our school holidays here until I was 15 so it was a massive part of my childhood," he said.
And although the Wonderwall stars will be performing to some 80,000 people when they play Slane Castle on June 20, it seems the boys biggest fan is their Irish mum Peggy.
When quizzed if she was going to attend next summer's concert, he said she "wouldn't miss it for the world."
"She'll be like the Queen of Sheba, I expect. " he explained. Noel went on to say how Irish audiences always held a special place in his heart
"About 90pc of stars going to any city will say it's the best audience they've encountered but there's something about the Celtic crowd, places like Ireland and Scotland that seems to be different. I just think people get more drunk," he laughed.
He also dismissed questions about throwing a ring of steel around the front of the stage area to avoid any repeats of what happened during their Toronto performance.
The musician was left with a suspected fractured rib after a spectator rushed onto the stage and attacked him, pushing him to the ground.
"It was a freak occurrence that has happened once in 20 years and you can't legislate for things like that," he said.
Asked what Irish fans could expect from the concert, he said: "Oasis concerts are all about the crowd. We're not like U2 who put on the greatest show on earth. I wouldn't waste my time with a load of scientists designing lighting rigs.
We'll have no fireworks or big inflatable things on stage -- except for maybe Liam!"
However, he insisted that their show would be "well worth the money", even in these global meltdown credit crunch times.
Whether or not they are the biggest band in the world, Oasis are truly one of the music industry's supergroups, combining the swagger and grit of the Sex Pistols with the classic pop sounds of the Beatles. The English rock band have just released their seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul, which debuted at the top of the United Kingdom charts. It also opened at No5 in the United States, their best position in that country in more than a decade. The band has since announced a massive tour for next summer. Emirates Business caught up with frontman Liam Gallagher to talk about the new album and the band's turbulent journey to the top.
You've been around for 17 years...
I don't want to be on Oprah Winfrey if that's what you are asking (laughs).
What does it feel like to have been around so long?
No, it doesn't feel like 17 years actually. It feels like about 50. Listen, it feels good to be in Oasis, man.
Let's talk about your new album, Dig out Your Soul. What does it mean for you after all those years?
�It means the same thing that it meant the first time. It's a buzz to be making Oasis music. I didn't force people to buy Definitely Maybe or (What's The Story) Morning Glory and I won't force them to buy this. If they like it, buy it, if they don't, I'm not interested.
How do you think the new album will stand the test of time?
I think it's a great and different record. We are a different band now and I'm the first to admit it. Who is to say � I mean bandwise � we are better? But our first three albums defined an era. But I like where we are now. I like all our albums.
What does the album title mean?
I don't know. It's just an album title. There's no real big meaning behind it.
Is Oasis more like a band these days than it was back in the 90s?
Yes. This is the best band there has been.
You sold 180,000 tickets within one hour in the UK. Are you happy?
Without a doubt. It's good times for Oasis man, good times.
Would you say it's the best time?
It's not all about success no more, you know what I mean? With Andy and Gem in the band, we are writing some serious, proper music � and that's good. We are a great band and we are living life a little bit differently these days � mentally, physically and musically.
When you look at all the figures it seems like Definitely Maybe has been your best album so far.
Well, I'm not here to argue with the public. If that's what they feel, that's what they feel. Basically it was a good record.
After your upcoming world tour, are there plans for another live album?
No, no plans to make any more. We are going to do this tour and see how it goes. I would like to make a new record pretty soon. As soon as we have finished the tour I would like to go back into Abbey Road [studios] and bang out some more music. And we've got plenty of songs. So a new Oasis record may come pretty soon.
There's always talk about Noel going solo. What is your comment on that?
Good luck to him. I hope he gives it away for free because I won't be buying it.
What about your songwriting? You seem comfortable doing your own songs � there are three on this album.
I have a guitar at home and when there is nothing on the TV, I pick up my guitar, see what's happening; and if nothing happens, I put it down. I am a singer first. I get my kicks from singing, more than from sitting around trying to solve the world's problems or writing songs.
Do you and Noel compete on the songwriting front?
No. He's better. He's the best songwriter of his decade, man. He's the best.
How close were Oasis to splitting up back in 2000?
Well, not in my mind. We were close. There was never no splitting up. You kind of split up actually, when three members leave out of your line-up, right?
What's your relationship with Noel like these days?
Beautiful. Beautiful. It's all right man, same as it always was � you know what I mean. It's a bit over-hyped actually.
Would you say the Beatles are still the biggest influence for you?
Yes, for me, without a doubt.
Queen are reforming now with Paul Rodgers. What do you think?
I'm not into Queen, so I don't care.
What do you think is the reason Oasis has never broken America?
Because of our attitudes. We are miserable. I don't know why we didn't make it. They obviously don't like us, yet we sold out Madison Square Garden [New York] in a minute... They obviously like other people instead but America is not the be all and end all for Oasis. America is a country in a big world so if they don't like us, somewhere else they will.
What's the hype going on in the UK that Oasis is the biggest band?
That's not hype mate, that's fact. We are not about to sell our English tour in a minute, we have done so. It's a fact.
So what about Coldplay? Chris Martin said that compared to Oasis, they were the biggest.
I don't care about them. We are the coolest band and we are the best band. We are not the biggest band in America but who would want to be that?
I guess you've made quite a fortune?
Yes. But I've spent it all mate... I've spent it on fish.
PROFILE: Liam Gallagher, Singer
The 36-year-old Oasis frontman was born William John Paul Gallagher. He formed the infamous rock band with three friends in Manchester in 1991. They were soon joined by his older brother Noel. The band, which became famous performing on the Manchester club circuit, have since gone on to sell more than 50 million records worldwide. Their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was once the fastest-selling debut in the UK, and their second, (What's The Story) Morning Glory, sold more than 20 million copies. Noel and Liam are the band's top songwriters and comprise its core, with several members � including Liam at one point � having quit over the course of their 17-year history. The present line-up includes guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell, as well as Chris Sharrock on drums. Oasis' status as the UK's top supergroup was confirmed when all 180,000 tickets for their English arena tour were sold out in an hour.
Liam, who is lead vocalist for the group, is currently married to Nicole Appleton and has two sons
Oasis have announced further dates for their biggest ever Western Europe tour. The band will take in Belgium and Spain along with the previously announced legs in Germany, Austria, France and Portugal.
The details of the Belgium and Spain dates are below:
13th January 2009: BRUSSELS - Forest National 12th February 2009: MADRID - Palacio de Deportes 13th February 2009: BARCELONA - Pavello Olimpic de Badalona
English rock band Oasis is gearing up for a large presence in Activision's Guitar Hero World Tour. Not only is "some Might Say" from their 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? shipping on the disc, three tracks from the band's latest album Dig Out Your Soul will be available for download on November 6th for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The Oasis Track Pack will contain "Bag it Up", "Waiting for the Rapture", and the hit single "The Shock of the Lightning", with each track of course available for single purchase as well. Then come 2009 the entire album will be available for purchase.
I haven't really kept track of Oasis since the early days, but I'm sure this is a good thing for those fans still aware that they are putting out music. Just remember to pause the game before the fistfights break out.
Oasis Joins Forces With Guitar Hero� World Tour to Bring New Album, Dig Out Your Soul, as Downloadable Content
'Bag it Up,' 'Waiting for the Rapture' and Hit Single 'The Shock of the Lightning' to arrive in November; Full Album Available in 2009
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct 17, 2008: Gamers looking to shred, drum and wail away to the new sounds of beloved, multi-platinum UK rock band, Oasis, need not wait much longer as music from the band's critically acclaimed Dig Out Your Soul album will soon be available for download in Activision Publishing, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero� World Tour.
