Our Live4ever sites receive a daily stream of breaking news from a huge network of music PR offices and industry insiders.
The Brit Rock Daily Web-Zine is included in MOG's community of the best music sites from around the Internet and our .us domain features The Oasis Newsroom , the web's most popular Oasis site.
Broadcast, Web and Print Mentions:
BBC Radio, BBC.com, BBC Teletext, NME Radio, NME.com, 102.7 The Edge, Uncut.com, Prefixmag.com, The Guardian, The Toronto Star, Musica Tutto and many more.
65% of our sites' global readers originate in North America and the UK and over *2 million unique visits were recorded over the past 12 months. (*google analytics)
Seoul: The air intelligence unit at Seoul Incheon airport customs seized 8lbs of fresh Nova Scotia Salmon from a passenger who arrived from Tokyo Japan by an All Nippon Airlines flight last night.
Officials engaged in passenger profiling at the airport found the moves of Liam Gallagher (36), a resident of the United Kingdom and singer in popular Brit Rock band Oasis, suspicious and questioned him while he was coming out through the "nothing to declare" gate .
“When we questioned him, he did not admit to carrying anything. So we examined his clothing and found the fresh fish (Salmon) valued at US$147.00 (195,800 South-Korean Won) in his inside coat pockets . He had no valid document for the import of seafood or meat from the South Korean agricultural department,” a customs commissioner said.
On questioning, Mr. Gallagher told the officials a fan had given him the salmon as a gift at Tokyo airport , and that he was not aware of the import laws.
The import of fishes , dead or alive, requires a license from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and clearance from the animal quarantine department.
Customs officials let Mr Gallagher proceed to his waiting limousine after the band's manager handed them tickets to Oasis' concert at Seoul's Olympic Gym #1 scheduled for Wednesday. (Sum Thin Wong)
via L4e / Korea News International
EDIT: Well I don't know about you guys but I had a lot of fun with this made up story and my photo-shopped picture of Liam coming out of a night club. I hope our "Salmon King" laughed along with us. April Fools Day :)
Kasabian who later this year will be supporting Oasis on the their UK Stadium tour, will be releasing their new track 'Vlad The Impaler' as a free download from Kasabian.co.uk for a limited period of 4 days only.
The download will be available from 7.30pm (UK) tonight (March 31st) until Midnight April 3rd only from Kasabian.co.uk.
The clip is from the documentary 'Gold & Silver & Sunshine' - the making of Dig Out Your Soul, which can be found in the deluxe version of Dig Out Your Soul.
The single is taken from their forthcoming album 'The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum', out June 8th and the first physical single release will be 'Fire', out June 1st.
Rock 'N' Roll Star Lyla The Shock Of The Lightning Cigarettes & Alcohol The Meaning Of Soul To Be Where There's Life Waiting For The Rapture The Masterplan Songbird Slide Away Morning Glory Ain't Got Nothin' Whatever The Importance Of Being Idle I'm Outta Time Wonderwall Supersonic Don't Look Back In Anger Falling Down Champagne Supernova I Am The Walrus
Bootlegs from the current Dig Out Your Soul Tour by Oasis are available on the L4e Forum's Sound and Vision board here
Book 'The North Will Rise Again' Charts 30 Years of Music in Manchester
Oasis, The Stone Roses, Joy Division and The Smiths all feature in a new book charting the last thirty years of Manchester music.
'The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1978-2008', penned by journalist and Goldblade frontman John Robb, is published tomorrow (March 30).
The book details Manchester's punk, Madchester and present day scenes and tells the stories of a number of the city's most famous musicians.
Morrissey, Ian Brown, Noel and Liam Gallagher and The Fall frontman Mark E Smith are among the contributors to the book, alongside Johnny Marr, Happy Mondays man Shaun Ryder and the late Factory Records boss Tony Wilson.
"I've spoken to just about everybody. In fact, the biggest problem has been keeping it all down to a manageable size. The book is around 155,000 words long as it is and it could have been double that. Ian Brown gave me 30,000 words to work with!," Robb told the Manchester Evening News.
Synopsis
The Buzzcocks. Joy Division. The Fall. The Smiths. The Stone Roses. The Happy Mondays. Oasis. Manchester has proved to be an endlessly rich seam of pop-music talent over the last 30 years. Highly opinionated and usually controversial, stars such as Mark E. Smith, Morrissey, Ian Brown and the Gallagher brothers have always had plenty to say for themselves. Here, in John Robb's new compilation, Manchester's gobbiest musicians tell the story of the city's thriving music scene in their own words. When the Buzzcocks put on the Sex Pistols at Lester Free Hall in 1976, they kickstarted a musical revolution and a fervent punk scene exploded. In 1979 the legendary Tony Wilson founded Factory Records, the home of Joy Division/New Order and later the Happy Mondays. The Hacienda, the Factory nightclub, became notorious in the late 1980s as a centre of the influential Madchester scene, led by the Mondays and the Stone Roses, with a unique style and sound of its own. Then, from the ashes of Madchester rose uber-lads Oasis, the kings of Britpop and the biggest UK band of the 1990s. Full of great characters, fierce conflicts, untold stories and seething controversies, Manchester In Its Own Words is indispensable reading for any music fan. John Robb is a leading music journalist and the author of the bestselling biography of the Stone Roses. His other books include Punk: An Oral History, The Charlatans ...We Are Rock and The Nineties: What the F**k Was That All About?
The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1978-2008 is written by John Robb and will be published by Aurum Press on March 31. John Robb will be signing copies of the book at the Deansgate branch of Waterstone’s at 7pm on Tuesday, April 21. Tickets £3, are redeemable against one purchase of the promoted book on the night. Call 0161 837 3000.
From Noel Gallagher;s official tour diary onoasisinet.com
Now then. Have actually managed to get some much needed kip. 17 hours over 2 nights! It wasn't un-aided, nor un-interupted. 17 hours it was, nonetheless. I feel like my old self. Or a new man. Whatever.
Done some crazy TV show last night called...I can't remember! Big deal though, apparently. Went on for 3 hours! Watching the camera work by the cameramen (and women, y'know, whatever) was amazing. They had it all choreographed like a dance routine. Really brilliant.
Didn't see "The Sign" yesterday. Mr al-Fayed's shoes were hanging around though. They truly are incredible.
Not much else to tell really. No..that's it, I'm afraid. If anything exciting happens, I'll be in touch.
He's the big-mouthed Valleys rock ’n’ roller whose wild backstage antics are second only to his hair.
Now, in a new book called Demons And Cocktails, sacked Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable lifts the lid on life on the road with the multi-million-selling Cwmaman band, from the triumphant highs of their Cardiff Castle concert to the desperate lows of his bitter split from the group and subsequent downward spiral into drink and drugs.
In the first of an exclusive two-parter, Nathan Bevan tunes in to find out exactly WHAT made Tom Jones threaten to knock out Mark Lamarr and WHY you shouldn’t accept marriage counselling from Liam Gallagher.
Stuart became close friends with mono-browed Manchester brothers the Gallaghers – worryingly close, in Liam’s case.
“I was due to play a Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Albert Hall and was running late as usual when one of the crew greeted me outside the dressing room we were sharing with Oasis.
‘Thank God you’re here, he’s not happy, he began.
‘Who?’ I asked, thinking Kelly was having a cob on again about my punctuality.
‘Liam,’ he replied. ‘He’s waiting for you. He’s refusing to shake anyone’s hand until you turn up.’
When I walked in, Liam yelled: ‘Here’s my man, Stuey. Stuey, come here.’
He hugged me and we sat down at the back of the room where it got even more bizarre.
He had heard that my marriage was on the rocks and turned into my own private agony aunt.
Since his own marriage had also broken up earlier that year, I assumed he now thought he was an expert on the subject of divorce.
Not sure about that, though, given that the advice he gave me was: ‘The first year is the hardest. After that it’s a piece of cake, a walk in the park. Let’s have a beer.’
That was Liam’s version of marriage counselling, but I bet there’s not many people who can boast they’ve had that.”
For those of you who missed Noel Gallagher's special solo performance and sit down interview with Arts and Entertainment Channel's Breakfast and the Arts show back in 07 here's your chance to catch up!
Noel Gallagher on A&E Breakfast& The Arts, Part 1
Noel Gallagher on A&E Breakfast & The Arts, Part 2
Tickets for the Oasis concert at the River Plate Stadium date go on General Sale from today (28th March).
All tickets are available through Ticketek or +(54-11) 5-237-7200
Oasis recently announced they will be performing at the River Plate Stadium, Argentina's national football stadium and venue for the 1978 World Cup final on Sunday the 3rd of May.
Also known as 'El Monumental de Nuñez', the iconic stadium is the biggest stadium in Argentina for concerts.Oasis return to Argentina for the first time since playing a sold out show to 40,000 fans at the Buenos Aires Polo Fields in March of 2006.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher on Saturday denied that he is the man shown pointing at the Google Street View camera as it drove past his local pub in London last summer.
Liam Gallagher says the figure captured on Google Earth outside a pub in London is not him.
"Just saw google earth apparently that's meant to be me, who ... wears legwarmers with reeboks?? Not this kid!! LG," he wrote on Twitter.
Though available for a while in the United States, Google Street View only launched in Britain last week. As in America, the launch in Britain prompted people all over the country to try to find themselves or spot funny images and famous faces on the service.
Gallagher was apparently spotted outside The Queens pub in Camden, in north London, a place he's known to frequent.
The picture shows a man dressed in a dark T-shirt and long shorts sitting at an outdoor table. He points at the camera, obviously having seen the Google car and its Street View camera drive by.
The service blurs people's faces so it is hard to confirm whether it is Gallagher.
Though the man isn't wearing legwarmers, Gallagher is apparently talking about the man's ankle-high shoes and thick black socks.
From Noel Gallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet.
This is probably gonna be a load of rambling nonsense. It's 5am. I've been awake since 3.30am, I only went to bed at midnight!! Feel like that dude in that song by Faithless. I can't get no sleep. It's killing me, man.
Not a great deal going on either. The gigs in Osaka were quite run-of-the-mill. Unenjoyably-run-of-the-mill.
"The Sign" (I shall now refer to it from now on as "The Sign") was there. Down the front. Bright as a button. NOEL OR DIE.
Went to Tower Records yesterday. They still have amazing record shops out here. It was quite early so it was virtually empty. I'm in there 2 mins and on comes 'Stop The Clocks - The Best of Oasis' really fuckin' loud over the in-store PA.
"Ah..just what I wanted to hear".
I'm trying to ignore it and one of the little-uns comes up and asks for "my sign, please!", while pointing to the ceiling, very pleased with himself. "Thanks for that".
Bought 5 albums. All shit. I won't name names. I was just taking a punt, so to speak.
I'm fuckin' starving. I'm gonna order breakfast... Done, be here in 30 mins.
Bought a guitar yesterday. A Gibson SG. It's a new one. A re-issue of the George model. Not the ACTUAL model, but near enough. Looks good. Plays good.
Talking of guitars, I'm getting a bit concerned about my main one. The big red one. It's suddenly started to sound a bit old and tired. And it will NOT stay in tune. It is nearly 50 years old though. Might have to stop using it for a while. Bit worried, to be honest. I'm quite literally fucked without it.
We're traveling back to Tokyo today (but we've just come from there, surely?). 4 more nights there and that'll be it. Mind you, always a pleasure on that bullet train.
Incidentally, I was watching summat on BBC World the other day about them bullet trains and apparently since they went into service in the 60s, the average delay time..in almost 50 years..is 6 seconds. SIX SECONDS over 50 years!!?? And they've only had one derailment and that was during an earthquake!! Staggering, eh? No? Well, it is at 5am!!
Oasis announced earlier this month that they will be performing four dates in what will be their largest-ever tour of Brazil.
Tickets go on general sale for the shows from today (March 27th).
The band will play:
RIO DE JANEIRO - Citibank Hall – 7th May SÃO PAULO - Arena Anhembi – 9th May***NEW VENUE*** CURITIBA - Expotrade Convention and Exhibition Center – 10th May PORTO ALEGRE - Gigantinho – 12th May All tickets are available through Ticketmaster or by phone: (11) 2846-6000 (São Paulo) and 0300 789 6846 (other states)
Official Oasis Merchandise Store For USA & Canada Launched
Did you miss out on seeing the band on tour? Maybe you went to a show and didn?t have a chance to stop by the merch booth? You're in luck...the USA and Canada official online store has just launched a tour department with a bunch of new items!
Very limited quantities of these items are available and once they sell out, they?re gone forever so do not hesitate...check out the USA 2008 limited edition tour poster, the splat logo track jacket and a classic logo tee now available in red. Visit the tour department HERE.
Former bad boy Liam Gallagher tells Charlie Carter how he's settled down and grown up. Well, mostly ...
By his own admission, Brit-pop superstar Liam Gallagher is a reformed character.
When Oasis visit Hong Kong for a gig next month, gone will be the wild man who was banned from flying with Cathay Pacific for an airborne punch-up on a flight to Perth after their first show in the city in 1997 and in his place will be a calmer, more mature Gallagher who prefers a night indoors to one out on the town.
"I've done my partying," the former hellraiser says. "I like to be with the missus and our kid. We just go round people's houses or they come round to ours."It's a far cry from the young upstart from Manchester who rose to fame in the mid-1990s with a band that blazed bright at the vanguard of a newfound British rock euphoria, the banner-wavers of the Brit-pop sound.
Although there was little new about Oasis' musical style, theirs was the first British pop in a long time that swaggered. Songs such as Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger and Supersonic, although lyrically meaningless, had an ambition about them that ideally suited the times.
Adding to the myth was Liam and his songwriting brother Noel's penchant for fighting and partying. Rarely did a week pass when they weren't splashed over the tabloids for coming to blows in public, making outrageous statements or rumours of rampant drug ta!
Most prominent was their public rivalry with fellow Brit-! poppers Blur, which came to a head in 1995 when both bands released comeback tracks from new albums on the same day in what was billed as the "Brit-pop wars". Oasis lost that battle - Blur's Country House beat the Mancunians' Roll With It to the top spot - but with more than 10 million albums sold, they eventually won the war.