Featuring "Bag it Up," "Waiting for the Rapture" and the hit first single "The Shock of the Lightning" from the band's seventh studio album, the Oasis Track Pack will be available on November 6th for the Xbox 360� video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION�3 computer entertainment system. In addition, the three tracks will be released as single downloadable songs for both the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3. The Dig Out Your Soul album, in its entirety or via individual singles, will be available for download in 2009.
When the house lights go down on October 26th, a new generation of guitarists, drummers and fearless frontmen will come together and rock with Guitar Hero World Tour. The latest installment in the #1 best-selling video game franchise of 2007, Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero's signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless controllers with new revolutionary online* and offline gameplay modes including Band Career and 8-player "Battle of the Bands," which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online for the first time ever. The game features a slick newly redesigned guitar controller, drum kit controller and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock 'n' roll anthems. Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunes(SM) where other gamers can download and play an endless supply of unique creations.
Guitar Hero World Tour is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system. The Wii version is being developed by Vicarious Visions. The PlayStation�2 computer entertainment system version is being developed by Budcat. The game is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB.
Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has ruled out chances of the band performing at next year's Glastonbury festival.
The Manchester group are one of a number of acts who have been linked to the festival's three coveted headline slots over recent months.
But Gallagher said their priority next summer will be their stadium tour, which was announced yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at the tour announcement, the guitarist said: �I wouldn't go back to Glastonbury. Why is R Kelly playing there or something?
�No seriously, this (Oasis' UK tour) is where it's going to be at next summer but we said the last time we did Glastonbury that we've never really pulled it off.�
He added: �Glastonbury is great to be at but it's not really good for people like me to play at because you don't go on until 11 at night and all the people you're with by that time are absolutely battered.
�By the time you get off you're just playing catch up all night and trying to make sense of what your girlfriend is saying.�
Oasis's stadium tour includes two nights at London's Wembley stadium. Tickets for the tour, in support of the band's new album 'Dig Out Your Soul', go on sale next Friday (October 24th) at 10am.
You will be able to purchase tickets by calling out ticket hotline on 0871 230 1098.
Oasis are back once more, with the massive single The Shock Of The Lightning and the Number One album Dig Out Your Soul.
The boys� world tour touched down at London�s legendary Wembley Arena on Thursday, October 16, and you can watch highlights of the gig right here, right now.
Oasis are among only a handful of bands who could make a concert of this scale seem like an intimate warm-up. Just before this first of two nights at Wembley Arena, they announced two giant summer shows next door, part of a grand tour of the UK�s football stadiums.
Next year�s venues are appropriate, not just because this unshakeable group are currently as popular as ever, but because last night�s audience was a football crowd in all but name.
There were epic queues for the gents, constant chanting and finger thrusting, and enough beer being hurled around that during fierce opener Rock�n�Roll Star there was more liquid in the air than among the fountains outside.
The impression was that nobody cared whether the new album was any good or not, so long as the required traditional singalongs were all in the right place. The band certainly fulfilled their obligations on that count, occasionally grudgingly. Liam Gallagher announced, �Right, Wonderwall� in the same tone as you might say, �Right, let�s finish that grouting�.
We already know not to expect showmanship from this lot, who as ever remained as stationary and impassive as five skittles. New drummer Chris Sharrock, their fourth, was extremely capable without ever drawing attention to himself. Noel kept his head down but looked calm after being attacked by a stage invader in Toronto last month. Liam was in fine, powerful voice, frequently launching himself at his microphone as though about to take a huge bite out of it.
One new move was putting his crescent tambourine between his teeth to make a giant smile, but he still has his irritating habit of only talking over the introductory chords of songs, when he is virtually inaudible. All I caught was �cockney f*****s�.
The recent seventh Oasis album, Dig Out Your Soul, is excellent as a single entity, flowing well with a consistently high-quality Seventies rock sound. However, the songs stood up less well in the concert context of the established classics. Blustery rocker Falling Down was way out of its depth in an encore that also included Don�t Look Back In Anger and Champagne Supernova.
Only a Liam-penned, remarkably sensitive ballad, I�m Outta Time, sounded as though it will still make the setlist in five years.
Are they a Stones-style heritage band already? The huge sales figures for the new album would suggest otherwise. But it�s definitely thanks to the oldies that the stadiums are still their stomping ground.
Oasis Gigs Vying with Glastonbury for Ticket Buyers
Noel Gallagher reckons Glastonbury chief Michael Eavis will be �s****** himself� after Oasis announced their biggest arena tour yet.
The Manc rockers will play eight mammoth gigs next summer � and Kasabian and The Enemy will also be on the bill.
By the end of July 12 next year the band � Noel, Liam, Andy Bell, Gem Archer and Chris Shanrock � will have entertained more than a million ale-soaked punters on their epic 18-month world tour.
And the eight gigs will certainly be vying with Glastonbury for ticket buyers� hard-earned cash.
Announcing the gigs at Wembley, Noel said: �Michael Eavis will be s******* himself when he sees this.
�I thought Knebworth was as big as it could get, but this takes it on.
�Wembley is a great British venue and it is going to be great playing here. I think they will easily be next year�s best gigs, if not the decade. I am really made up with the bill, what a night out. I am just glad I�ll be able to get tickets.
�This is what it�s all about, the gigs that go down in the memory, where people meet their future wives. Liam is s******* himself.�
Oasis start the tour at Heaton Park, Manchester, on June 6 next year. Noel said: �The last person to play Heaton Hall was The Pope in 1982. I supported him back then. I was doing stand up but the religious gags didn�t go down too well.�
Noel added: �Kasabian toured with us in the States a couple of years ago. We always said when we were doing the big super-gigs again we would give them first option.
�I liked The Enemy from the moment I heard their first single. With the three bands on in one night, if I was 16 or 17, I would want to be there.�
Dig Out Your Soul Takes Biggest Jump on World Sales Chart
According to German website mediatraffick Oasis' new album has recorded the largest sales increase in last week's global album sales market. Below are the numbers for the top 3 artists charting in the United World Chart
Album Chart
week 43 / 2008 - October 25
The top-selling albums according to global sales data and national album charts
issue date: October 16, 2008
Last Week's rank 17 week 2 Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul Big Brother - Sales 349.000 - 1 week at No.1 - Largest Sales Increase
Last Week's rank 1
week 2 T.I. - Paper Trail Grand Hustle / Atlantic - Sales 198.000
Last weeks rank 3 / 1
week 5 Metallica - Death Magnetic Vertigo / Warner Bros. - Sales 194.000
Metallica Holds Off Oasis For Top Album Spot in Europe
Rockers Oasis have failed to topple Metallica from the top of the European albums chart - the British band's Dig Out Your Soul has only managed to debut at two.
Metallica's Death Magnetic has held onto pole position for the fifth week running, leaving Oasis to take second place with their new release.
Coldplay round out the top three with Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.
Meanwhile, in the European singles chart, Katy Perry is still the queen of the continent - her smash hit I Kissed A Girl enjoys another week at number one.
The three most popular tracks in Europe remain unchanged with Pink's So What at two, and The Pussycat Dolls' When I Grow Up sitting at three.
Noel Gallagher has just given a press conference at Wembley Stadium this afternoon (October 16) announcing the band�s 2009 tour dates.
NME.COM was there. Here is Noel�s press conference in full:
You were the last British band to play Wembley � not counting Toploader who supported Bon Jovi and are rubbish - how does it feel to be back?
�There�s quite a big gap. This is the first time I�ve come through the door. I�ve not been to concert there yet. It�s a great British venue. I guess it�s going to be great."
Will You beat Manchester City here?
�I don�t think City are going to be here this season, not yet, we�ll be representing them at all stadiums again next year.�
Why did you decide to play Heaton Park in Manchester?