These days, it's Noel who tends to grab the headlines with his carousing. "Noel is out on the piss all the time," Liam says by telephone a day after a gig in Milan, part-way through the band's world tour promoting new album Dig Out Your Soul.
"Him and his missus like hanging out with all the comics and things like that."The suggestion that the younger Gallagher may have gone soft raises a few bristles and sees him regain his cockiness for a moment: "Listen, mate, I'm not teetotal. I have calmed down a little bit without a doubt. But not too much, I hope." And regarding that airline incident, he is resolute: "I don't regret anything," he says. "We did a show and went on the piss, you know what I mean? No one got hurt.
"The Gallaghers' relationship remains one of the oddest in rock. They fight in public, more than once resulting in Noel walking out on the band. Their credibility in the US was wrecked twice when the band cancelled tours after rows, one of which ended with Noel stomping out and a second that saw Liam refusing to leave Britain and instead go flat-hunting in London.
Today, Liam admits the two rarely fraternise outside of the band."We don't go for walks in the park. We don't go for brunches or lunches or whatever," he deadpans in his Mancunian drawl.
"That's the way it is - he's a different person from me, I'm a different person from him. We both live in London and, yeah, I could just go round his house, but I don't want to. I don't feel the need to go round and see my brother's head. And I'm sure it's the same for him."
Guitarist Gem Archer has also noticed a difference in the once-warring Gallaghers."There's a definite maturity that's becoming more apparent," says Gem, who! joined the band 10 years ago. "We've all got kids and we're all in it for the right reasons. It's about the music, not the money or the fame.
"It's not just the Gallaghers who've changed - the band is a whole different proposition from the snarly youngsters who burst on to the scene in the 90s. When they play the AsiaWorld-Arena on April 7, they'll be promoting Dig Out Your Soul, which has won critical acclaim for moving the band away from the so-called Oasis sound of Beatles-influenced melodies with an indie feel.
Archer attributes this to the band's new drummer, Chris Sharrock, who took the stool from Ringo Starr's son, Zak Starkey, and to the recording process for Soul."This album was a really easy process - from top to bottom in seven weeks," he says. "We didn't demo it, and it takes time to be able to do that. There's a certain amount of telepathy you need to do that."They have even changed their tune regarding old rivals Blur, who have reformed eight years after guitarist Graham Coxon walked out, leaving singer Damon Albarn to front the band.
"I'm happy that they're back together, 'cos then they can hopefully get rid of the Kaiser Chiefs," he says. "Now that I've grown up a little bit and got wiser, I'm happy for them, to be quite honest." He doesn't plan to be at their comeback gigs, though: "I don't think I'll be welcome. Me and Damon are all right, but I just don't want any of their fans getting heavy with me.
"The present tour, as planned, presented Oasis with a few more milestones. One not likely to be achieved, though, will be their first gigs on the mainland. The four-piece had been due to play in Shanghai and Beijing before performing in Hong Kong, but those shows were cancelled. The band say it's because Noel performed at a Tibetan freedom concert several years ago, a charge Beijing denies.
One thing they will achieve, however, is their first all-stadium trek around Britain, playing football grounds such as Wembley. It's a big deal even for! a band that filled Knebworth - a huge venue - for two nights !in 1996, playing to an estimated 500,000 people.
"Initially when we put out the dates, I thought 'I hope someone knows what they're doing here'," says Archer. "And when they all sold by 3pm, it was pretty breathtaking. Playing stadiums is the ultimate buzz. It was a dream when I was in London, busking."Liam is less philosophical: "I play small gigs, I play big gigs, I play really big gigs. It's all the same to me."But one gig he won't be playing is Glastonbury.
Although the band was welcomed at the British festival with open arms early in their career, their last appearance, in 2005, was a shambolic affair marred by a lacklustre performance and jeers from the audience."No, I'm never playing that place again," Liam says. "It's s***. I don't like it, it's full of idiots and paparazzi taking pictures of you when you're out of your head, know what I mean? That's no good. I don't like the sound either, the f***ing sound system is s***."
Oasis Live in Hong Kong, Apr 7, 8pm, AsiaWorld-Arena,!
HK International Airport, Lantau, HK$380-HK$780, HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 2629 6240
Inside the new issue of NME, on sale across the UK from Wednesday 25 March, we meet The Enemy as they prepare to release their supersized second album 'Music For The People'.
Green Day treat NME to an exclusive listen of their long-awaited new album, '21-st Century Breakdown'.
Find out the why Liam Gallagher has launched a new clothing label.
Plus...
Kings Of Leon explain how being jetlagged has inspired a 'bluesy' new album.
Noel Gallaghers Daughter Sings Clash Classic at Charity Bash
Noel Gallagher's daughter looks to have inherited her dad's rock genes.
Eight-year-old Anais gave The Clash guitarist Mick Jones an impromptu rendition of the band's classic Should I Stay Or Should I Go at a Mummy Rocks charity bash.
Mick was joined by the likes of Anais' mum, Meg Matthews, and fellow Primrose Hill set Sadie Frost and Jenny Frost, who brought along their kids, too, for the Peter Pan themed kid's party held in Notting Hill.
Mummy Rocks, supported by St. Tropez, is in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital
TV Asahi Networks is welcoming Oasis at a special 3 hour live taping featuring the Brit rockers with other bands and artists such as Exile, Kat-tun and Perfume.
The popular Music Station will be broadcast Friday March 27th (Japan) and will include an interview with regular show host Tamori and the Gallaghers.
You can catch up on reviews (if you read Japanese) and photo galleries of the current Asia tour leg here in Smashingmag
From NoelGallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet.com
That girl was waiting for me at the airport. With the sign. "NOEL OR DIE". What does it mean!? I did try and ask her, sadly all she was interested in was a bloody picture. I then used the tried and tested English method for international communication; I asked her really ..slowly.
"WHAT ...DOES ...IT ...MEAN?"
She looked at me like The Mighty I looks at me when I'm asking him something.
"THE SIGN ...WHAT ...DOES ...IT ...MEAN?"
She replied very slowly with two simple words.
"SIGN? ...YES"
That's got to the bottom of that then, eh? I'm glad I AM Noel though. Wouldn't want to die, or anything.
We're in Osaka for the next 3 days. What can I tell you about Osaka? Nothing. I bought a guitar here once.
With that in mind, I think I'll order breakfast and get out and about.
Liam Gallagher Won't Strut The Catwalk For Own Label
Singer declines NME's offer to strut his stuff
Liam Gallagher has dashed hopes he will launch his new fashion label Pretty Green by taking to the catwalk himself.
In this week's issue of NME, on UK newsstands today (March 25), we take a look at the Oasis singer's new fashion line, find out the star's plans, plus look at the possibility of the label launching with a fashion show.
(Liam up on the Catwalk at Versace Menswear Show in Milan)
To encourage Gallagher to take to the catwalk himself, Gallows singer Frank Carter even provides some advice following his stint at a fashion show during London Fashion Week in February.
However, responding to the article via his Twitter account, the frontman has declined the option to strut his stuff.
"Just been reading the NME about me doing a catwalk to premier(e) prettygreen," he wrote "No fucking chance! LG."
It is yet to be seen whether Pretty Green will launch with a fashion show, but the label's first collection is due this summer.
For the full story get this week's issue of NME now.
Say Cheese! Liam Gallagher Snapped By Google's Mapping Service
London, March 25 (IANS) Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher was photographed by Google’s new mapping service as he was having a beer.
The 36-year-old Gallagher was having a drink at Street View, reported thesun.co.uk. He spotted the Google camera car taking his pictures and pointed at it. But his face was blurred since it is Google’s policy to not reveal anyone’s identity.
A source said: “If there’s one man you’d recognise having a pint, it’s Liam Gallagher. He’s often in The Queens. He must be the most high-profile celeb to be caught on Google Street View.”
The band spokesperson said the person was “very possibly” Gallagher.
From Noel Gallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet.com
Been in Sapporo for the last couple of days (did I mention that?). It's snowing. SNOWING! Thought we'd left the winter behind in Europe. Apparently not. Seems like we're being haunted by the cold on this tour.
Gig was good. Uneventful, but good. I say gig, they're more like concert performances over here. You can hear a pin drop between songs.
Played that song "Whatever" for the first time in.. what.. 12 years? Bizarrely enough it's our most famous song in Japan. The kids are always mithering for it. Dunno why I decided to play it last night. Guess it means I'll have to play it every night now.
Went out to watch the Liverpool-Aston Villa match after the concert last night. At an IRISH BAR!! They're everywhere. I bet there's one in Kabul. Liverpool won 5-0, as I remember. Every time they scored, the DJ in the bar played "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Gerry and the bloody Pacemakers. 5 times he played it!! 5 TIMES!! Good times though.
We're flying to Osaka today. Now, in fact.
Before I get off, tell me what you think of this.. There's been a fan following me around since I got here carrying a sign that says, in fluorescent lettering, NOEL OR DIE! Now given the fact that the Japanese have a certain way with the English, I'm still not quite sure what it means. NOEL OR DIE!??
In a bit. GD.
PS. As I'm sending this I'm watching some "human beat-box battle" on Japanese telly. Human beat-box? Human cunt-box, more like.
Crowd Sings Along to Oasis, Don't Look Back in Anger , Osaka Japan . 3-24-09
Russel Brandt To Make Radio Comeback With Noel Gallagher
Controversial Essex comedian Russell Brand may have had to quit the BBC over the Sachsgate affair, but you'll be able to listen to some of his radio shows again soon.
A four disc box set of the Grays comedian's Radio 2 shows is to be released on April 13 by Vertigo records.
The Best of What's Legal will feature the highlights of Brand's show which ran for just over two years from November 2006, attracting around 300,000 listeners and 700,000 podcast downloads each week.
Featured in The Best of What's Legal are Brand's regular radio sidekick Matt Morgan, resident poet Mr Gee and guest contributor Noel Gallagher. Comedians Simon Amstell, Alan Carr and Noel Fielding also make guest appearances.
The box set includes three CDs of radio shows and a DVD of Russell's 'viddycasts' plus there'll also be a special, limited edition 7" numbered picture disc of A Bit Of The Best Of What's Legal released on April 13.
Listen out for Russell on the radio once more when he hosts a one-off show on Talksport on April 17 with Noel Gallagher.
Oasis did a very rare thing last night. To the delight of the Japanese fans the band added their classic hit Whatever to last night's set list This is one of few changes to the Dig Out Your Soul set list Oasis has made during this tour.
You can watch Noel's acoustic version from last night on youtube here and listen here
Yesterdays set list from the Makomanai Ice Arena in Sapporo Japan:
Fuckin' In The Bushes Rock 'N' Roll Star Lyla The Shock Of The Lightning Cigarettes & Alcohol The Meaning Of Soul To Be Where There's Life Waiting For The Rapture The Masterplan Songbird Slide Away Morning Glory Ain't Got Nothin' The Importance Of Being Idle I'm Outta Time Wonderwall Supersonic Whatever Don't Look Back In Anger Falling Down Champagne Supernova I Am The Walrus
NOEL Gallagher has blamed one of his least favourite bands for the world’s economic downturn.
The Oasis frontman, 41, believes he has the answer to why times are so bad.
He said: “Apart from the fact that the global conspiracy theorists have seemingly been right all along, we managed to trace back the actual moment the storm clouds started to gather to when Franz Ferdinand won the Mercury Muzak Prize. Think about it.”
The Enemy’s Tom Clarke played a secret gig yesterday afternoon (March 21) in Manchester.
The singer played a range of covers during his set, and you can watch his version of Oasis' 'Half The World Away' (interspersed with snippets of Inspiral Carpets' 'This Is How It Feels')
Playing Manchester's regular Saturday tea party at the TV21 venue, the free gig was a civilised affair with audience members offered homemade cakes and tea in China cups.
Hosted by Inspiral Carpets organist Clint Boon and his wife Charlie, the tiny room was filled to capacity for the short set that included tracks from The Enemy's debut album.
Featuring former singles 'We'll Live And Die In These Towns' and 'You're Not Alone', the short set also included a cover of Blur's 'Tender'.
Meet Liam Gallagher's Rock N Roll Designer Competition
Did you know that Liam Gallagher who recently announced the launching of his own clothing line called Pretty Green is in very good company?
Musicradar came up with this long list of 11 other rock n roll stars wanting to dress you up :
Bono
The Edun clothing company was formed by Bono and his wife Ali Hewson. All fair-trade clobber, but they don't seem to sell stack-heeled shoes. No profit line on the horizon for those?
Matt Sorum
The Guns N' Roses / Velvet Revolver drummer's music might not be suave, but his Sorum Noce suits are pretty sharp. And he saves money by hiring bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash as models.
Gen Simmons
Kiss's tail-tongued mastermind has his own clobber company, called Moneybag. "This Italian Calfskin wallet should always, always, always, be full of cash. And Gene agrees," says his website. Hmm, we might take a hat.
Justin Timberlake
Timberlake's wares succeeded in "capturing the soul of authentic Southern heritage and married it with the edge of contemporary Hollywood". So, he wants you to dress like The Eagles?
Scott Weiland
Now he's left Velvet Revolver, Weiland can spend more time on his English Laundry clothing line with designer Christopher Wicks. MusicRadar presumes the needle work is exemplary.
Zacky Vengeance
Avenged Sevenfold's rhythm guitarist has his own brand of t-shirts, hoodies and accessories called Vengeance University. Most bear the tag: "Est. 6661". Which means he's quoting the 'number of the beast', or this clothing doesn't actually exist for another 4653 years?
Benji and Joel Madden
The Good Charlotte brothers once sang negatively about Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous. But since 2005 their DCMA clothing line has been a hit with the rich and famous, including Benji's sometime-girlfriend Paris Hilton. Rich, famous, whatever…
Kanye West
The world's most self-assured man sells his own shoes, glasses and accessories lines. But if you buy Kanye's sneakers by Louis Vuitton, just make sure you live like him. "I hire someone specially to take care of my shoes," says West. "They clean them, box them and take a picture of them so it's easier to find them." Kanye clearly has a tough life.