"The last person to play there was the Pope in 1982. It seems a shame to let it sit there doing nowt. We had a few gigs booked in Man City stadium, but the new owners told us they didn�t need to do gigs as they don�t need the money. Neither do we, but it would be a laugh. That was the next suitable venue- the obvious next one would have been Old Trafford, but no way. I supported the Pope the last time, doing stand-up. I did the first 45 minutes so you wouldn�t have seen me. Didn�t go down too well.�
Kasabian and The Enemy as support, why?
�Kasabian, we toured with them in the States a couple of years ago, and we�ve since become quite close to them. We always said that when we�d do the supergroup, super-concert again we�d give them first option. The Enemy I�ve liked since their first single. Looking at the bill, I think these are going to be the gigs of next year, if not the decade for a certain demographic.
"I'm just glad I can get tickets. These are the gigs that people remember, they meet future wives. I give thanks that we're headlining it and not some heritage act on before a bunch of kids. If I was a 16 year old again, I�d think this was the gig of the century, of the decade.�
How do you and Liam approach these shows?
�The first kind of stadium we did was in Manchester. It never felt daunting to play to 40,000 people then. Some bands sit in their dressing room, quaking in their boots. They�re all there to see me play guitar. What�s the worst that can happen? You�re shit - so what? Life is there to be lived. If you don�t aim for that, you may as well play the Astoria. This is it, it�s here and it�s now. I give thanks that we�re going to be headlining here. Liam on the other hand, was shitting it.�
What do you think of current pop talent?
�I�m not denying the right to kids to better their own lives, but it�s not really about the music, is it? They�re shite, to be honest. It�s like �who�s got the biggest sob story? My cat died, and his outstretched paw was pointing towards the X on the screen, so I�ve come here today to sing �What�s New Pussycat�. My eight year old daughter loves it.
"Especially when a girl group came on and said they were going to sing �Wonderwall� by Ryan Adams. I had to reassure her that I did indeed write that song. �Ryan is a friend of Dad's�.�
What do you think about free downloads?
�I wouldn�t give an album away for free. I wouldn�t give my own songs away for free. I think 19.99 for an album is pretty much� I�d go with that. I don�t give a shit about the music industry. We�re trying to self-contain. The music industry got too big, record labels are now like sprawling industries that can�t contain themselves.
"The industry will eventually land in a place where it�s more about the product and less about the razzmatazz. If anything�s come from this current climate it�s that records are shooting out. I think the current prices are ok, what is it �7.99 online? That enough to keep my swimming pool full of mineral water.�
Will you play the Wembley gig in the round?
�No, that�s a bit Rod Stewart. I think we�ll be doing it in the traditional sense. There�s a stage at one end, a bar at the other, and a bit in the middle which you don�t get involved in if you�re over 25. I�d rather face the audience, rather than flashing lights. As long as there�s big movie footage of me playing guitar.
"The second night was quite monumental, because Liam had been out with a Spice Girl the night before � a Spice Girl - and he didn�t bother going to bed. It was the first comedy performance at the Old Wembley. The first night was great, the second night was excruciating. I�m not annoyed with him, it�s his band as much as mine. But it�s all over YouTube though!�
Are you tempted to headline Glastonbury next year? �I think that when Michael Eavis reads this press release he�ll shit himself. I wouldn�t bother to play Glasto. Here is where it�s going to be at next summer. Would you go? Why is R Kelly playing? I�ve said before we wouldn�t play there again, we always blow the big gigs, we always manage to George Best it.
"The first time we played Glasto, we played too many songs off �Morning Glory�, and it hadn�t come out yet. Glasto is great to be at, but it�s not great for people like us to play at. You�re on at 11, and the people you�re with are absolutely battered. Your girlfriend stops making sense. So no we won�t play next year.�
Do you have any rituals before you go on?
�Of course, slaughtering goats and all that. The first time we seen it was Travis. They have a hug and a little jig. No, we don�t. We�re Northern men, you know what I mean? We enjoy ourselves in silence, and suffer in silence. There�s always the new drummer. �Enjoy yourself this is probably your last gig�. We�ve a strange relationship in the band, it�d freak most people out.�
Can you tell us about your plans for the Electric Prom gig?
�We�re doing it with the Crouch End choir. There�s 150 of them, but we can only fit 60 on stage. We�ve already had a rehearsal with them, with a kitchen in Muswell Hill. It was a pretty big kitchen. Oasis big songs are kind of like hymns anyway, so it�s kind of celestial in places, and ridiculous in others.
"They�re made up that they can wear their own clothes! They�d look silly wearing all black and doing that dance. I guess it�s great that we�re playing in Camden. I don�t think we�ve ever played in Camden before. Ten minutes home, shower, then out again afterwards.�
Would you give Michael Eavis tickets to these gigs?
�I only joke when I say things about Michael. I spoke to him and Emily six weeks ago. Anyway I think he�ll be a bit busy next summer.�
Oasis will undertake their biggest ever tour of open air venues in the UK and Ireland next summer.
It includes two dates at the iconic new Wembley Stadium as well as the promised homecoming shows over two nights in Manchester's Heaton Park. The tour will also see the band's first ever visit to Sunderland's Stadium of Light, a welcome return to both Murrayfield and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and their first headline performance at Ireland�s Slane Castle.
The full details of the stadium tour are below: Saturday 06 June 2009: MANCHESTER, Heaton Park Sunday 07 June 2009: MANCHESTER, Heaton Park Wednesday 10 June 2009: SUNDERLAND, Stadium of Light Friday 12 June 2009: CARDIFF, Millennium Stadium Wednesday 17 June 2009: EDINBURGH, Murrayfield Saturday 20 June 2009: DUBLIN, Slane Castle Saturday 11 July 2009: LONDON, Wembley Stadium Sunday 12 July 2009: LONDON, Wembley Stadium
Oasis will be joined on all the UK dates by special guests Kasabian and The Enemy.
Tickets to see this very special line up are expected to be in excessive demand, so please apply early to avoid disappointment.Tickets for all shows will go on sale Friday the 24th October at 10.00am through Oasisinet, the Oasis Lo-Call 24-hr hotline, 0844 412 4638 and all usual ticket outlets.
Oasis are set to headline next year's Isle Of Wight Festival and four other major European festivals, Virtual Festivals can exclusively reveal.
The Gallagher boys are gearing up for their busiest live summers in years with a European festival tour penned for 2009 - and we've got all the details before anyone else.
The Isle Of Wight Festival, winner of last year's Best Major Festival at the UK Festival Awards, is expected to be the band's first stop over the weekend of 12-14 June.
Liam and Noel are clearly keen to follow in the footsteps of rock royalty, such as The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and Muse, and are likely to headline the Saturday night (13th).
Three weeks later the band will play a staggering three festivals in one weekend, taking in Rock Werchter in Holland, Roskilde in Denmark and Eurockennees De Belfort in France between 2-5 July.
Benicassim on the Spanish coast beckons next, with the band set to headline one of the days between 16-19 July.
Oasis announced to the media earlier today that they will be playing a 'super-gig' in Ireland's Slane Castle on 20 June, with another also planned for somewhere in Manchester.
But Virtual Festivals is the only website to have scooped the rest of the band's festivals plans, after being tipped off by a source close to the band.
We were told: "Oasis are keen to get on the road again because they're really proud of this album (Dig Out Your Soul). The Isle Of Wight Festival is a big one for them as it's really upped its profile in recent years.
"The boys are keen to show people they can play festivals in style after getting luke warm receptions at Glastonbury and V Festival in recent years. It should be a great summer for them, let's just hope the Noel and Liam can handle that much time together!"
Of course, nothing can be certain until officially confirmed, however Oasis are holding a press conference later today when details of their live plans for 2009 are expected to be revealed.