Jay-Z
Shawn Carter is a true entrepreneur, and sold his Rocawear business in 2007 for a tidy $204million.
P Diddy
Sean Combs' Sean John clothing and fragrance line is hugely popular now and worth multi-millions. But MusicRadar does question the name of his recent fragrance.
Q: "Mmm, what are you wearing honey?" A: "It's Unforgiveable". Result?: Lady makes quick exit.
Gallagher is none too impressed by the sort of clothes worn by younger rock stars.
Says Liam: "The reason I'm doing it is I like clothes. We're going to do clothes I like, if people like it cool. If they don't, they don't."
15 Years later Britrock legends Oasis are still going strong. Seems like the only differences are new band members and the now larger venues but the fans are clearly still mad ferret. Check out the two clips below shot during their first Japan visit in 1994 and the current Dig Out Your Soul tour last week, both in Tokyo.
Oasis - Live4ever , 1994-09-15 Tokyo - Club Quattro
Not much of a video , but you get the idea....
Oasis - Rock 'n' Roll Star, 20 March 2009, Makuhari Messe Hall 8, Tokyo,Japan
Bootlegs of Oasis' current Dig Out Your Soul shows in Japan can be found via the L4e Forum on our Sound and Vision board.
From Noel Gallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet
Arright'dare, la'.
That bullet train malarky was most enjoyable. The sight of Mount Fuji was, and indeed is, always amazing. Majestic, in fact. A bit like that new Kasabian album. But then I am biased.
Had a mooch round Shinjuku yesterday. What a day'n'all. The sun had his hat on, let me tell you. Jet lag's a killer, man. Was well spaced out all day.
Bought a colossal jacket. For real. Can't work out how much it was though. I'm shit at maths. It was from Stone Island so I'd be amazed if it wasn't about 5 grand!!
I see City went through to the last 8 of the UEFA cup. With a whimper. Typical. At least we got there though. Shay Given, I will kiss you on the face if we win it - which is a ludicrous thought. Still..best start thinking of what to do if we actually get in the final.
Just done a round of interviews in which I was asked to explain what I thought has gone wrong with the global economy!! Apart from the fact that the global conspiracy theorists have seemingly been right all along, we managed to trace back the actual moment the storms clouds started to gather to when Franz Ferdinand won the Mercury Muzak Prize. THINK ABOUT IT.
Falling Down Chosen as Theme Song for Anime Series
Production I.G. has announced that it has chosen English rock band's Oasis hit Falling down as the opening theme song to its anime series Eden of East .The song is from the band's latest album, Dig Out Your Soul, and it is the first anime collaboration for Oasis.
From Noel Gallagher's official tour blog on Oasisinet
Well, that gig was rubbish. Ring rust maybe (not that there's any rust round my ring, you understand!). Dunno. That's 3 shit gigs in a row for me now - if we're counting the Radio 1 / BBC stuff last week, which I am. This is worrying. No one else seems to be that concerned though, maybe it's just me, eh?
Not much happening after the gig. Everyone's a bit sleepy. Which is a joke 'cos you simply cannot sleep in this country. It's mental. No wonder they're always inventing gadgets. No-one ever sleeps. They've got to do SOMETHING.
Am currently on a bullet train speeding like shit off a stick into the future! Tokyo, to be exact. I love Tokyo. Great kids. Mad as custard.
The last time we spoke to Oasis, Liam Gallagher said he’d come up with a perfume called Mad Ferret if there was new line of work he could do. But some six months down the road, when we mentioned that to him, he thought we were mad.
In fact, don’t even suggest that there’s anything else he’d rather do than be in Oasis (even if you’re right and you’ve got the tape recording to prove it).
“Not interested in anything that’s not Oasis,” he said over the phone from London. “Oasis is my thing. I was born to be in Oasis. I was born to make Oasis the best. That’s what my goal is.”
Part of that goal is touring for their current hit album, Dig Out Your Soul. They have a scheduled stop in Singapore on April 5 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The album — one of the best albums of last year, declared Britain’s NME magazine — has sold over 1.6 million copies worldwide since its release last October, and is the latest feather in the cap for a band that’s sold more than 50 million records and has had eight Number One singles in Britain.
“Them songs are amazing (sic),” said Gallagher, adding that he couldn’t wait to show off the new album to the audience here.
“I love the music. I love playing it. I love going around the world, seeing the fans and stuff. I can’t wait to get back there.”
You guys played Singapore about three years ago. Can you remember what that show was like? You know what? I can never remember that far back. I imagine that it was a good show. At least I thought it was good. Er, was it any good?
I thought so. How’s the tour going so far? It’s been going really good, we’re playing really well, I’m singing really well. I think we’re rockin’. If we’re all well and I haven’t got a sore throat or anything, then it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.
Have there been any Spinal Tap moments? I mean, being in a band with your brother is Spinal Tap, full stop. It’s always Spinal Tap.
What can we expect this time? Well, you’re going to see the best rock n’ roll band in the world, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, we’re not daft, we don’t jump around and get our socks off. We’re not like Guns N’ Roses. We know what we’re doing. (But) you want people to join in, don’t you, and feel good. That’s the kind of band we are.
We’re not a band of miserable arty-farty outfit. We want people to get in and have a lot of fun. It’s all good, mate.
Do you get bored singing the early stuff? I like everything to do with Oasis. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it, know what I mean? No, I don’t get bored at all. I mean there’re days when you get bored — full stop. It’s got nothing to do with music. It’s to do with life in general.
So no more sex, drugs and rock n’ roll? I dunno. What do you reckon? I’m definitely into the sex, and I’m definitely into the rock n’ roll, but the drugs, well ... I can do without.
Do you miss your kids while on the road? Well, they do their thing and I do my thing, but I’ve found that after three weeks, I start getting a bit mental and I want to go home. When you get older, you start appreciating your family more. But this is what I do, this is my job. I’ve got to pay the bills.
You consider being in Oasis a job? Of course, it is a job, but it’s the best job in the world.
What’s your philosophy? Just don’t think about it.
Describe Oasis in less than 10 words. The best band in the world.
As a performer... (Interrupting) I don’t see myself as a performer. I’m not. Robbie Williams, Mick Jagger — they’re performers. I’m just a rock n’ roll singer. I sing songs and that’s the end of it.
What’ll you do when the music’s over? It’s never going to be over. But who knows, mate? Hopefully, we’ll all be well. And keep producing great music. I’m never going to split this band up. I love it. I’m having such a good time.
Do you want to continue playing forever, like The Rolling Stones? I don’t want to be like anyone. I want to be like Oasis. If we’re fit and keep writing good music, then that’s what I’m going to do till I die. Forget the Stones, who gives a s**t about the Stones?
Liam Gallagher answers another fan's question via video clip. If you have a question for Liam send it in via his new clothing line Pretty Green website here.
Oasis will be including Venezuela in their forthcoming South American tour which includes the already announced gigs in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile. The band will play Campo de Futbol USB in Caracas on April 28th.
Tickets go on sale from Friday (March 20th) through Hard Rock Café Caracas (Sambil), Recordland (Sambil and CCCT) and Esperanto (Paseo Las Mercedes, San Ignacio and Recreo), www.evenpro.com and (212) 703-0701.
Liam Gallagher has posted a new video online explaining why he's started his Pretty Green clothing label.
Scroll down now to see Gallagher talking about what clothes mean to him, and why he hates the "skinny" look favoured by the likes of The Horrors and The Strokes.
In the video, which was posted on Prettygreen.com, the Oasis man says his disappointment in the current men's clothing market was one of the factors that lead him to start Pretty Green.
"I'm just doing it [launching the clothing range] because there's a lack of…the stuff I want. You can't really get it," he said. "I'm not gonna be putting anything out unless I'd wear it."
The singer also laid into what he called "the skinny look", saying he hopes Pretty Green will force a change in the style's popularity.
He ranted: "I'm not into the skinny look. These skinny things. That's what I'm here for, to fucking get rid of that shit. You know them shoes that just come at you like a fucking snooker cue?! It's like, leave it out man! You got a license for them bastards or what?!"
Gallagher can also be seen inspecting a pair of 'Pretty Green' shoes in the video, declaring them "fucking tasty".
The star joked at his Oasis bandmates would only get to wear the clothes "if they get their hands in their pockets.
From Noel Gallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet.com
Now then. How is everybody? Not that I give a shit, just being polite.
We're in Japan. I've got quite a soft spot for this mob. Who hasn't? Lovely little fellas, they are.
Got thrown out of a taxi this morning. At least I think I did. Hard to tell over here. There was shouting and pointing and then the international hand signal for "Get the fuck out of my cab, you western dog!"
Jet lag will put a downer on the gig tonight. I already can't be arsed. Nevermind. They've got Yorkshire tea bags on the rider which, let's face it, is all that matters to a 40 year old Northerner.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty won top honors at the 2009 International Andy Awards tonight, receiving the Grandy, which comes with a $50,000 cash prize, for the integrated campaign "Dig out your soul in the streets" for Oasis.
Promoting the band's seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul, from Warner Bros., the campaign introduced the new music on the streets of New York City, where band members taught street musicians to play their songs for two weeks leading up to the release last fall. In addition to the guerilla effort, the launch included a digital push that distributed a documentary about the New York event through MySpace.
"It's become very clear that new thinking in new media has replaced traditional 'advertising' executions," said Mark Waites, creative director, founding partner of Mother in London and chairman of this year's jury. "Clients and their agencies are becoming adept at embracing unusual approaches, concepts and [media] to transport their creative vision into work that makes viewers take notice and respond."
Droga5, New York, was the only multiple U.S. gold winner, taking home two gold statues for the Sara Silverman-starring viral video for the Jewish Council for Education and Research called "The Great Schlep." The other U.S. gold winners were Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, for the Comcast spot "Rabbit," Crispin Porter + Boguksy, Miami, for the Burger King "Whopper sacrifice" digital campaign and Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., for the Coca-Cola commercial "It's Mine."
Droga5 also took home two additional prizes, the Richard T. O' Reilly Award, which honors public service announcements, and the Innovation Award, which celebrates forward-thinking work, both for the "Million Project." Created for the New York Department of Education, the campaign inspired students by engaging their interest in cell phone technology and interactivity. It included collateral, a Web site and PR.
The Miami Ad School Europe won the Glenn C. Smith Scholarship in the student competition.
Liam Gallagher has done more for the cagoule than anyone else during his 15-year stint scowling at crowds from stages across the globe.
So I’m not entirely surprised to learn that the bellowing Burnage boy is going into the rag trade.
The dapper Oasis frontman is launching his very own clothing range and has called it Pretty Green in tribute to his favourite track by Mod rockers The Jam.
And in his typically outspoken style, lippy Liam is magnificently blunt about why he has decided to branch out.
He said: “The reason I’m doing it is I like clothes. We’re going to do clothes I like. If people like it, cool. If they don’t, they don’t.”
The limited menswear range will feature everything a Jack the lad could want.
It will include classic designs across footwear, denim, knitwear, jackets, trench coats, parkas, T-shirts, hats, scarves and accessories.
Blunders
And the frontman is taking a hands-on approach to his new range.
He added: “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to get involved. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be good.”
The collection is due to hit select shops in June.
Liam and Noel inspired an army of teenage lads over the last 14 years to have the same barnet, sideburns and clobber.
But not all of Liam’s threads have caught on.
The John MotsonO-style sheepskin coat he wore to the Brits in ’96 was a sweaty reminder of the band’s over-indulgence at the time.
And the leopardskin slip-on shoes he’s showing off at the moment went down a treat with my gran.
I doubt you’ll see many lads at The City Of Manchester Stadium wearing them this season though.
Oasis continue with their 'Dig Out Your Soul' tour at Nagoya's Nihon Gaishi Hall today. The band will also visit Sapporo, Osaka and Tokyo on this leg of their massive world tour.
Check out the brother Gallagher's interview done back on their 1994 visit to Japan below
Noel and Liam interviewed @ Club Quattro Shibuya Japan, 1994
Oasis Return To Switzerland To Headline The Gurten Festival
Oasis have announced that they will be headlining this year's Gurten Festival in Berne, Switzerland on Saturday 18th July.
It will be the band's second appearance in Switzerland this year following their sell-out performance in Zurich in March.Tickets are now on sale through Star Ticket.
Other acts set to play the festival include Kings Of Leon and Travis
Liam Gallagher Launches New Clothing Line - Pretty Green
The world's most exciting front man is ready to give the world of fashion a rework. Liam Gallagher of Brit rock legend's Oasis announced that he is set to launch a clothing line of his own called Pretty Green and proclaims:"I'm not gonna be putting anything out unless I'd wear it... ".
Not only will Liam's company offer cool new clothing but his website Prettygreen.com will also run wicked competitions for members around launch time. According to an assistant fans can submit questions ,which if picked, Liam will answer by video...and you can comment on his blog too!
Liam will also be twittering when he returns to touring giving his brother Noel a run for his money. The older Gallagher brothers' "Tales from the middle of Nowhere" which is a humorous tour diary Noel writes via his cell phone recently won best Band Blog at the Shockwave NME Awards.
Here's a little preview of a photo shoot taken in Milan recently showing Liam and team working on the new line of clothing:
Stayed tuned for more exiting news in days to come!
Ricky Hatton has revealed how the Gallagher brothers turned into the Chuckle Brothers when they climbed into a ring for the first time.
The Hitman lifted the lid on the Burnage rockers' antics when they carried his IBO and Ring magazine world title belts ahead of his showdown with Paulie Malignaggi last November.
Hatton has forged a friendship with the Oasis stars, and invited them to join him on the ring walk, holding the championship belts above their heads.
But part-time comedian Hatton, who becomes deadly serious on fight night, was almost reduced to a giggle as the pair warmed to their tasks.
Hatton also told an audience at the Lowry Theatre that the bad boys showed a gentler side on seeing the brutality of boxing close up - even prompting Liam to plead with him to quit.
But the fun started as Hatton and his entourage lined up in the tunnel, ready to make their entrance into the MGM Grand's Garden Arena.
"I handed Liam one of the belts, and he asked me what he should do with it, so I told him to hold it above his head," said Hatton. "When we got in the ring I could hear Liam telling Noel `Look at the floor, there's blood on the floor!'
"Noel said to him `Yes, you're in a boxing ring!"
Hatton also told Liam to show the belt to Malignaggi, meaning from the safety of his own corner. But the Mancunian swaggered across the ring, almost thrusting the belt in the opponent's face, and shouted "Whatcha think about that!"
"I wouldn't mind," quipped Hatton. "But Paulie is a New York Italian, and half of the Sopranos were at ringside."
Ferocity
The Gallaghers took ringside seats for the fight, and were astounded at the ferocity of the contest, even though Hatton's 11-round stoppage win was not one of his hardest fights.
"Liam pulled me over after the fight and asked me how many more I was planning to have," said Hatton. "I told him three or four, and he replied `You must be off your head'. He was pleading with me to pack it in."
Hatton also revealed his biggest hate figure - United star Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asked who he would choose if he could knock out anyone in the world, Hatton only hesitated for a moment before answering: "I don't dislike too many people, but it would probably be Ronaldo.
"He is the best footballer in the world, but he is on his backside more times than his feet.
"United were on the telly the other night when I was Hoovering, and when the Hoover bumped into the telly Ronaldo fell over."
Hatton was also asked who he would like to play him if a film was made of his life story. He replied: "They would have to have two people playing me. Johnny Vegas when I'm out of training, Brad Pitt when I'm in it."
Hatton, meanwhile, believes his little brother Matthew is ready to grab some of the limelight.
The 27-year-old headlines the first local show put on by Ricky's own promotions company on March 28, taking on former European champion Ted Bami in an IBO title eliminator in Altrincham.
And his elder sibling is predicting the time is ripe for "Magic" Matthew to blossom into a top-class fighter.
Having split with long-time trainer Billy Graham following defeat by Failsworth's Craig Watson, a superb victory over Ben Tackie in November made a few people sit up and take notice.
And with a new training regime under Lee Beard, and occasionally Ricky's new mentor Floyd Mayweather Senior, Ricky says his kid brother is about to shine.
"His career has stuttered and stalled, but now you are going to see the best of him," said Ricky.
"He is coming into his own. In his fight with Watson he didn't do himself justice.
"In his last few fights under Billy his heart wasn't really in it. Training was becoming very much hard work for Billy due to his injuries, and it was taking all his effort to get his work done with me.
"Consequently Matthew was suffering a little bit and it showed in his performances.
"He is in a new camp now, working on different things. It's the same as it is with me - when you are given new training methods and new and exciting things to work on you get a bit of hunger and buzz back."
Here's your chance to win two tickets to this year's V Festival.
Oasis and The Killers are set to headline the August event, with Fatboy Slim, The Specials, Elbow and Lily Allen also set to get crowds rocking.
All of the tickets have been snapped up for the Chelmsford leg of the festival, but Road To V is giving one lucky winner the chance to get their mitts on a pair of weekend camping passes.
Prize is for 1 x pair of weekend camping tickets to V Festival Chelmsford. Closing date for entries is 31st March. Winner will be chosen at random and will be notified by email no later than 5th April.
Noel Gallagher: UK Media Only Interested in Gossip
Noel Gallagher remains true to form
After Chinese authorities revoked their performance license for Liam Gallagher of Oasis's performance at a Free Tibet benefit concert over 10 years ago in the United States, you would think the Brit-rockers would put forth at least some effort to do some diligent PR for their upcoming show in Korea.
Oasis' forthcoming April 1 concert at the Olympic Gymnasium in southern Seoul will be their second concert in Korea since 2006 when they performed to a sold-out crowd at the Olympic Hall.
"Hmm? The fans were crazy," Noel said of his band's show three years ago in the nation's capital. In an e-mail interview with The Korea Herald, the critically acclaimed band and the crotchety half of the Gallagher brothers, tip-toed around standard inquiries with classic curmudgeon-like approach.
Having enjoyed a career which has spanned 17 years, critics and fans alike have showered their latest and 7th studio release "Dig Your Soul," with universal praise.
So what does get them going?
"Everyone and everything," Noel said.
"Smoking and drinking and watching TV during my spare time gives me inspiration."
Never ones to kowtow to the media, Liam and Noel have often been publicly visible through their diva-like tantrums and feuds. Whether their apathetic views have been theatrics or not, Oasis is one of the few remaining bands that still represent the archetypal rock 'n' roll image.
"Asian media seems to be more polite and philosophical. U.K. media is very cynical," he said.
"They're not interested in music. They're only interested in gossip."
Oasis has been described as everything from arrogant Beatles-wannabes to innovators of Britpop and rock. And when it was revealed the band would deviate from their trademark sound to a harder, grittier sound, there were concerns whether this would alienate the band's core group of fans who had been there since the beginning.
Ironically, the reception from the U.K. media has been especially positive since the album's release late last year. When the Manchester-based band's first single, "The Shock of the Lightning," was given its initial round of rotation on-air, music journalists hailed the band as returning to form. England's most respected and representative music magazine "Q," even dedicated 50 pages of their publication to the band and the album.
For information on tickets, contact Yellow 9 Entertainment (02) 3444-9969 or Interpark (02) 1544-1555.
via L4e / koreaherald.co.kr / photo: Paul Bachmann
Noel Gallagher Charity Album Now Available For Download
For all of you who missed out on the special CD included in the Sunday Times you now have the ability to download the album from the official Oasis store!
‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ is available to download from today Monday 16th March:
01. (It’s Good) To Be Free 02. Talk Tonight 03. Fade Away 04. Cast No Shadow 05. Half The World Away 06. The Importance of Being Idle 07. The Butterfly Collector 08. All You Need Is Love 09. Don’t Go Away 10. Listen Up 11. Sad Song 12. Wonderwall 13. Slide Away 14. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 15. Don’t Look Back In Anger 16. Married With Children
A donation has been made to Teenage Cancer Trust in respect of the use of these recordings.
The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ features classic and rare tracks from the Oasis canon along with several cover versions of some of Noel’s favourite artists. Songs by The Beatles and The Smiths are featured here along with a very special duet with Paul Weller performing The Jam’s ‘The Butterfly Collector’.
Oasis are long time supporters of Teenage Cancer Trust and are proud to continue their support. As well as Noel’s appearance with special guests in 2007, the band headlined the event in 2002. In addition Noel has made several guest appearances himself over the decade.
OASIS rocker NOEL GALLAGHER refuses to move to the U.S., because he doesn't want his kids to grow up with American accents.
The guitarist admits he is tempted to swap Britain for a life in sunny Los Angeles, with his partner Sara MACDonald, their eighteen-month-old son Donovan and his daughter Anais from his marriage to Meg Mathews. But he's scared of his kids sounding American.
Gallagher explains, "L.A., I've kind of grown to love it, and I never thought I'd say that. I'd probably love to get a house in between Madonna and Robbie Williams, it'd be brilliant.
"I'm not sure I could ever actually live out there, I don't think it'd be fair on the kids. I'm not gonna (sic) have a child with an American accent, calling me 'pop'."
Oasis have returned to the Top Ten of the UK singles chart tonight (March 15) - but have failed to claim their first Number One single since 2005.
'Falling Down', the third single to be taken from current LP 'Dig Out Your Soul', is the band's 23rd UK Top Ten hit, but only just made it, going in at Ten.
The new chart-topper is 'Barry Islands In The Stream', the Comic Relief charity single featuring comedians from the show 'Gavin And Stacey' as well as Tom Jones and Robin Gibb from The Bee Gees, who wrote the original 'Islands In The Stream', a hit in 1984 for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
UK singles chart Top Ten:
1. Comic Relief 09 – 'Barry Islands In The Stream' 2. Flo Rida fest Kesha - 'Right Round' 3. The Saturdays – 'Just Can't Get Enough' 4. Lady GaGa – 'Poker Face' 5. Taylor Swift – 'Love Story' 6. Kelly Clarkson – 'My Life Would Suck Without You' 7. Ti Ft Justin Timberlake - 'Dead And Gone' 8. Kings Of Leon – 'Use Somebody' 9. Akon ft Offishall/c O'Donis – 'Beautiful' 10. Oasis – 'Falling Down'
Today you received your free Noel Gallagher CD with The Sunday Times. This personal and intimate 11-track CD from one of the creative forces behind Oasis was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, with special guests, for Teenage Cancer Trust.
To celebrate this exclusive give away, The Sunday Times is offering you the chance to win two tickets to an Oasis concert. As one of Britain's best-loved rock'n'roll bands, they are touring the UK from June 4 to July 12.
Tickets for this stadium tour are very limited but we have six pairs to give away to a concert of your choice.
To enter this competition simply click here and enter your details, select your preferred date and location and click submit. (sorry UK residents only)
I Prefer The School Run To Getting Wrecked Every Night,' Liam Gallagher Confesses
Liam Gallagher and his brother Noel have always been two of my favourite celebrities. Absurdly talented, outrageously outspoken and often shockingly badly behaved, they shoot from the verbal and physical hip, don't care what people think of them and make fantastic records.
Although I've met Noel a few times - including one memorable occasion at Tony Blair's 'Cool Britannia' party at Number 10 in 1997, when I caught him about to pen a Hitler moustache on Margaret Thatcher's portrait - I've never properly met Liam. Until tonight, that is. And let's just say, he didn't disappoint.
An old friend of mine, Stephen Purdew - who owns various top health clubs, including Champneys - had his wedding at Claridge's hotel, and as I sipped champagne at the reception, I was led over to meet Liam.
'Hey, man - 'ow are you?' he said. 'Like that chat show of yours; it's sound.'
'Thanks - I'd love to have you on as a guest.'
'No, no, I don't do f****** interviews. I leave it to our kid to sound off. He likes doing that.'
We then spent 20 minutes having the most hilarious conversation I've had with anyone for a long time. Liam speaks like a machine gun, firing out brilliantly provocative one-liners.
'How's your brother?' He grimaced.
'Have you got brothers?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'Well, he's like that.'
'Often quite annoying, then?'
'Right.'
'I didn't expect to see you at a party like this.'
'Nor did I. I don't go out a lot, to be honest, but I like Stephen, and I've just finished a tour two days ago, and when that happens I always feel a big comedown when I get home. I miss the buzz of being on stage and just mope around the house if I'm at home. So it's nice to come out.'
'You seem a lot calmer these days.'
'I am, I am. I prefer going on the school run, or to my local supermarket, to getting wrecked every night. I've grown up.'
'Hang on - you go to your local supermarket?' 'Yeah, man - Waitrose, all the time. It's sound. I like the fish counter - it's a real laugh round there.'
At which point I spotted his shoes: a pair of leopard-skin loafers.
'Interesting footwear, Liam...'
'I f****** love these, man. LOVE them. I've got two pairs, and wear them all the time.'
'We used to rely on you when I was a newspaper editor. On a quiet day, we'd hope you'd turn up at some awards show and start hitting and abusing everyone.'
'Yeah, well, that's because I never won anything, and I'd be on loads of drugs. Now they give me all the f****** awards, and I don't take drugs, so I don't get so wound up!'
'So you'll be on best behaviour tonight, then?' Liam smiled, and leant towards me. 'Listen, man, I could still drink anyone in this room under the f****** table. Don't worry about that. Any one of 'em.'
Get Your Free Gallagher CD in Today's Sunday Times
The Sunday Times will today be giving away an 11 track CD with the newspaper which, alongside the downloads already given away this week, gives readers the full tracklisting for ‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’.
A donation has been made to Teenage Cancer Trust in respect of the use of these recordings. On 16th March the full album will be available to buy digitally (only) from a selection of online retailers.
‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ features classic and rare tracks from the Oasis canon along with several cover versions of some of Noel’s favourite artists. Songs by The Beatles and The Smiths are featured here along with a very special duet with Paul Weller performing The Jam’s ‘The Butterfly Collector’.
Oasis are long time supporters of Teenage Cancer Trust and are proud to continue their support. As well as Noel’s appearance with special guests in 2007, the band headlined the event in 2002. In addition Noel has made several guest appearances himself over the decade.
The Sunday Times free CD on Sunday 15th March:
1. Fade Away 2. Listen Up 3. Half The World Away 4. The Butterfly Collector 5. All You Need Is Love 6. Don't Go Away 7. Sad Song 8. Wonderwall 9. Slide Away 10. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 11. Married With Children
‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ is available to download from Monday 16th March:
1. (It’s Good) To Be Free 2. Talk Tonight 3. Fade Away 4. Cast No Shadow 5. Half The World Away 6. The Importance of Being Idle 7. The Butterfly Collector 8. All You Need Is Love 9. Don’t Go Away 10. Listen Up 11. Sad Song 12. Wonderwall 13. Slide Away 14. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 15. Don’t Look Back In Anger 16. Married With Children
As part of the band's world tour, Oasis announced today that they will be playing in Lima, Peru on April 30th at the Estadio Nacional.
This will be part of the band's fourth Latin America tour but marks the first time they will have played in Peru.
***NEW ONSALE TIME!*** Tickets go on sale on Thursday 19th March at 11am (local time) through Tele Ticket.
Oasis have just finished their most successful Western European tour to date. On a world tour that has already seen them take in sold-out dates in the UK, USA, Mexico and Western Europe, the band begin their largest ever Japanese tour on 18th March in Nagoya.
I'm aware of the current RSS issues . Since the Twitter headlines get fed via my RSS there are no automatic headline tweets either. I will make sure to manually update the tweets throughout the day as the fine folks at blogger figure out why a lot of blogs are without a feed at the moment.
Oasis star Noel Gallagher looks unhappy as a dirty fan hugs him outside London's Groucho Club after BBC's Red Nose Day show
He may be used to spending time with his famously scruffy little brother Liam but this new admirer was enough to make even Noel Gallagher look uncomfortable. The Oasis frontman looked taken aback as he was accosted by an enthusiastic fan for a late night embrace.
Noel was caught off guard as the bearded and bedraggled passer-by threw his arms around the star as he emerged from a nightclub.
The fan, clad in a dirt covered camouflage jacket and jogging bottoms, collared the Mancunian singer as he came out of London's Groucho Club on Friday night. Noel looked uncertain at first before warming to the encounter and the pair parted smiling as he joked with friends.