From Noel Gallagher's Official Tour Blog on Oasisinet.com
Who'd have thought it, eh? (Not me, that's for sure) The 2 nights in Birmingham being the best of the entire world tour so far. I'm not one for blowing smoke up people's arses (does anyone know what that means? Has anyone ever tried it?) but if you were in the crowd on the 2nd night, buy yourselves a drink. It was really special.
I'm currently with my right-hand man Gem. We're on the way to the Republic of Ireland aka 'The Land of my Fathers' to give a press conference in order to make an announcement about some super-gig we're doing there next year. I'd tell you but by the time you read this you'll have heard about it anyway (or maybe not). Either way it'll give me a chance to get rid of some of them Euros at the local sweet shops, Irish sweeties being the best in the world'n'all that.
Gallagher would Love To Get U2 On Board For Slane?
Tabloid reports:
NOEL GALLAGHER wants U2 to support OASIS at their mega-gig next year.
LIAM's big bruv reckons BONO and his pals are the perfect group to share the stage at Slane Castle in June.
The Champagne Supernova star posed with bandmate GEM ARCHER on the stunning grounds in the Republic of Ireland as they announced plans to gig there next year.
Oasis first rocked out on the grounds supporting REM back in 1995.
With a crowd of over 70,000 fans expected, maybe they should add a few more acts to the bill and turn it into a mini festival.
Noel Gallagher Will Never Forget Oasis' First Belfast Gig
Oasis superstar Noel Gallagher has revealed why he will never forget the band�s debut performance in Belfast � and why the city still holds a special place in his heart.
Back in September 1994 an emerging young rock act from Manchester playing the Limelight heard the news that their first album had gone straight to number one.
Speaking at a packed Press conference at Slane Castle � to announce an Oasis headlining gig at the Boyneside venue on June 20 2009 � Noel recalled the moment he was told Definitely Maybe had topped the charts.
�We were playing in a bar in Belfast, I think it was called the Limelight. I was in the dressing room afterwards when someone came up and told us the album was going to be number one.
�So, yeah, Belfast will always be special for that reason.�
Noel, who was accompanied by band member Gem Archer, said he hoped to pop into the Limelight again for a drink when Oasis play a double date in Belfast later this month.
�Maybe we could go the second night,� he said, before turning to Gem and asking: �What do you think, do you fancy it?�
Gem replied: �Absolutely.�
Noel described Belfast as �one of the greatest cities in Europe� and said he loved playing anywhere in Ireland as the �Celtic crowds� always gave the band a warm reception.
�I think it�s because they get more drunk,� he laughed.
And he also said he had fond memories of holidaying in Ireland as a child.
�I spent a massive part of my youth in Ireland, six weeks of my school holidays there until I was 15,� he said.
�The smell in the air brings it all back to me. And Ireland has the best sweet shops in the world. I�m partial to Silvermints myself. I love it here, it�s the land of my fathers.�
Noel recalled the last time Oasis played Slane, supporting REM in 1995, and said he was delighted they were coming back as the headline act.
�It�ll be nice to finally do this in front of our fans after all these years,� he said.
�The last time about 80 of our relatives turned up. Some of those kids have grown up and have kids of their own now, so there�ll probably be about 97 of them here next year.
�It�ll also be great for the guys who have joined the band since the last time we played here and hopefully we will get the weather right and everybody will have a good time, and we�ll finally put the nail on the credit crunch.�
When asked what kept the band going, Noel joked: �It�s the credit crunch. It�s really kicked in at Chez Gallagher.�
He also told the Press conference that he was still very much �in love� with making music and that there was nothing else he could consider doing.
Limelight owner David Neely said the Oasis gig of 1994 was still one of the most talked about concerts in Belfast.
�Of course we would love to see them here again,� he added.
Oasisinet is pleased to announce that Oasis will be playing their biggest ever Italian tour as part of their extensive Western European tour.
The Italian tour dates are:
2nd February 2009: MILAN Datchforum 20th February 2009: ROME Palalottomatica 21st February 2009: TREVISO Palaverde 23rd February 2009: BOLZANO Palaonda 24th February 2009: FLORENCE Mandela Forum
All tickets go on sale on Tuesday 21st October at 11am through www.ticketone.it. For more info about the gigs, click here.
'Dig Out Your Soul', the first album to be released internationally on the band's own Big Brother Recordings label, entered the Italian charts this week at number 1.
Despite a 69% drop-off in sales, T.I. starts a second week at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with "Paper Trail." The Grand Hustle/Atlantic set sold 177,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, after debuting last week with 568,000.
Metallica's Warner Bros. album "Death Magnetic" climbs back up 5-2 despite a 24% sales slide to 66,000. With a career-high for charting and sales, Rise Against's "Appeal to Reason" debuts at No. 3 with 65,000. The rock act's last set, 2006's "The Sufferer and the Witness," bowed at No. 10 with 48,000. Current single "Re-Education (Through Labor)" is No. 4 on the Modern Rock chart this week, the act's highest charting single yet.
With 63,000 copies, Jennifer Hudson's self-titled Arista debut falls 2-4 on a 71% sales decrease to 63,000. Veteran British rock act Oasis scores its first top 10 set since 1997, as "Dig Out Your Soul" (Big Brother/Warner Bros) debuts at No. 5, moving 53,000. The band's last studio set, 2005's "Don't Believe the Truth," began at No. 12 but with a larger opening sales week of 65,000. Oasis last reached the top tier when 1997's "Be Here Now" debuted and peaked at No. 2 with 152,000.
'Dig Out Your Soul' faired even better on the Billboard Digital Sales chart, debuting at Number Two with 20,000 downloads sold
Bob Dylan notches his 17th top 10 album -- and 50th charting set overall -- on The Billboard 200 as the triple-disc Columbia collection "The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 -- Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased, 1989-2006" debuts at No. 6 with 50,000. This is the best chart position for any album in the "Bootleg" series.
Staying put at No. 7 for a third week straight, Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus" (Top Dog/Atlantic) moves 48,000 (-15%) in its 53rd week on the chart. Ne-Yo's "Year of the Gentleman" (Def Jam) continues its decline, falling 6-8 with 47,000 (-33%).
Oasis have officially confirmed that they are to play Slane Castle on Saturday, June 20th.
Guitarist and principal songwriter Noel Gallagher and fellow guitarist Gem Archer flew in by helicopter to Slane this afternoon as part of the launch for the gig which will be one of the biggest of the band's career with a potential audience of around 80,000.
The band are currently on tour promoting their new studio album Dig Out Your Soul.
Gallagher looked none the worse for the recent incident on stage in Toronto when he was pushed off the stage by a demented fan cracking several ribs in the process.
Oasis played Slane before in 1995, but only as support to REM and at a time before the launch of their second album What's the Story, Morning Glory which turned them, for a time, into superstars.
Gallagher was vague on the details of their last performance. "I thought we played here on our own," he said. However, Gallagher, whose mother and father are both Irish, said the previous concert had been attended by 80 relatives. "They've all grown up and had kids of their own so we are expecting 97 relatives this time around.
"Ireland is a massive part of my youth. It was six weeks of my summer holidays until I was 15. Every time I come here, it brings it back to me."
Gallagher said he would not be joining the 90 per cent of bands who tell audiences that the place they are playing in is their favourite, but he said there was "something about Celtic crowds. I just think they get more drunk".
Oasis, who have had several changes of band personnel since their last appearance at Slane, will be playing the venue to promote Dig Out Your Soul.
The band said their set for the Slane concert will compromise half the album and many of the anthems which has made their name. "Put it to you this way, we will be playing Wonderwall," he said.
Tickets for the gig go on sale on October 24th and will be limited to eight per person. Prices have not yet been announced, nor have the support acts though an Irish act will be among them.
Oasis, National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, Tuesday October 14
Having your breath sucked away as you are gently consumed by the hot, sweaty mass of the mosh pit is often not the best position from which to review a gig.