The superstar had earlier performed new Oasis single Falling Down during a special live version of Top Of The Pops as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. The band were joined on the show by fellow guests U2 and Franz Ferdinand.
Welsh legend Tom Jones also joined the line-up to sing Comic Relief single (Barry) Islands in the Stream with Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones from hit comedy Gavin and Stacey.
Noel's hug ended a busy day which including a recording session for Radio One's Live Lounge.
Oasis, who released seventh album Dig Out Your Soul last year, are preparing to embark on a tour of Asia, South Africa and South America later this month before staging three homecoming gigs in Manchester's Heaton Park in June. In August they will headline the V Festival.
Last Chance To Grab A Free Noel Gallagher Track On iTunes Now
(Sorry UK only)
The Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 to Saturday, March 14.Each day from you’ll find a new song from the Oasis musician’s live, acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall with special guests in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free.
Click here to get todays track 'Don't Look Back In Anger' buy The Sunday Times this weekend and complete the concert with a free, 11-track CD of the performance, featuring tracks that are not available to download and an exclusive interview with Noel.
The Magical Oasis Tour is Waiting to Take You Away...
Oasis have been honoured with a music tour exploring the history of the Manchester band formed by Noel and Liam Gallagher.
For £10-a-head, fans can be guided around landmarks in the life of Burnage's most famous sons.
Sights on the two-and-a-half-hour tour include where the brothers went to school, where they first rehearsed together as a band and the record shop where they bought singles from.
The bus tour was the idea of Inspiral Carpets drummer Craig Gill who already runs a series of Manchester Music bus and walking tours alongside music expert Phill Gatenby revealing famous locations in the history of bands including Joy Division and The Smiths.
Mr Gill already knows Noel from the days he was just a budding musician who ended up becoming a roadie for the Inspirals after failing to win a place as the band's singer.
The band, originally called The Rain, even re-named themselves Oasis after seeing the name on a poster of Inspiral Carpets' tour venues.
Mr Gill said: "I first met Noel when he came up to me in the Hacienda and told me he was a fan of the Inspirals and gave me a cassette of him playing acoustic guitar. He was still working for the gas board back then.
"When our singer left in 1988, we asked him to come for an audition but we were after something really specific, so to break it gently to him we asked him to come and be our roadie, but he became more or less the sixth member of the band. But then he joined up with his brother and formed Oasis."
The tour will launch on June 6 ahead of the band's huge Heaton Park gigs, but is available for private bookings before then.
The tour includes perhaps the most famous fan landmark - Sifters Record Shop in Didsbury - where the lads used to buy singles, and credited in Oasis's 1994 song Shakermaker with: "Mister Sifter sold me songs, When I was just 16."
Don't Expect a Jay-Z Gallagher Collaboration Any Time Soon
Noel Gallagher has told Radio 1 he turned down a collaboration with Jay-Z.
Speaking to Jo Whiley on Friday morning, the Oasis guitarist explained that he told the hip-hop star, "I'm afraid I'm busy".
However, Gallagher, well known for his humour, didn't clarify whether he was telling the truth about Jay-Z's offer of a collaboration.
The guitarist was an outspoken critic of the rapper headlining Glastonbury last year.
Jay-Z then mimed to Oasis' Wonderwall and played a montage of clips of Gallagher's comments at the start of his festival set.
During the interview, Gallagher also revealed that he and his girlfriend Sarah MacDonald are devoted fans of Coronation Street.
"Me and Sarah watch Coronation Street religiously," he said. "It's such an institution, that programme - why they've never asked me to be in it is really one of the scandals of our age.
"I could just have a walk-on part, a tiny little bit in Coronation Street would be brilliant."
Gallagher also said he'd be keen to live in Los Angeles, but wouldn't want his children to pick up the accent.
"LA, I've kind of grown to love it, and I never thought I'd say that," he explained. "I'd probably love to get a house in between Madonna and Robbie Williams, it'd be brilliant.
"I'm not sure I could ever actually live out there, I don't think it'd be fair on the kids. I'm not gonna have a child with an American accent, calling me 'pop'."
Noel Gallagher: 'I want to join the cast of 'Coronation Street''
The Oasis man reveals he is an avid viewer
Noel Gallagher has issued a plea to the writers of long-running ITV soap 'Coronation Street' to give him a part in the programme.
Gallagher revealed that he and girlfriend Sara MacDonald watch the show "religiously", although he doesn't have a particular favourite character.
"They are all brilliant. It's such an institution that programme, I love it. Why they've never asked me to be in it is really one of the scandals of our age," Gallagher joked during an interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1 today (March 13).
The guitarist then went on to reveal his joy at finding out one character - Tina McIntyre - allegedly comes from his hometown, Burnage.
"You know the girl who has just split up with Martin? Erm, Tina? Her character comes from Burnage. That's the first time it's ever been mentioned on 'Coronation Street'! I did a little lap around the coffee table.
"If Martin Platt is gonna get bumped off, please let it be me".
However, Gallagher's knowledge of the programme appeared to let him down - Martin Platt left 'Coronation Street' in 2005. Seasoned viewers will no doubt realise that the Oasis man was probably talking about Martin's son David.
Oasis have announced they will be making a welcome return to Chile on their forthcoming South American tour. The band will play the Movistar Arena in Santiago on 5th May. Oasis last played Chile in March 2006.
Tickets go on an exclusive Pre Sale for Banco De Chile clients from this Sunday (15th March). Tickets go on General Sale from Saturday 22nd March. All tickets are available through Ticketmaster or on 690-2000.
Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer visited Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1 today and played a live accoustic session for the Live Lounge segment. The audio recordings of "Waiting For the Rapture" and "Fade Away" are available in the L4e Forum here
Yet Another Free Noel Gallagher Track On iTunes Now
UK ONLY
The Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 to Saturday, March 14.Each day from you’ll find a new song from the Oasis musician’s live, acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall with special guests in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free.
Click here to get todays track 'The Importance Of Being Idle' buy The Sunday Times this weekend and complete the concert with a free, 11-track CD of the performance, featuring tracks that are not available to download and an exclusive interview with Noel.
Gareth Johnson is no stranger to recording live music. For years now he’s been drafted in for live mixing duties for the likes of Kasabian, The Who, Kaiser Chiefs and Duffy. Now he’s adding Noel Gallagher to a CV that’s littered with A-listers from the cream of major record labels and a stack of independents too. For the last four years Gareth has also been involved with the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) gigs, an annual outing for the charity that sees them pack the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) for a week of stellar performances from some of the biggest stars of the day.
As a part of raising awareness for the week-long festival, slated to kick off March 24th, Gareth has been drafted in to capture the sound of rock‘n’roll once again.
To coincide with this year’s concerts, Noel Gallagher is releasing the recordings of his performance at TCT RAH in 2007. The Oasis singer and songwriter performed a selection of Oasis’ greatest songs, as well as some of his favourite tracks by other artists, including There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths and Butterfly Collector with Paul Weller.
The new live disc, The Dreams We Have As Children, will be released digitally but is also available as an exclusive covermounted 11-track CD with The Sunday Times this weekend. (Head to www.timesonline.co.uk for exclusive daily downloads.)
Over the years Gareth has become a tour-de-force on the live circuit, assembling a rig that he can rely on to get the best results – the artists he’s recording are global superstars, so there can be no compromise and no second takes.
“To capture the performance we use Focusrite Octopre preamps. I chose them because they’re reliable and neutral enough to leave scope for a wide range of mix options.”
“Then for mixdown, I need to be able to instantly recall settings on complex mixes with high track counts, which is where Focusrite’s Liquid Mix comes into its own. Working with racks of traditional outboard on projects like this would be a massive pain, but with Liquid Mix it’s just not an issue.”
“Basically Liquid Mix has revolutionised the mix process by enabling me to introduce some great tones and colour into my mixes. No patchbays, no dodgy cables – just a virtual rack stocked full of the finest outboard known to man!”
Using Liquid Mix also means I can keep costs to an absolute minimum, which is essential when working with the TCT. So the whole rig consists of Focusrite Octopres at the front end, then into the Macbook Pro (and Logic) before bringing in the Liquid Mix. Finally I run the audio through an external 16 channel summing box before taking a stereo mix back into the computer. Of course good monitoring is always important, and for this I use my trusted KRKs.
“The Liquid Mix is a real solution for a very real problem. Yes, of course I want bottomless pockets to buy loads of great outboard for my studio, but that’s just not going to happen. I can, however, afford the Liquid Mix, which is much more convenient and packs just as much of a punch. Ultimately, what we have here is a revolutionary product.”
“Dynamic convolution is a great asset in the studio. I own a few of the units that have been emulated on Liquid Mix, and while it’s nice to look at a rack full of expensive outboard gear, in the context of a large multi-track mix you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the emulation and the real thing.”
“Liquid Mix is a great way to get character, colour and tone into your mix, and really useful for getting elements to jump out in the mix. I used API 550b emulations on the guitars, I love the 1176 on the vocal, while for the strings I opted for the Massive Passive emulation. Then I used the SSL G series comp to glue the mix together. And the results? Well, they’re just awesome.”
Exclusive Falling Down 12 inch Vinyl Remix Release
Oasis have released a new EP including remix and demo versions of their critically acclaimed song "Falling Down" as well as a new b-side rarity entitled "Those Swollen Hand Blues".
"Falling Down" features Noel Gallagher on vocals and is taken from Oasis' 7th studio album "Dig Out Your Soul" which entered at number one in the UK and top 5 in the US upon it's release last October. The EP will be available digitally on March 10. See below for track listing.
To coincide with Indie Record Store Day on April 18, Oasis will release an exclusive "Falling Down" 12" vinyl remix which includes remixes by Amorphous Androgynous. Track listing below.
Noel Gallagher on the "Falling Down" remix: "There's gonna be a very special release coming your way soon. Remember that Amorphous Androgynous lot I was telling you about? Well, they've done a 'Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble' mix of 'Falling Down.' It's 22 mins long. I'll repeat that, TWENTY-TWO MINUTES LONG!! I fully expect 50% of you not to have the attention span to deal with something like that but the rest of you, I hope, will be blown away. It's a staggering piece of music. Monumental even. All superlatives will apply."
The video for "Falling Down" was directed by Wiz with whom the band has worked in the past.
The band travel to Japan & South East Asia in March and will play their first show in South Africa in April. They tour Latin America in May, then return to play the UK stadium supergigs in the summer which saw phenomenal demand for tickets when they went on sale last year with over half a million being sold in a few hours. Kasabian and The Enemy will be joining them on the tour and more acts have been announced for these eagerly anticipated shows. Reverend & The Makers will be joining them at the Edinburgh, Sunderland and Wembley dates, Twisted Wheel in Manchester and Coventry and Rhys Ifan's new group The Peth will open in Cardiff.
FALLING DOWN EP TRACKLISTING
1. Falling Down - Album version 2. Those Swollen Hand Blues (new bside) 3. Falling Down - Demo 4. Falling Down - Remixed by Twiggy/Sardy "The Gibb Mix" 5. Falling Down - The Prodigy Version
FALLING DOWN 12" VINYL TRACKLISTING
Side A 1. Falling Down (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Mix by Amorphous Androgynous: Parts 1 and 2)
Side B 1. Falling Down (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Mix by Amorphous Androgynous: Parts 3, 4 and 5)
As reported earlier on Live4ever Oasis were in negotiations with Taiwan concert promoters over a possible appearance there. It has now been confirmed by the band that the Taiwan gig will replace one of the cancelled mainland China shows
Oasis are set to make their debut appearance in Taiwan after announcing today that they will play Taiwan World Trade Centre Nangang in Taipei City on Friday 3rd April.
The gig is part of their forthcoming Asian tour that which kicks off in Nagoya, Japan on 18th March and includes sold out dates in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.
There is a Pre-Sale party at Hua Sheng Culture Park Middle One Hall A between 11am and 7pm this Saturday (March 14th). Tickets then go on General Sale on Sunday 15th March through ERA ticket outlets and www.ticket.com.tw
Noel Gallagher upset pal Chris Martin when he vetoed the Coldplay singer's attempts to get him to go green.
The singer said he "genuinely didn't give a f***" when the star quizzed him on environmental issues over dinner.
In his typically outspoken style, Noel said: "I remember being out with Chris one night and he said: 'Why do you think it's cool not to care?' and I said, 'Well I don't think it's cool, I don't think I'm being cool.'
"I actually couldn't give a f*** about what's going on outside my family: me, my missus, my two kids and my Mam, and her parents... that's it, for me.
"Other than that, it's not my problem, but that's not to say you shouldn't care about it!
"You know each to their own and I'm glad there's people like that. But I just like to look after my own. I genuinely don't give a f***"
In the interview with Talksport magazine, Noel was also questioned on James Blunt's view that flying is bad for the environment.
He added: "The thought of James Blunt gives me a migraine. James Blunt is bad for the environment that surrounds this part of my f***ing head here."
Oasis Negotiating Gig With Taipei Concert Promoters
After being banned in China, Oasis will perform in Taipei on Friday, April 3, sources in the concert-promotion and music industries said.
The concert was originally to be held at Banciao Stadium in Taipei County but may now be held at the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) Nangang Exhibition Hall. Details have not been finalized because the band is still negotiating with promoters, said the sources, who had not received permission to speak with the media.
Information regarding the Taipei concert that was deleted last week from www.ticket.com.tw and a blog run by Sony can be found using Google’s cache function. Oasis’ MySpace page was updated yesterday to include dates in Seoul and Singapore, but not Taipei.
According to a statement on the band’s MySpace page, the Brit-pop supergroup was to play Beijing on April 3 and Shanghai on April 5.
“[R]epresentatives from the Chinese government have revoked the performance licenses already issued for the band and ordered their shows in both Beijing and Shanghai to be immediately canceled,” the statement reads.
“The Chinese authorities’ action in canceling these shows marks a reversal of their decision regarding the band which has left both Oasis and the promoters bewildered.”
Oasis performed at a Free Tibet concert in 1997. Footage on YouTube shows Noel Gallagher singing Wonderwall in front of a Tibetan flag.