But then this is Oasis - where having your clothes soaked by pint glass aeroplanes carrying leftover lager is all part of the fun.
Few bands create the kind of debate among music lovers as the Manchester four piece. While legions of fans hail each album a masterpiece there as just as many who sneeringly dismiss the Gallagher brothers as an ageing irrelevance, rapidly becoming Status Quo for the 90s generation.
I didn�t hear many voicing the latter opinion after the band treated a sold-out NIA crowd to a consistently frenetic and often brilliant 1 hour 45 minute set.
Liam Gallagher swaggers on stage oozing arrogance as the band launch into Rock n� Roll Star - the opening track from 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe - still sounding as fresh and as relevant as it did then.
More classics follow as Cigarettes and Alcohol, Wonderwall, Slide Away and The Masterplan draw ever greater cheers from the masses.
True, material from latest album Dig Out Your Soul receives a far more muted response - guitarist Gem Archer�s sluggish To Be Where There�s Life a prime example - but this is a problem for all major bands when debuting new material on tour, be it Oasis, R.E.M, Radiohead or U2.
For whether you like them or not, this is the status Oasis have attained. The fact they still sell out tour�s within minutes and can thrill a crowd more than 15 years into their career is precisely why they cannot be simply dismissed.
Noel takes over vocals at the beginning of the encore for Don�t Look Back in Anger, with thousands crooning the chorus back to him, before the band finish off with the epic Champagne Supernova and Beatles classic I Am The Walrus.
Show over, a smiling and contented 13,000-strong crowd head for the exits - satisfied they have witnessed a band on top form.
Oasis have announced their most extensive Western European tour yet from January to March 2009 in support of their new album 'Dig Out Your Soul'.
The tour, which starts January 12 and continues until the 3rd of March, is the next phase of their massive 14 month 2008/9 World tour and follows on from tour dates in Canada, the UK, Mexico and the USA.
Shows in France, Germany, Austria and Portugal have been confirmed with a number of other countries still to be announced. The confirmed dates are:
Click here for ticket purchase information'Dig Out Your Soul', the first album to be released internationally on the band's own Big Brother Recordings label, is out now.
For more information and announcements on further dates to be added to the tour please keep checking back here or at Oasisinet.
It's expected that one of the UK's hottest acts will shortly confirm they'll be rocking the famous venue owned by Lord Henry Mount Charles with a one-off performance.
The acclaimed Manchester brothers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, are rumoured to have a 'masterplan' to play the Meath venue in the middle of 2009 as part of their 18-month long tour.
The part-Irish Wonderwall stars are currently performing a sell-out tour of the UK and will perform in Belfast at the end of the month.
Yet it's widely rumoured in showbiz circles that they'll be coming back to Ireland to perform a massive gig in the venue, which can cater to up to 100,000 music fans.
Given that lead guitarist Noel has indicated that the lads will pursue their own solo projects at the end of their present tour, tickets for their Irish concert are expected to sell like hot cakes.
Irish concert promoters MCD are hosting a press conference at the Meath venue tomorrow at which they will announce details of Slane 2009.
Oasis' performance at Wembley on Thursday 16th October will be broadcast live in the UK on MTV One from 21:00. The gig will be repeated on TMF on Saturday 18th October @ 21:00.
Highlights from the gig will be available to watch online from Friday at MTV
The gig will also be available to view internationally:
MTV Brazil: Friday 21st November MTV Denmark: Sunday 19th October @ 23:00 MTV European: Thursday 16th October @ 21:00 MTV Finland: Sunday 19th October @ 23:00 MTV France: Thursday 16th October @ 21:00 MTV Germany: Saturday 18th October @ 20:00 MTV Holland: Friday 17th October @ 23:55 MTV Italy: Friday 17th October MTV Japan: Wednesday 22nd November @ Midnight MTV Spain: Saturday 18th October @ 21:00 MTV Sweden: Sunday 19th October @ 23:00
Keep checking your local TV listings as more broadcasts and countries are to be announced...
Gallagher Wishes He Worked WIth Producer Sardy Sooner
Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has admitted he wishes 'Dig Out Your Soul' producer Dave Sardy was on board for the band's previous efforts.
In an exclusive Track-By-Track rundown of the band�s new record with Xposure�s John Kennedy, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher admitted he was so impressed with Dave Sardy's production work on 'Don't Believe The Truth' and 'Dig Out Your Soul', he wishes he'd worked on the band's previous albums.
Gallagher said: "He gets it. I�m a little sad and thankful that we found someone like that after all these years. I�m a little sad we didn�t find it earlier."
Though Owen Morris has been given much credit for his work behind 'Definitely Maybe', Gallagher insists he put in more hours in the studio than anyone.
"He (Owen Morris) was a mixer who was an engineer who knew how to use the desk. I've pretty much done everything til' now and it's so easy for me to sit in the back there and enjoy being in the band as opposed to sitting at the desk scratching my head. I take blame for not giving up control sooner, but one's a little mad in their youth."
Listen to Noel and Gem's track by track run down HERE
CREDIT crisis. What credit crisis? Last night�s TV and radio news was all about the historic happenings in the financial world, but Oasis fans heading for Birmingham NIA were only banking on a memorable show from their heroes.
And they weren�t disappointed because the band delivered � with interest! Those of us seated high in the gods at the venue had a birds� eye view of the massed ranks standing on the arena floor, creating a huge mosh pit that ebbed and flowed as one even before Oasis took to the stage.
And when Liam Gallagher loped to the microphone for opening song, Rock & Roll Star, the place went crazy. The 2005 single Lyla followed but with a new album to promote fresh material was soon unveiled. First single, The Shock Of The Lightning, with powerhouse drums from new boy Chris Sharrock, had enough riffs to keep the momentum going and when Liam threw his tambourine into the audience there was an almighty scramble to grab it. It�s probably already for sale on Ebay. The temperamental frontman seemed unhappy with the sound quality, continually motioning to his technicians that he thought the balance was wrong. It sounded fine and Liam applauded the audience every time they showed their appreciation. Brother Noel remained calm, waiting for his chance to take lead vocals on new song, Waiting For The Rapture, and The Masterplan.
The new album, Dig Out Your Soul, is already at number one but whether tracks like I�m Outta Time and Falling Down, which both featured last night, have the same shelf life as the likes of Wonderwall and Supersonic, which closed the set, remains to be seen. The fans seemed to prefer to take their comfort breaks during the newies! Don�t Look Back In Anger opened the encore, with the fans singing as much as Noel, and last song I Am The Walrus, was a fitting homage to the band�s favourite group, The Beatles.
The fans went away happy. Bo Malickyj from Wolverhampton said: ��This is the second time I�ve seen Oasis and it was fantastic. I enjoyed the whole show but if I had to choose one highlight it was Champagne Supernova.��
Diane Perkins from Erdington agreed that it was a good show but with one reservation. ��I wish Liam would talk to the audience more. With an Oasis show you get great songs but there�s not much stage presence.��
Noel: Sheffield was the Gig of the Year So Far......
Taken from Noel Gallagher's official Tour Diary on oasisinet.com
Now then. 3 days in Manchester and 2 nights in Sheffield have done us the world of good. Was great being back home where it's at. Makes me wonder what on earth we were thinking about when we left for London all those years ago. The city seems to have gone from strength to strength. A wondrous place indeed. The 2 nights up in Sheffield were colossal. Played like a c*** on the 2nd night, mind. Sorry 'bout that. The 1st night though..phew! It was the gig of the year so far and a pleasure to be there.
Currently on the bus. The boys are trawling through the 2nd series of 'Rising Damp'. Very funny. We're en route to Birmingham. See you there if you're going.
Noel Gallagher has hit out at The X Factor for having "absolutely nothing to do with music".