Last March, China’s Ministry of Culture said it would tighten regulations on foreign artists after Bjork shouted “Tibet, Tibet!” during a concert in Shanghai. This week marked the 50th anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation.
Oasis have just announced they will be performing at the River Plate Stadium, Argentina's national football stadium and venue for the 1978 World Cup final on Sunday the 3rd of May. Also known as 'El Monumental de Nuñez', the iconic stadium is the biggest stadium in Argentina for concerts.
Oasis return to Argentina for the first time since playing a sold out show to 40,000 fans at the Buenos Aires Polo Fields in March of 2006. The date is part of their South American tour which also includes the previously confirmed gigs in Peru and Brazil.
Tickets for the River Plate Stadium date go on sale to owners of CITI Bank cards from Friday 13th March. Tickets go on General Sale on the 28th March. All tickets are available through Ticketek or +(54-11) 5-237-7200
Via L4E source: oasisinet.com
Oasis' new single 'Falling Down' is available now, click here to order the single or one of the exclusive bundles.
Get yet another free Noel Gallagher track on iTunes now
UK ONLYThe Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 to Saturday, March 14.
Each day from you’ll find a new song from the Oasis musician’s live, acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall with special guests in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free.
Click here to get todays track 'Cast No Shadow' buy The Sunday Times this weekend and complete the concert with a free, 11-track CD of the performance, featuring tracks that are not available to download and an exclusive interview with Noel.
Mancunian friends Diarmuid and Anthony are trying to redo 2,000 classic album covers using microsoft paint by December 23rd 2009. The first redo was 'Kid A' by Radiohead and they have since gotten 747 more art pieces sent in from all over the world - you can see them at http://www.paintmyalbum.net
The two have received a few Oasis covers and would love to get more. Please send in your Oasis album covers redone using MS Paint , no matter how terrible at art you might be, to paintmyalbum@gmail.com
Oasis announced today that they will be performing four dates in what will be their largest-ever tour of Brazil.
It will also mark the first time the band have played in Curitiba and Porto Alegre.The gigs are part of the forthcoming South American leg of their world tour and are the band's first gigs in the country since March 2006 when they played Sao Paulo.
Oasis previously also played the legendary 'Rock In Rio' festival in 2001 where they played to over 200,000 fans.
The band will play:
RIO DE JANEIRO - Citibank Hall – 7th May SÃO PAULO - Arena Anhembi – 9th May CURITIBA - Pedreira Paulo Leminski – 10th May PORTO ALEGRE - Gigantinho – 12th May
Tickets go on sale from March 20th for Citibank clients then go on general sale from March 27th.
All tickets are available through Ticketmaster or by phone: (11) 2846-6000 (São Paulo) and 0300 789 6846 (other states)
Liam Gallagher interview with City Weekend Magazine
A few weeks before the formal announcement that Oasis is bypassing China on the Asian leg of their tour, CW chatted with Liam about everything from Mao to song writing.
Getting to Know Each Other
CW: Hi Liam, this is Blake from City Weekend Magazine.
Liam: Cool.
A Man of Many Hats
CW: Hey man, alright, well I’ve got some questions for you, I’ll probably just go right into them as time’s short. Mmm, first of all, as you’ve done more the writing on each successive album, how do you separate the roles of vocalist and song writer and which means more to you these days?
Liam: Well, the singing is the most important thing ever, being a singer for Oasis is the most important thing. Song writing is summit' I do in the house just as a hobby, just to clear the head and you know, if people like it then it goes on an Oasis record and if it doesn’t then it stays as a hobby, you know what I mean? And I certainly don’t force people to put my music on, I’m not, I’m not interested, I’m not mythered [read: bothered] either way, whether it’s Oasis or not, but people like the songs, i.e. Noel, some of the band members and away it goes, it goes onto the record, we work at it, we try to make it cool but if I never wrote another song I wouldn’t mind it. CW: Hehe, right on.
Liam: My, my, my main thing is singing, it’s, I’m more worried about losing my voice than writing another song.
Role Models
CW: Mmm, let me ask you, Oasis formed about, more than 15 years ago now, are there any bands you look to as examples of how you’d want to develop in your second and perhaps third decade as a band?
Liam: Not really, I mean I respect Neil Young 'cause he keeps putting music out, and The Rolling Stones keep going and stuff, but they don’t really put any music out. I suppose U2, they’re the nearest ones that, have been going long and they keep putting music out and they seem to be active all the time, you know ever couple of years they’re doing things where as The Rolling Stones sort of just go on tours, and you know, don’t try and make any new music, so, not them.
CW: You, you just mentioned Neil Young, mmm, I think a few months back Noel in an interview with the Guardian mentioned that he had already began work on a follow-up to Dig Out Your Soul, which he had likened to Neil Young’s Greendale and The Kinks. Is that for real and if so could you tell me a little bit more about it? Liam: I mean, we recorded quite a few songs, for Dig Out Your Soul, a couple didn’t make it on to the album just cause, you know, we didn’t finish them in time and stuff, and they were sounding good. And then we’re always writing, so Noel’s always sort of in the studios, whether it’s for his solo record or whether he’s doing it for Oasis, who knows, you’d have to ask him man. I mean, me personally, once we’ve finished this tour I’d like to have a couple of months off just to relax ,and then, I’d like to get back into Abbey Road man, I mean, we’re not getting any younger, and if we’ve got the music, let’s make Oasis music…
CW: Right on…
Liam: Me personally, I haven’t got any time to be making solo records, you know, life’s too short to be fucking about trying to be Robbie Williams or Rod Steward or anything like that.
Thoughts on "The Business
"CW: [Laughs] I’m curious, what producers would you like to work with in the future, and why?
Liam: Eh, I really don’t know much, any producers really, I’m not really mythered. People keep always going on about Rick Ruben and stuff, but, you know, I don’t know what Dave Sardy, I don’t know what Rick Ruben would do that Dave Sardy doesn’t do, and plus I don’t like working with big time producers. I don’t mean that in a bad way to Dave Sardy, Dave’s a great producer but, he knows that we have the final say, so all these big time producers like Eno and all these fucking idiots that people work with today, it’s like, they wouldn’t last five minutes in the studio with Oasis. So, you know, Dave Sardy, I like to keep working with him. Or maybe, I’d like to do one ourselves, do you know what I mean? Get someone in to help but, but I mean, we sort of produce our records anyway, you know what I mean, we sort of, Dave does the twiddling of the knobs but we sort of try and tell him how it sounds.
Looking to the Future
CW: Have you ever thought of, I mean, do you think you guys might do that in the future? Just, eh, take the studio over.
Liam: Maybe, yeah, maybe do, maybe do like a really downtown record, not so over produced or anything. I think we’re getting to that stage at some point. I think Gem could produce Oasis, but it’s big band, it’s a big album but I think Gem could piss it, you know what I mean?
CW: No, that would be amazing.
Liam: Well I thinks so, save paying some other fucking clown to make you sound how you want to sound, I don’t understand it? So, I think Gem could produce it, Gem and Noel but it depends whether they want to do it or not, I’m not, I’m easy.
Oasis In China: Mao Who?
CW: Thinking about the live show here in China, mmm, Oasis is bigger than almost anything in China, and has defined so much of the music that’s come out of here for the past decade and a half, I’m curious, what do you think of the idea of 1.3 billion people learning English to the lyrics of "Love Like A Bomb"?
Liam: What, who’s done that?
CW: Hahaha, The Chinese nation
Liam: What they like that, they like that song, do they?
CW: It’s, well all Oasis songs are pretty popular here and you know, people quote Oasis to me and always try to impress me with …
Liam: Of course man, well, that’s beautiful, that’s what I’m in a band for. To touch people on the other side of the world, you know what I mean, and also touch people who are stood right in front of you, but, yeah it’s cool man, I down with it mate.
CW: Is anything pulling you to China right now, is there any special attraction?
Liam: Any special attraction? Just the kids man, they’re into our music really, I mean, I don’t know much about the country and that so, I’ll just have to wait and see, but, if people want to come and see us, then I’m all over it man. We’ll get down there and do what we can to make them have a good time.
CW: Eh, you’ve said, “Oasis is bigger than the Beatles” and eh that’s maybe...
Liam: Nah, nah, nah, nah, I’ve never said that mate, I never, I'm not that daft, I reckon that’s sounds like our kid.
CW: Ha, is Oasis bigger than Mao Ze Dong?
Liam: Than who?
CW: Than Mao Ze Dong the Chinese leader for, eh, the forty years of their history.
Liam: I’ve never heard of him. Who is he?
CW: Er, I’ve never heard of him either ... mmm ... moving on, I’m curious about…
Liam: We’ve probably made more records than him, right?
CW: At least five, mmm...
Liam: Well, there you go.
CW: What is the average day like of a rock star like Liam Gallagher, when you’re not touring or recording?
Liam: Well, get up about 7 o’clock with the kids, bath 'em, take to school, maybe go for a run or summit these days, I’m into running. Then eh, just chill, maybe go to the shops, go out for a bit of lunch with the missus. I don’t really do that much, you know what I mean.
CW: Sounds beautiful, is there any down side to being a rock star?
Liam: Any down side to it? Being in a band with your brother, who thinks he’s Robbie Williams.
Musical Influences
CW: Hahaha. Mmm, I’m curious about how your roots, how coming from the home of the Madchester movement has influenced you musically or otherwise. Do you think there are any movements as significant as it now in England or elsewhere?
Liam: I’m not into movements; I’m not into all that stuff. I mean Manchester when I was growing up was just a load of lads in bands and everyone down south sort of made it this Madchester thing but that had been going on for years, like with Joy Division and all these bands, you know what I mean? There’s always been bands in Manchester. So, and then we come along and it was the Brit pop thing but, I’m not into, if there is a movement I’ve got nothing to do with it, I’m not, I’m not into that, I’m just into good music by cool looking people who don’t suck cock who are honest and sincere. You know I’m not in it to be famous, you know I’m in it to make some good music and you know, if there is a movement I don’t want to anything, I’ve got nothing to do with it.
CW: When you’re writing songs, what do you look to for inspiration, what do you think about?
Liam: Just, just life mate, I don’t, I don’t need to be inspired, I’m already inspired, just by people and myself and my kids and my wife and you know, you and them, and him and her, just people. People are inspiring enough.
Who Would You Play With?
CW: If you could tour with any band playing out there now, who would you like to tour with?
Liam: Kasabian. But we are touring with them, they’re touring with us. Any band at the moment, let me see, oh, any band, I’d fucking play with any band, I’d love to blow them all over the fucking stage and put them right in their place.
CW: Excellent
Liam: Any band, I’ll play with anyone, I’m not, I’m not shy man. You know, I’d destroy them all. The Tour
CW: When you’re preparing for a tour, do you try and rearrange your past hits to fit in with your current style or do you just play them like you’ve always played them?
Liam: We just play them the way we play them man, you know, and that’s it you know, you know, we just sort of dropped a lot of hits from our set because, we want to concentrate on the new album. But you’ve got to play the obvious ones I suppose, otherwise people start crying, you know what I mean? We don’t want any of that. We don’t think that much about it, we just play it straightforward man, and you know, if it doesn’t sound right then we bin it. But, you know, we don’t think that hard about it, Rock ‘n’ roll shouldn’t really be thought of, you know, it’s not an encyclopedia, it’s just simple, straight forward rock ‘n’ roll music. If you start thinking abut it too hard about it you end up like Radiohead or Muse, you know what I mean? So we keep it real man, we keep it simple.
CW: Can you tell us something a little bit about the visuals, that eh, that you come up with for your album covers and videos? What’s the process there?
Liam: Eh, I don’t, I don’t know man about any of that. The guy, I’m not sure of his name so I won’t say it in case I, but he’s great anyway, he’s really cool. We just sort of give him the thing and said look, let’s go for it, let’s make it a bit psychedelic. You know, we don’t do, we don’t do much on stage so it’s good for the kids to have a look a summit, you know what I mean, while we’re stood there just, belting it out.
CW: This is going to be your first tour in China, is there anything special you want to see out here?
Liam: Just the people man, I wanna see the people, that’s all I care about man.
CW: Are you going to have time?
Liam: If, If, I hope so, if I get the day off I’ll have a walk around and see the people and see the city or wherever we are and, hopefully man, but I just want to see the people. That’s, a building’s a building, isn’t it?
CW: It sure is. And a wall’s a wall
Liam: Do you know what I mean so, and a park’s a park but, people, I just want to see the people.
CW: Mmm, you guys tour rather extensively still. Do you ever feel the grind on the tours? Does it get to you?
Liam: No, I like it mate, I mean, that’s why I’m in it for. I love playing music man, I love playing, I love playing, I love playing to the people who like the band, you know what I mean? And I ike going around seeing each city and stuff, I like it man. I mean, I miss the kids and the wife and all that but, you know, I was doing this before I met them and this is what pays the bills, and this is what’s, this is what I love, you know what I mean, so, it’s got to be done.
G-d-Like Liam
CW: Well fantastic, mmm, Liam, what’s the one question I should ask you that you’ve always wanted to be asked that you’ve never been asked.
Liam: Mmm, what’s it like being god-like?
CW: What’s it like being god-like Liam?
Liam: If I told you I’d have to kill you mate.
CW: Haha. Liam, thank you so much, I really appreciate your taking the time, this is a real eh, a real gift.
Get Another Free Noel Gallagher Track On iTunes Now
UK ONLY
The Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 to Saturday, March 14.Each day from you’ll find a new song from the Oasis musician’s live, acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall with special guests in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free.
Click here to get todays track 'Talk Tonight' buy The Sunday Times this weekend and complete the concert with a free, 11-track CD of the performance, featuring tracks that are not available to download and an exclusive interview with Noel.
Via L4E source:timesonline.co.uk
For those of you having trouble with The Times link, Just go straight to iTunes and search for Noel Gallagher, then click on his name under Artists. The track will be right there to get for free!
You can't have a list of great songs without Oasis popping up in some way or another, and it's about time we honoured the lads from Manchester for their epic work on hit single Wonderwall.