The Oasis star accused Dannii Minogue, last year's winning judge, of being unable to recognise talent.
Gallagher, 41, told the Radio Times: "If somebody is dangling this carrot of 'fame and fortune' in front of a check-out girl from Barnsley who can sing like Britney Spears then they're going to go for it."
He continued: "But it seems to bring on instant mental illness. You're going in at the top, with a number one that sells 750,000 or whatever and you've got someone like Dannii Minogue telling you you're really talented - and if there's one person in the room who wouldn't know talent if it kicked them in the a*** it's Dannii Minogue.
"You spend a year slogging around the country and then what? You can't go back to Barnsley and be a check-out girl 'cos that would look bad.
"So you end up either trying to be an actress or trying to sustain your profile by going on celebrity shows."
He added: "Instead of instant fame and celebrity and all your ex-boyfriends and girlfriends coming out of the cupboard and your family being ripped apart, the prize ought to be, 'I'll introduce you to someone who might introduce you to someone who might, if you're very lucky, know a producer who'd record one of your songs'. That's the only way to make any money. Otherwise you sell five million records and earn 50 grand."
The X Factor "has absolutely nothing to do with music and everything to do with television", he said.
Gallagher also criticised Madonna, saying the star "has all the money in the world and yet she still works out six hours a day.
"Six hours! In a gym! You sleep for eight, right - so that's 14 gone already. What do you do with your one hour off?"
Chicago Sun Times Critic Responds to L4E Reader Email
After reading Jim Drogatis' Review of Dig Out Your Soul many of you wanted to let the Chicago Sunday Times critic know how you felt about his thoughts on the new album. A 1 and 1/2 Star rating won't sit well with any Oasis fan as our journalist buddy now understands.....
From Jim Derogatis:
So my review of the new Oasis album "Dig Out Your Soul" was posted to a fan Web site here, and it's generating a lot of email.
No jokes about being surprised that Oasis fans can write, please. They deserve their say:
In the past I think you have made it clear you are not a fan of Oasis. So to say this is a fair and balanced review of "Dig Out Your Soul" is not exactly true. How can a critic write an honest review about anything if he/she already has a predisposition to dislike the artist? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if you don't like Oasis that is totally fine. However, I do find it a bit irresponsible as a musical journalist to compose such a one-sided review. If anything, you should have had someone who does not already have such a subjective view of the band write the review. It is just unfortunate that you have such a large audience for a clearly biased critique.
OASIS rocker Noel Gallagher has revealed he likes to keep up with the latest City gossip - by watching Channel M.
The Blues fan, who grew up in Burnage, watches the Manchester-based station - part of the Guardian Media Group, which includes the Manchester Evening News - from his London home on satellite TV.
Gallagher, 41, is a regular viewer of the City Debate Show, in which presenter Jimmy Wagg discusses the latest Blues-related stories with journalists and former players.
He also watches the channel's United Debate Show - but likes to have a pop at the former Reds stars who appear on it.
Gallagher revealed his viewing habits during a radio interview with Xfm presenter Clint Boon.
He said that it was through Channel M's music shows that he discovered Oldham band Twisted Wheel, who are currently on tour with Oasis.
Gallagher said: "I like Twisted Wheel. I've seen them on Channel M. I watch the City Debate Show. Then I watch the United Debate Show, and laugh.
"I shout furiously at all the United players on the telly: `What are you talking about?'"
Channel M bosses are delighted that such a high-profile Blues fan watches the show.
A spokesman for the station said: "The City Debate Show has built up a cult following since it was first launched in August last year.
"Plenty of City legends have paid a visit to the URBIS studio - Mike Summerbee, Gary Owen and Andy Hinchcliffe are just some of the big names to appear.
"It's great that Noel has been watching, as well as staying tuned to see what's happening in the red half!"
The City Debate Show goes out on Channel M on Mondays at 7pm with MEN sports editor Peter Spencer and City legend Tony Book on tonight's show. You can also see clips on this website from this evening.
Oasis have shot straight to the top of the album chart with their seventh studio collection, Dig Out Your Soul.
It is the group's first album since 2005's Don't Believe The Truth, and continues an unbroken run of number one albums since 1994's Definitely Maybe.
Guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher recently returned to the stage after being injured by a stage invader at a concert in Canada.
Pink's So What remains the number one single for a third week. The Kings of Leon are at number two in the singles chart with Sex on Fire, and in the album chart with Only By The Night.
Will Young's album Let It Goes falls one place to number three, while Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad - first released in June 2007 - rises one place to number four. James Morrison's Songs For You, Truths For Me falls two places to number five. Tell Tale Signs - an album of alternative takes from Bob Dylan's past recording sessions - is the second highest new entry, at number nine. The highest new entry in the singles chart is Kaiser Chiefs' Never Miss A Beat, at number five.
Oasis, "Dig Out Your Soul" (Reprise) 1 and 1/2 Stars
Q. What's the difference between Oasis and Lenny Kravitz?
A. A Mancunian accent.
Wait, that's a bit unfair: America's hippie-dippy retro-rocker never wrote a classic-rock rip-off/homage as powerful as those on "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?," the 1995 album that, it has long since become clear, is the best main man Noel Gallagher will ever give us. But neither Noel nor Lenny is the least bit concerned with stretching his artistic horizons.
"It's a working-class thing ... I'm not an experimenter," Noel said in one recent Gallagherism, while in another, he noted, "I'm trying salmon, that's as far as my interest in new things goes."
Fair enough, mate. But if that's the case, why the heck should we bother to buy your seventh album of alleged new material?
Blatantly unoriginal or not, if Noel could continue to deliver singles as mindlessly catchy as "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova," Oasis would still be a guilty but genuine pleasure 17 years after it emerged during the heyday of Britpop and alternative rock. But "Dig Out Your Soul" is a plodding and lazy disc, with the rhythms too enervated to rise above the bombast of the wall of guitars, the melodic drones not nearly melodic enough and Noel contributing a mere six of the 11 tunes. (Brother Liam's three are, as has often been the case, eminently dismissible; the same is true of Gem Archer's sitar-decorated "To Be Where There's Life" and, sadly, "The Nature of Reality" by bassist Andy Bell, who proved as guitarist and co-leader of the late, great Ride that he was capable of infinitely better than this tossed-off blues stomper.)
What does that leave us? Well, we can assert that "Dig Out Your Soul" is a (slightly) better disc than the other three Oasis has given us in the new millennium, but that certainly is damning with faint praise. We can play the laughable lyrics game. ("Love is a litany, a magical mystery"; "Gotta get me a doctor with a remedy / I'm gonna take a walk with the Monkey Man!"; "I hear your soul song singing from a fire in the sky.") Or we can count the references to the boys' heroes. (The riff from the Doors' "Five to One" pilfered for "Waiting for the Rapture"; the John Lennon sample in "I'm Outta Time"; the "White Album" vibe of "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady"; the "Dear Prudence" coda in "The Turning.")
Im Outta Time - Oasis
Then again, we could just admit it isn't worth the effort, since Oasis itself clearly can't be bothered to break a sweat on our behalf.
Jim DeRogatis
Im' sure Jim would love to hear your thoughts : jimdero@jimdero.com via L4E / source: Chicago Sun Times
Get ready to Roll With It as I have super exclusive Oasis news about the band's much anticipated homecoming gig.
My spies tell me Liam and Noel Gallagher are in talks to play the massive Heaton Park in Manchester (famous for Radio 1's One Big Sunday event) next summer. The boys are hoping to sell 100,000 tickets for the gig - and frankly I just can't wait.
One of my moles told me: "The band are really excited about the whole project. It will be their biggest gig since Knebworth."
Meanwhile it looks like Liam, pictured yesterday, is already getting into Supersonic shape.