I mean crikey, what would our music boxes be like without "I said maybeeeeeee, you're gonna be the one that saves meeeee" when we're having a bit of a rubbish day; come on, it's the only miserable song that can actually cheer you up no matter what your problem is.
Written by Noel Gallagher and belted out by his brother Liam, the song was the third single to be released from (What's the Story) Morning Glory? in October 1995, and it peaked at number two in the British charts as well as being their US breakthrough hit.
The song was debuted to the public backstage at Glastonbury in 1995, where it was broadcast on Channel 4, it was never performed by the band during their headline performance the night before. I doubt when they were gamming away in their wellies, the guys had no idea that the song would go down in history like it has, being voted the best British song of all time, in a poll of over 8,500 listeners conducted by Virgin Radio, being named the second-greatest song of all time in a poll conducted by Q Magazine, finishing behind another Oasis song, "Live Forever. And fellow musicians seem to agree as, in 2006, U2's guitarist The Edge named "Wonderwall" one of the songs he most wishes he'd written.
But what's the point in mentioning the song if i don't give you a little bit of background info right? Well, the song actually nicked the name from the 1968 album Wonderwall Music by George Harrison, who was at the time still a member of the Beatles. What's more, Harrison's album was in fact a soundtrack to the film Wonderwall, but the film has remained unknown by the general public.
Adding even more juicy morsels to the tale of this tasty tune is the rumour that the song was actually written for Gallagher's then-girlfriend, Meg Mathews, whom he married in 1997, only to divorce a year later - i bet the wedding photo's hadn't even been stuck up by then!
Gallagher now claims that the song was not about Mathews at all, but he felt he had to go along with the rumour, saying "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. How do you tell your Mrs it's not about her once she's read it is? It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself."
One person who might not be overly thrilled with the song is actually the bloke who has to sing it over and over again, and in 2008 he was quoted as saying: "I can't fucking stand that fucking song! Every time I have to sing it I want to gag." Well, now every time i watch them singing Wonderwall I'll know how much Liam hates it and not be able to enjoy it to the full. thanks for that Liam!
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher has claimed that he does not have a relationship with his brother Noel.
The frontman said that he rarely speaks to his bandmate and sibling apart from when they are on stage.
Speaking to That's Shanghai, the 36-year-old said: "Me and our kid haven't got a relationship, to be quite honest with you.
"He does his thing, and I do my thing. The only time we sort of bump into each other, and that's rarely, is on stage... There's things he don't like about me and there's things I don't like about him. He can't change me, I wouldn't wanna change him."
He added: "The main thing is that we both love Oasis, so that’s about it. We just do Oasis things."
Gallagher also described his brother as "a proper c**k", arguing that the worst thing about the guitarist is his "funny little head".
Rock ’n’ Roll is Spiritual and Pop Music is All About Money...
“The fans were crazy,” answered Noel Gallagher, the star guitarist with Oasis, when asked about the group’s impression of their 2006 Seoul concert.
That and no more.
The blunt, terse and devil-may-care style answers in our recent e-mail interview with the British rock band seem to embody the perfect, hot bad boy image many of us have associated with popular rock stars for years.
After all, Oasis is part of British pop royalty, following in the footsteps of legendary groups like the Beatles and Queen. And that take-it-or-leave-it attitude has become the band’s trademark. In fact, Oasis has previously claimed that they are better than the Beatles, triggering quite a stir among fans of the Fab Four.
But it’s an indisputable fact that Oasis has raised the bar in the industry, renewing numerous sales records. Songs like “Some Might Say,” “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” “Whatever,” “Roll With It,” “Wonderwall,” “Stand By Me” and “Lyla” have become tantamount to national anthems.
In the latest headline about this reasonably proud quintet, the band’s promoter said last week that Oasis’ planned China debut had been canceled. The band was supposed to perform in Beijing on April 3 and in Shanghai on April 5.
The promoter says that officials within the Chinese Ministry of Culture have decided that the band is “unsuitable to perform for fans in China” after recently discovering that Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert in New York in 1997.
But luckily for Korean fans, Oasis will be performing as planned in Korea on April Fool’s Day. It will be their second visit to Korea in three years.
“Rock ’n’ roll is spiritual and pop music is all about money,” Gallagher said, when asked about the distinction between the two genres.
For those who would like to see the spiritual side of these stars who are rock ’n’ roll to the core, it’s a chance to be seized.
Here are some excerpts from the e-mail interview with Gallagher.
Q. The band has enjoyed great success in a career that has spanned 17 years. What grinds your gears about the music industry?
A. Everyone and everything.
Does huge success limit your ability to experiment on each new album, or does it bolster your confidence?
No. I just try to do what comes naturally.
Of all the gifts you’ve received from your fans, which one was your favorite?
An album called “There’s Gonna Be a Storm” by The Left Banke.
How do you feel about the persistent rumors about Oasis splitting up and rifts between the brothers? How does this affect the group?
It doesn’t affect it at all.
Where do you see Oasis 10 years from now? Do you still think you’ll be doing albums and touring?
Yes.
“Oasis Live in Seoul” takes place at 8:30 p.m. on April 1 at the Olympic Park Gymnasium in southern Seoul. Tickets cost between 55,000 won ($36.41) and 88,000 won. For reservations, call 1544-1555 or visit ticket.interpark.com. For inquiries in Korean as well as in English, call the organizer at (02) 3444-9969.
via L4e / joongangdaily.joins.com / photo: Paul Bachmann
If you run into any videos in our newsroom which won't play back anymore here is the reason why :
YouTube is today (March 10) beginning to remove all premium music videos from the UK site, with the majority expected to be removed within two days.
The move comes after a dispute between YouTube, which is owned by Google, and the Performing Rights Society (PRS).
The PRS, which represents music publishers, has been holding out for a better pay deal for artists whose videos are available to watch on the video site.
According to Patrick Walker, YouTube's director of video partnerships, the PRS was seeking a new deal with artist payments "many, many factors" higher than the last deal, prompting the site chiefs to take the drastic action, reports BBC News.
Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he was "outraged, shocked and disappointed" by the move and said it harmed both music fans and artists, urging YouTube chiefs to reconsider.
Walker suggested that a compromise could be reached, though, saying: "We feel we are so far apart that we have to remove content while we continue to negotiate with the PRS."
The Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 (today) to Saturday, March 14.
The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free.
Each day from you’ll find a new song from the Oasis musician’s live, acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall with special guests in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Click here to get todays track '(It's Good) To Be Free' buy The Sunday Times this weekend and complete the concert with a free, 11-track CD of the performance, featuring tracks that are not available to download and an exclusive interview with Noel.
To celebrate their appearance on the Top of the Pops Comic Relief special, up for auction is an absolutely amazing goody bag jam packed full of Oasis items. This is a must for any Oasis fan, collector or music enthusiast!
Included in the bag are 'Dig out Your Soul' box set signed by the band, a black amplifier tee-shirt only available in the USA, promo CDs of the new single, 'Falling Down', "I'm Outta Time', 'The Shock Of The Lightning' and Chemical Brothers Remix of 'Falling Down', a 7" Collectors Box complete with I'm Outta Time (1 x 7" of single and 1 x 7" of remixes) and 'The Shock Of The Lightning', as well as some great pieces of Oasis merchandise (bear bricks, enamel pin badge, deck of cards and cigarette amplifier).
London, England (BANG) - Noel Gallagher became "addicted" to fame. The Oasis guitarist believes the band should have taken a break at the height of their mid-90s success, but he was enjoying the trappings of celebrity too much to stop.
Noel - who along with his bandmates played two historic nights at legendary concert venue Knebworth House - said: "From the defining moment, which was the lights coming on at Knebworth in 1996, at the end of that second show, to (original members) Bonehead and Guigsy leaving, during that period I was kind of just doing it for the sake of it. I didn't know what else to do. What we should have done after Knebworth was let the whole thing settle and taken two years off. But with the drugs and all that, you get so addicted to the attention, you also become institutionalized to the band."
Although he concedes he should have taken some time out, Noel - whose third album with Oasis, 1997's 'Be Here Now', was panned by critics, despite being the fastest-selling album in U.K. chart history - has no regrets about his hedonistic days.
The "Falling Down" rocker - who quit drugs in 1999 without going to rehab - told Culture magazine: "You start off being a kid in an Adidas top and you end being this guy in a fur jacket and two pairs of f***ing sunglasses. Which, let me tell you, is amazing! Those times were incredible. I wouldn't want to go back to them for all the tea in China. That would be a joke. But I'm glad I lived through all that madness, all the fur coats and the crocodile-skin shoes and the drugs and the women. We made it look like what it is, the best job in the world."
Noel Gallagher, Royal Albert Hall - Mag & Live CD Preview
All tracks are live and acoustic from The Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Trust 2007
Fade Away Listen Up Half The World Away The Butterfly Collector (Duet with Paul Weller) All You Need Is Love (Duet with Paul Weller) Don't Go Away Sad Song Wonderwall Slide Away There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Married With Children
Culture Magazine featuring 4 and a half page interview with Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher Slams Media Circus Surrounding Jade Goody
Noel Gallagher has attacked the press coverage surrounding reality TV star Jade Goody, who is terminally ill with cancer.
"I was watching the TV today and they're [journalists] all outside her house," he said, before lambasting Goody's PR Max Clifford for orchestrating the media scrum currently surrounding the reality TV star.
"I mean, I've got fuck all against Jade Goody, that's nothing to do with me," Gallagher continued. "But it bends my head. That, to me, sums up, in one tiny five-minute thing on the news, what an embarrassing place Britain is right now. You might as well shut Number 10 Downing Street down and get Max Clifford to run the country"
On the eve of Falling Down release, the singer on Jack Straw, Jade Goody, depression, drugs, Coldplay, U2 - and jibes from Liam
Download exclusive Oasis tracks and read much more about the band here
Backstage at a concert arena in Treviso, near Venice, Noel Gallagher’s younger brother is characteristically blunt about the interview that is about to take place with his sibling. “I hope you’ve got your glass eye in,” he warns, “because he’ll talk you to f***ing sleep.” It takes one to know one, of course, but he’s right in one sense: the elder Gallagher, as newspaper and magazine readers have discovered to their delight over the years, is no shrinking violet when faced with a tape machine. On the contrary, he’s known for giving good copy. Sometimes — as with last year’s controversy over his apparent objections to Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury — this can get him into trouble. When we meet, he is reeling about the coverage Jade Goody’s losing battle with cancer is receiving in the British press.
“I was watching the TV today and they’re all outside her house,” he says. “There’s a global crisis apparently going on, and it’s ‘Jack Straw, could you have a look at this?’ Max Clifford somehow manages to shape the mood of the nation.
I mean, I’ve got f*** all against Jade Goody, that’s nothing to do with me. But it bends my head. That, to me, sums up, in one tiny five-minute thing on the news, what an embarrassing place Britain is right now. You might as well shut No 10 Downing Street down and get Max Clifford to run the country.”
More often, though, Gallagher’s gabbiness serves as confirmation of what the recent, less turbulent years in the Oasis story have brought out in him. Talking about the live CD of songs he performed — with Paul Weller at his side and a string section behind them — at the Albert Hall in London in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, he comes across as someone finally at ease with the weight of what he has achieved. The CD, which is given away with next week’s Sunday Times, features Oasis rarities and cover versions (including All You Need Is Love and the Smiths’ There Is a Light That Never Goes Out). “I came on to the theme from This Is Your Life,” Gallagher recalls. “And that’s what it was, it was all these diehard Oasis fans, and they all knew all these B-sides and album tracks. That TV show, it was about all these friends turning up and saying: ‘I knew him when was nothing.’ It was like, ‘This is our life’. There was magic in the air that night.”
As he is only too happy admit, Noel’s early years were rocket-fuelled, and the middle ones mired in depression, addiction and creative inertia. It took the collapse of his marriage, his record label, his health and his band to shake him from the stupor. The 2009 version, a 41-year-old father of two who has weathered surprisingly well, gives every appearance of having emerged not just blinking, but with a sigh of relief, from the wreckage of the past; able, finally, to comprehend exactly how and why every section of the Oasis saga occurred and led, inevitably, to the next. Only, being Noel, he puts it a little more pithily than that.
“There’s a magic period when you’re in a band,” he says, “and you don’t even f***ing notice it till it’s gone, and that’s when you are the same age as your audience, and in the same circumstances, ie, they’ve got no money, you’ve got no money. Two years down the line, you’re rich. You’re still roughly the same age, but they’re still normal, everyday people, coming to the gigs, and you’re a superstar who flies on private jets, hangs out with supermodels, you’ve got a big bag of drugs with you.”
Gallagher refuses to indulge in regret — or to deny that the party, while it lasted, was a blast. “You start off being a kid in an Adidas top,” he continues, “and you end being this guy in a fur jacket and two pairs of f***ing sunglasses. Which, let me tell you, is amazing. Those times were incredible. I wouldn’t want to go back to them for all the tea in China. That would be a joke. But I’m glad I lived through all that madness, all the fur coats and the crocodile-skin shoes and the drugs and the women. We made it look like what it is: the best job in the world.”
He is similarly candid about the “lost years”, a period that began with the release, in 1997, of the band’s disastrous third album, Be Here Now, and arguably ended only in 2005, when Don’t Believe the Truth found the brothers, in the post-1999 line-up alongside the guitarist Gem Archer and the bassist Andy Bell, convincingly relighting the sonic fires of old. He makes no apologies for it; nor does he try to hide from just how bad things got. “From the defining moment, which was the lights coming on at Knebworth in 1996, at the end of that second show, to (original members) Bonehead and Guigsy leaving halfway through the recording of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, during that period, for my own part, I was kind of just doing it for the sake of it. I didn’t know what else to do. What we should have done, after Knebworth, was let that whole thing just land, settle, and taken two years off. But with the drugs and all that, you get so addicted to the attention, and you get institutionalised by the band. ”
Standing on the Shoulder. . . was, he says, the absolute low point: “I’d kind of swapped one drug addiction for another. I’d stopped doing cocaine, but instead of stopping it dead, and not taking any drugs at all, I decided to do the Elvis thing. You know, ‘Well, if I get them off the doctor, I’ll be all right.’ So, instead of walking around with a bag of charlie, you’re walking around with a pocket full of pills. ”
The announcement that Oasis had won the award for best British band at last month’s NME awards was greeted by boos from some sections of the crowd. The incident encapsulated the unique status Oasis enjoy, the price they paid for their huge early success and the scale of what they have achieved by getting their groove back and becoming one of the biggest live acts in the world. (They sold out three nights at Wembley Stadium this June in a matter of hours.) The contempt of lapsed fans can seem ostentatious, as if they wince at the memory of the unquestioning ardour they once demonstrated — the way they hollered along to the early hits in a way they now dismiss as kneejerk. In this analysis, Oasis’s music is fundamentally conservative — though the deeply weird 22-minute remix of their new single, Falling Down, by Amorphous Androgynous militates against this view — and the polar opposite of the sounds made by such sophisticates as Blur. (Yes, that old debate is still hanging around, like rotten meat.)