On a walk with wife Nicole Appleton and her All Saints bandmate Melanie Blatt and their tiny dogs, the rocker's legs didn't look half bad in shorts. Just a shame he decided to wear girly tights.
Dig Out Your Soul Expected to Enter US Chart at #5
Next Week's US Album Chart Projections:
Four debuts, and maybe five, are headed for next week�s leader board, led by Rise Against (Geffen/Interscope) with a projected 70-75k cd sales. That total appears to be enough for a #2 finish behind reigning champ TI (Grand Hustle/Atlantic), who has enough momentum to wind up with another 175-200k in week two. Then we�ve got #3 Jennifer Hudson (Arista/RMG) with 65-70k, #4 Metallica (Warner Bros.) with 60-65k, Oasis� first for (Warner Bros.) bowing at #5 with 55-60k and #6 Ne-Yo (Def Jam/IDJ) with 50-55k.
Coldplay may be bigger, but Chris Martin can't touch the Gallaghers when it comes to being a rock star, says SPIN's David Marchese.
Following their mega-successful debut double shot of 1994�s Definitely Maybe and 1995�s (What�s the Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis were poised to rule the rock game. But 1997�s underwhelming Be Here Now put an end to that.
Ever since, the band has been stuck in rock'n'roll Triple-A. Not quite major leaguers on par with Coldplay, the Chili Peppers, or Radiohead, but able to fill arenas nonetheless. And even though the new Dig Out Your Soul is a welcome return to the supersonic guitars and straightforward songwriting of those early albums, Oasis�s cultural moment has passed. The brothers Gallagher won�t be getting called back to the bigs anytime soon.
But for sheer entertainment value, they deserve better. It doesn�t matter that Noel has no longer got a multiplatinum platform, he still talks like everyone�s listening, whether that means beefing with Jay-Z or ragging on Radiohead.
I love it.
And Liam is no quote slouch either. Take, for example, the following Wildean zinger, leveled at the fool who tackled Noel in Toronto: �If it were up to me, I�d have cut his dick off and made him eat it.� Not exactly something Chris Martin would say. Come to think of it, what is something Chris Martin would say? Only Gwyneth knows for sure.
And that�s why we need Oasis. Slagging people in the press, public intra-band squabbling, releasing albums of tunefully kickass guitar rock, speaking in a British accent -- this is what rock stars are supposed to do! Now, it just so happens that rock stars are a little like dinosaurs these days, but guess what? Dinosaurs are awesome.
Noel Gallagher has been telling 6 Music how Oasis nearly split up during a difficult period at the end of the 90's.
Speaking to Steve Lamacq, the guitarist revealed that the band had nearly thrown the towel in and gone under a different name.
He said: "We had a serious discussion after Bonehead and Guigsy left: 'Should we fold this now and just go under a different name?' We were seriously thinking about it.
"But your manager gets you at a moment of weakness when you're hungover and says: 'You've built this thing up after ten years and you're just going to throw it away and start again?' And we were like, 'No, we're just thinking about it.'" "We want to be in 'Oasis'! We don't want to be in 'Sweaty Bogeys' or anything like that�!' Noel says Gem and Andy talked them out of a name change. Despite the temptation, he says the new blood in the band soon helped them get their priorities right:
"When Gem and Andy joined they were like: 'F*ck that, we want to be in 'Oasis'! We don't want to be in 'Sweaty Bogeys' or anything like that�!' And it was like: 'You've got a point!'"
But despite the decision to keep going, Noel says that whole period was a real low point for the band.
He said: "There were years of a real total lack of inspiration; Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, that whole period. In my defense, Creation was collapsing around our ears, Bonehead and Guigsy were thinking about leaving, although we didn't know it at the time.
"The fact that we were all getting divorced, that we made a record anyway is quite staggering."
According to Noel, the band was in one big comedown from the hedonism and success of their early years, but didn't have the sense to stop and take stock:
"We had kind off come out of that whole thing with the 90s, I was trying to get off drugs and everyone was doing different things and everyone was becoming distant from each other. I think we put records out because we didn't know what to do.
"We really should have gone away after Knebworth and done what U2 did after the Joshua Tree. To be that you've got to be cool. We were all addicted to the attention and the mania and the egos.
"After Knebworth everyone was like: 'What are you going to do?'. Like an idiot you say: 'We're going to come back next year and do five nights!' But what we should have done was gone away and had a long holiday and analyse this.
"But it's all part of the story."
You can listen again to Steve Lamacq's interview with Noel, as well as other interviews with Liam, Gem and Andy Bell HERE
Gallagher : More 'Sickeningly Good' Songs on the Way
Noel Gallagher says the next album is already demo'd
Noel Gallagher has already written and demoed Oasis's follow up to Dig Out Your Soul. And, of course, it's "sickeningly good".
In an interview with London radio station XFM, Gallagher claims the band's next album has been written on a miniature kids drumkit in a cupboard-sized studio.
Talking about Dig Out Your Soul track Get Off Your High Horse Lady, he said: "There are another two songs that are really, really brilliant. One called I Want To Live In A Dream In My Record Machine which is a big Champagne Supernova,Stairway To Heaven-thing, which is amazing. And another one called Come On It's Alright which has a 50-piece choir signing the chorus on it."
I Want To Live In A Dream In My Record Machine found its way onto YouTube a few months back and many fans expected the song to be on Dig Out Your Soul.
"I wrote and demoed a full album while we were in the studio," Gallagher continued. "While we were mixing the album in the studio we had another studio that consisted of a cupboard and this little GarageBand thing in the corner. We bought a miniature kids' drum kit and wrote another record."
Gallagher added, typically, modestly, that the new songs he's written are sounding "sickeningly good".
"The new stuff is a proper concept. Have you heard Neil Young's Greendale? I say it with a smile on my face because as I'm saying it, I'm thinking: 'you pretentious c*nt'. It's all songs about characters and all the songs will have titles and in brackets it'll be 'AKA The Shopkeeper'.
"I've got to say, they're sickeningly good. Dave Sardy (producer) was freaking out saying: We should record these now."
Stop The Clocks - not to be confused with the compilation album of the same name - is another Oasis song that has never been released.
Despite the leaks of tracks from Dig Out Your Soul, the album sold 89,434 copies on its first day on sale in the UK (6 October), making it one of 2008's fastest first-day sellers. It's almost certain to be Number 1 in the UK chart on 12 October, the band's seventh Number 1 studio album in a row.
Noel Gallagher Has Reservations about iTunes Culture
Noel Gallagher is not a happy bunny. For all you hoping to cherry pick what you want from the new Oasis album, Noel and co have a cunning plan....sort of. Noel Gallagher spoke to Xfm about Oasis's new album 'Dig Out Your Soul', and he's not happy with you just picking your favourite tracks off iTunes:
He said: "I think it�s the first album we�ve ever made where we�re consciously not hanging a collection of songs around three songs, which is what seems to happen these days".
"That�s why all the songs fade into each other and there�s sound effects that join them all together. It was a conscious effort to say to people �Well, if you�re going to cherry pick songs off iTunes, you can have a few seconds either side of what you�re missing. It's a real album - �Get Off Your High Horse� or 'Falling Down' don�t make sense if you haven�t heard the rest of the record".
Noel also added: "The new technology�s a great thing, but the 'album' has died a little bit. The reason people only want three songs off an album is 'cos most albums are shite."
An Oasis fan showing his dedication to the cause; a forearm tattoo of the band's famous logo which featured on the first three albums - 'Definitely Maybe', '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' and 'Be Here Now'. Gem Archer designed the new logo for 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' in 2000. Oasis played the first night of their UK tour at Liverpool Echo Arena on Tuesday (October 7).
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher has said he will go �insane� if someone buys him another Beatles book for Christmas.
Gallagher made the remarked during an appearance Radio 1 when he was asked by DJ Zane Lowe if he had started to enjoy the quieter things in life.
�Oh, I can go man. I can still 'av it man. It's not pipe and slippers just yet,� Gallagher said.
�I'm sure there is a pair around the house, but I walk around the house naked and barefoot, man. That's me, mate. Slippers for Christmas. If I get one more Beatles book I'll go insane.�
The singer's admiration of the Beatles, and particularly John Lennon, is well documented.
Gallagher also admitted that he had relaxed since the band's early days when reports about Oasis' notorious rock'n'roll lifestyle filled the newspapers.
�Getting older chills you out, without a doubt, and you look around and you think, 'I'm glad to be here'. We're lucky to be doing this,� he said.
Incident at Virgin Festival overshadows release of Oasis� new album
While the recent attack on Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher was bad � he broke three ribs after a 47-year-old man assaulted him on stage at Toronto�s Virgin Festival last month � bassist Andy Bell said things could have been worse.
�I saw Noel lying on the ground,� he says on the phone from his London home. �I thought he had been stabbed.�
At first Bell was in shock. He saw the fan leap at singer Liam Gallagher after knocking Noel down. Three bodyguards quickly tackled the suspect. Although the band finished the set, they had to cancel a number of tour dates � including ones in London, Ont., and Montreal � after they found out that the older Gallagher brother had broken bones.
Needless to say, Bell and the rest of the band aren�t too pleased they�ve had to stay at home while new record, Dig Out Your Soul, is hitting stores this week.
�We�re unbelievably angry about this,� he says. �It�s crazy. Right now we should be doing dates, but we�re not. This has thrown a huge bomb in the middle of our schedule. Apart from the fact it�s something you don�t do. You don�t attack a man from behind.�
Bell�s not sure what will happen to the attacker, and he hasn�t found out why Gallagher was hit, but the incident has made them rethink their large festival gigs. �This could have happened anywhere,� he says, adding that the band is not holding a grudge against Toronto. �The problem for us was that it was a festival. That�s the issue we�re blaming for this. It�s hard to say how we�ll address it, but there are professionals who are looking at this and finding out how we can make things safer.�
Although the band did finally resume touring this week in Liverpool, this setback has made it more difficult to promote the album. It�s too bad too as Dig Out Your Soul could be the band�s best effort since its mid-�90s heyday. The songs aren�t as rocking as What�s the Story Morning Glory, and they don�t deviate much from their familiar Beatles-esque pop, but for the first time in a while the band members sound like they are trying again.
It probably helped that every member contributed at least one track to the record. Bell is responsible for the upbeat rocker Nature of Reality, and while it�s one of the less Oasis-like tracks on the album � making it a refreshing addition to the band�s sound � it�s not the song the bassist would have picked for the record.
�If we were going for one track, I would have chosen a different one,� he says, pointing out that he actually wrote a number of tunes. �Noel sets the tone of the album, then he goes back through the 60 or so songs we�ve got in a collective pile and he pulls out things that suit his head space. So Nature made more sense with everything together.�
While the soft-spoken Bell has several more good tunes that might never see the light of day, he�s not upset � he just wants to get back on the road. �We�re trying to get in the zone again. The worst thing was preparing to be so active and then not doing anything. We all feel a bit out of sorts, but in terms of playing, the music sounds brilliant.�
In the pre-Winehouse era, the British exported their music, not their dirty laundry, which is why it's possible for Americans to recall the mid-'90s moment when Oasis and Blur jostled for the title of rock's best band in complete ignorance of the fact that the groups genuinely loathed each other. The divisive issues were class and ambition: Oasis' Noel and Liam Gallagher boasted that they had neither, while the members of Blur were posh college kids who briefly went by the band name Seymour, after J.D. Salinger's suicidal genius. Blur's music had oblique melodies and omnivorous influences; Oasis ripped off as many Beatles tunes as it could get away with. On one of the many occasions when Blur's lead singer, Damon Albarn, mocked the musical sophistication of his rivals, Noel Gallagher replied that he wished Albarn would "catch AIDS and die." It was, in its horrible way, an excellent feud.
A decade and change later, Blur has broken up. But Albarn stayed on his artistic trajectory and has assumed the throne, vacant since David Bowie's prime, of popular music's avant-gardist in chief. In the past few years, he's launched a cartoon hip-hop band (Gorillaz), an Afro-pop album (Mali Music) and a side project with a member of the Clash. All were slightly ridiculous (hip-hop, world music, supergroup--the hubristic rock star's triple crown) but well received, yet none can quite prepare you for Albarn's latest: Journey to the West, a "circus opera" based on a Ming-dynasty novel, with lyrics in Mandarin by Chinese actor Chen Shi-zheng. The protagonist is the wildly self-confident Monkey, who irritates his peers with his certainty that he is far more gifted than they are and deserving of immortal acclaim. He doesn't go by the nickname Damon, but it's a fair question.
Journey was performed multiple times over the past year to raves, but listening to the score out of context is a little like hearing gossip about people you don't know: some things simply don't register. Portions of the album, however, are breathtaking. The instruments--from synthesizers and the thereminesque Ondes Martenot to harps and an acrylic doodad of Albarn's co-invention that replicates the sound of car horns on busy Chinese roads--are lavish, but the exoticism is somehow kept in check. Typical of Albarn's various cultural adventures, he doesn't attempt to pass as a local; the details and pentatonic scale may come from Chinese folk music, but the playful melodies are rooted in pop. The fluttering female voices on "Heavenly Peach Banquet" resolve as the la-la-la-la-las from Minnie Ripperton's "Lovin' You." "Iron Rod" sounds like R2-D2 rapping on a dance floor. "The Living Sea" is a ballad of such delicacy that it feels like a love song in any language. The music does a fair job of telling Monkey's story, but that's far less interesting than the ambition on display and the effortless integration of different traditions.
Oasis' seventh album, Dig Out Your Soul, also incorporates different traditions: John Lennon's and Paul McCartney's. There are plenty of worse musicians to rob, and on several tracks Oasis proves that it still has a gift for towering, arena-friendly tunes. "I'm Outta Time" is rock balladry at its shameless best--with an emotional guitar lead and a sweeping, sing-along chorus: "If I am to go/ In my heart you grow." Good luck resisting it, even if there is a needlessly appended sample from Lennon's final radio interview. "Ain't Got Nothin'" takes the band out of its midtempo sweet spot with an erratic snare drum that refuses to settle into a predictable rhythm. It's like "Helter Skelter" but faster.
Much of Dig Out Your Soul is pretty good, but none of it is particularly challenging--to the listener or its creators. Oasis too has stayed on its trajectory. Noel Gallagher recently told an interviewer that "it's a working-class thing ... I'm not an experimenter." Even if you overlook this patronizing view of the working class, the limiting of artistic horizons as a virtue is worrisome. For all the Beatles envy, it's the Rolling Stones whom Oasis has come to resemble most--not in its music but in its aversion to acknowledging anything but its own success.
Oasis stars Liam and Noel Gallagher have revealed they will play in their home city after all following a storm of protest about their latest tour.
The brothers caused anger when their 'Dig Out Your Soul 2008/2009 World Tour' was revealed to be going to Liverpool then Sheffield - but missing out Manchester
But Noel, 41, has now revealed the band would be doing something 'big' in the New Year.
He said: "We've got a big special thing planned for Manchester which we cannot tell you about. I think it will be next year when it's nice and hot."
Speaking about the City of Manchester Stadium Noel told DJs Richard and Luce: "We have been told that the new owners have said they are not having any more concerts at the stadium because they don't need the money.
"I agree with them that they shouldn't have any more concerts there but they should definitely let us play."
Liam and brother Noel, 41, checked into the five-star Lowry Hotel in Salford in preparation for their gig in Sheffield.
And they were later seen out and about on the city centre streets.
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