Some of Gallagher’s utterances haven’t helped to shift this perception; but neither, surely, has the success his band (dare to) continue to have. They defined an era, selling 20m copies of their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, hit a rough patch, then retook the summit, and that, to many people, is unacceptable. What’s more, this version goes, they’re irrelevant, the unthinking music fan’s meat and two veg. Not surprisingly, Gallagher isn’t having any of this.
That whole thing of bringing in Brian Eno,” he says, without naming names, but clearly thinking of U2 and Coldplay, “or hitching a ride to a good cause — it was people stopping being able to just feel, and starting to think. Which is brilliant if your music is directed at the small percentage of people that listens to music and likes to have a good think about it. Ultimately, though, what’s great about great music is that you don’t have to think about it. It just hits you, wham, and that’s it. You don’t have to go, ‘Yeah, well, you know Brian Eno, he made them all do their horoscopes before going in the studio.’ (Coldplay, again) Who gives a f***? What’s coming out of the speakers? That’s all I’m interested in.”
He’s on a roll now. “If it doesn’t hit you in the face, doesn’t speak of love, hate, friendship, sorrow, life and death, it doesn’t mean anything to me. The afterthought of any music should be, ‘Oh, wow.’ That’s the payoff. It’s like the Sex Pistols, the songs are so instant, but then you listen to the lyrics of Anarchy in the UK and you go, ‘F***ing hell, that guy was frightening.’ Even now, you listen to the Pistols and think, ‘He was 17 when he wrote that.’ Seventeen! What are 17-year-olds writing about now? Going to a chip shop and a bird’s just split up with him. So what? Get over it.”
Oasis songs at their best always were about communication. The world tour they are on — the Beijing and Shanghai legs of which were abruptly cancelled by the Chinese government last week — has allowed them to tighten up a set that seemed slapdash last autumn in north London. The songs from their new album, Dig out Your Soul, fit neatly in among the early singles. Go to one of their current gigs and you will see an audience packed with people in their teens and early twenties, word-perfect in songs old and new. Critics are habitually sniffy about Gallagher’s lyrics, citing examples of lame, exercise-book rhymes and, in some cases, their sheer incomprehensibility. “This writer, he was going on about the lyrics to Champagne Supernova,” Gallagher recalls, “and he actually said to me: ‘You know, the one thing that’s stopping it being a classic is the ridiculous lyrics.’ And I went: ‘What do you mean by that?’ And he said: ‘Well, ‘Slowly walking down the hall / Faster than a cannonball’ — what’s that mean?’ And I went: ‘I don’t f***ing know. But are you telling me, when you’ve got 60,000 people singing it, they don’t know what it means? It means something different to every one of them.’ ”
His suspicion of chin-strokers, of po-faced intellectual types, has not diminished over the years. He holds fast to the line that his band made it because they wrote songs that lodged in people’s hearts, rather than in their heads; and that their capture of a new generation of fans occurred for the same reason. It was, he insists, always about the moment; there was never a strategy. “If anyone had thought for an instant that I had conceived this huge master plan,” he argues, “it wouldn’t have worked. Because you’d just see through it. That’s the Duffy thing: good luck to her, nice girl, but you just feel that that’s been invented. It’s like they’ve gone, ‘Amy Winehouse, she’s got a black beehive, we’ll do a blonde one.’ That’s the problem with the musical landscape: everyone’s got clipboards. We were the first band to come along in years that made it look like a proper gig, like a laugh. We took indie music out of the Rough Trade shop and into the public domain. People would read The Sun and go: ‘Look at these mad idiots, look what they’re up to now.’
“All those songs, if you listen to them, the feeling in all of them is of yearning — to be somewhere else, not to be here. I didn’t know that, three years after I wrote Live Forever, it would become this anthem. I just knew, in my heart of hearts, that my place wasn’t in Manchester, I was meant to be somewhere else.” What got him out was the songs, but he wasn’t to know that when he wrote them. “Those songs on those first two albums, I wrote them before you’d even heard my name. I was doing part-time jobs. I was writing for me. I didn’t know what would happen.”
Acclaim and disdain are, he says, both overrated. “Nobody’s ever said anything about what I do that I didn’t think anyway. I came at it from a position of awareness. When they told me I was the greatest songwriter since both Lennon and McCartney, I never got home and went, ‘That’s exactly what I am.’ I thought, ‘I’m just me.’ I write songs that are derivative of an era I’m obsessed with. I don’t think I’m brilliant. I think I’m good at being me.”
Interview and show concluded, and with a heroically bibulous post-gig warm-down, a decision is made to hire a boat and cross the lagoon into Venice. As we weave past the Doge’s Palace, necking cans of lager, the talk is all of continuing the party at a nearby rooftop bar. Yet the minute the lift doors open and Noel spots his brother, far gone by now and loudly holding court, he slips off.
Liam, lurching towards me, says: “I’m John Lennon, I am.” Well, no, you’re not, I say; you’re Liam Gallagher, and surely that will suffice. “Come on, outside,” he replies, and for a moment things look as if they’re about to kick off. Instead, wearing the Lennon shades he has suddenly placed on my head, I find myself chain-smoking with the singer as he jabs me in the chest and says: “You shouldn’t have talked to him. You should’ve talked to me. I bet he just went on and on, didn’t he?” Well, yes, he did. And long may he do so.
MTV World Stage proves that all-the-world IS a stage. The series will be taped in high definition and will feature dozens of multi-genre talent with global relevance. Whether in Athens, Rome, London, Buenos Aires, Beijing or Tokyo, every Friday night is live music night on MTV as fans in 162 countries are transported to front row seats somewhere in the world to experience their favourite recording artists.
Upcoming MTV World Stage concerts feature bands ranging from alternative to teen pop to metal. The Pussycat Dolls and Katy Perry play March 6, followed by Slipknot March 13 and Oasis on March 20.
Coldplay , MTV World Stage , Japan,Tokio @ the Saitama Super Arena.
MTV World Stage can be seen every Friday at 11pm , SKY channel 350 and Virgin Channel 311
Kaiser Chiefs Better Avoid Bumping Into Noel Gallagher
Here's a summary of Noel Gallagher's interview with Talksport Magazine which we gave you the link to earlier today (click here)
Noel Gallagher has threatened to send Kaiser Chiefs to hospital.
The formidable Oasis rocker, 41, confessed he avoids bumping into the band in case he sees red over one of the Chiefs.
Noel, who has shown his contempt for the Leeds lads in the past, said: "If I'm at a celebrity football match and I'm up against somebody from Kaiser Chiefs then they're going to hospital and that's the end of that.
"So I've always said: 'I think it's best if I sit this one out, ' otherwise the Vinnie Jones would come out in me."
Ahead of Monday's release of new Oasis single Falling Down, Noel also sharpened his tongue for brother Liam, 36.
He said: "Liam gets up and he's a f***ing idiot and then he goes to bed. He turns up and that's what usually spoils any celebrations."
Even footballers were not spared in the Man City fan's rant. He said:"I've got a lot of time for footballers – but only because 90% of them are thick as pig sh** and you can take the piss out of them."
As the band fly high with seventh album Dig Out Your Soul, Noel also revealed he is not worried about the credit crunch.
Speaking to talkSPORT magazine, out now, he said: "I don't mean to be f***ing rude but I do own a black Amex card that has unlimited credit and cannot be denied anywhere.
"I could walk into a showroom selling Boeing 747s and, regardless of whether I could afford it, they'd have to accept that card."
He added: "When I was taking drugs on a regular basis it was a frightening experience for the record company.
"You could have literally gone out and bought a house on a whim – and I had more whims than I care to mention."
The Times and iTunes UK Release Live Noel Gallagher Recordings
The Times in conjunction with iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) are to release a selection of live recordings by Noel Gallagher taken from his semi-acoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall on 27th March 2007 in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ features classic and rare tracks from the Oasis canon along with several cover versions of some of Noel’s favourite artists. Songs by The Beatles and The Smiths are featured here along with a very special duet with Paul Weller performing The Jam’s ‘The Butterfly Collector’.
From Tuesday 10th March, The Times will print a link in the paper each day (for five days) which takes readers to a specific page on iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) where they can download a different song each day for free. Then on Sunday 15th March, The Sunday Times will be giving away an 11 track CD with the newspaper which, alongside the downloads, gives readers the full tracklisting for ‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’. A donation has been made to Teenage Cancer Trust in respect of the use of these recordings. On 16th March the full album will be available to buy digitally (only) from a selection of online retailers.
Oasis are long time supporters of Teenage Cancer Trust and are proud to continue their support. As well as Noel’s appearance with special guests in 2007, the band headlined the event in 2002. In addition Noel has made several guest appearances himself over the decade.
Songs available from iTunes (www.itunes.co.uk) - via The Times:
March 10th - (It's Good) To Be Free March 11th - Talk Tonight March 12th - Cast No Shadow March 13th - The Importance Of Being Idle March 14th - Don't Look Back In Anger
The Sunday Times free CD on Sunday 15th March:
1. Fade Away 2. Listen Up 3. Half The World Away 4. The Butterfly Collector 5. All You Need Is Love 6. Don't Go Away 7. Sad Song 8. Wonderwall 9. Slide Away 10. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 11. Married With Children
‘The Dreams We Have As Children (Live for Teenage Cancer Trust)’ is available to download from Monday 16th March:
1. (It’s Good) To Be Free 2. Talk Tonight 3. Fade Away 4. Cast No Shadow 5. Half The World Away 6. The Importance of Being Idle 7. The Butterfly Collector 8. All You Need Is Love 9. Don’t Go Away 10. Listen Up 11. Sad Song 12. Wonderwall 13. Slide Away 14. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 15. Don’t Look Back In Anger 16. Married With Children
From Noel Gallagher's official tour diary on oasisinet.com
Thank fuck that's over. Looking forward to a little time off. I was actually starting to do my own head in!
Apologies 'bout the gig last night in Paris. An utter shambles. We had to stop the gig TWICE!! Technical problems, see? Couldn't be helped, I'm afraid.
Sad that we only seen the 'Vegas for a few days. Nice bunch though. Good music. Soul power, see?
Am currently on that Euro-Star with Irie Nancy. Slightly disheveled (me, not her. She, of course looks tip-top).
Now, before I get grossly misquoted about this (which is inevitable as I'm being interviewed by Q Magazine next week) - China! Fuck me, them communists have got long memories, eh? I can't even remember doing the offending gig 12 years ago? Come on, let it go.
V Festival's Chelmsford site has sold out of tickets in two hours, according to organisers.
Only coach packages now remain for the southern leg.
Plus only the final few tickets are available for the western leg at Weston Park, after they went on sale at 10am this morning (March 6).
"We're really pleased that despite these uncertain times V Festival has clearly been embraced once again by music fans looking for a great weekend of entertainment," said festival director Bob Angus. "It's a fantastic endorsement of the format of the festival and the strength of this year's bands set to perform."
To try to bag one of the last available tickets head to NME.COM's ticket shop, where we have an exclusive allocation of V Festival tickets on sale now.
V Festival 2009 is being headlined by Oasis and Killers - see NME.COM now for the the V Festival line-up so far.
Oasis have denied reports that claimed economic issues led to the cancellation of two Chinese shows - and have reiterated their belief that the band's involvement in a Tibet concert over ten years ago is the reason why the shows were pulled.
The band initially issued a statement saying the show were off after Chinese authorities objected to Noel Gallagher's involvement in a 1997 Free Tibet concert.
However a Reuters report appeared subsequently which contradicted Oasis, quoting promoters Beijing All Culture Communication Co Ltd, who blamed the cancellation on cashflow.
Speaking to NME.COM, a spokesperson for Oasis insisted that money was not to blame for the cancelled shows.
"We don't want to dignify this nonsense with a response," they explained. "Our promoter, as already documented, was Ticketmaster China and the shows had each already sold in excess of 3,500 tickets and were on course to sell out. End of story."
The other dates of the band's world tour, including a show in Chinese controlled Hong Kong on April 7, are set to continue as planned.
Oasis are set to headline this year's V Festival. Tickets go on sale this Friday (March 6), and NME.COM's ticket shop will have an exclusive allocation.
TV3 Spain sat down with Noel Gallagher back stage during his recent stop in Barcelona on the Dig Out Your Soul world tour. Checkout the 20 mins of footage now made available via youtube below.
Noel Gallager told TV3 that this may be the last Oasis tour. A visibly tired Noel explained: " I feel it more this time then anytime previously...It can never feel like the first time because I'm twenty years older"
As part of the band's world tour, Oasis announced today that they will be playing in Lima, Peru on April 30th at the Estadio Nacional.
This will be part of the band's fourth Latin America tour but marks the first time they will have played in Peru.Tickets go on sale on Monday 16th March at 11am (local time) through Tele Ticket.
Oasis have just finished their most successful Western European tour to date. On a world tour that has already seen them take in sold-out dates in the UK, USA, Mexico and Western Europe, the band begin their largest ever Japanese tour on 18th March in Nagoya.
Liam Gallagher and Andy Bell to Guest Host GoTV Show
The Austrian music channel GoTV is broadcasting a "Hosted by Oasis" segment. Liam and Andy will show their favourite music videos. Playlist is coming soon...
Oasis' China concerts cancelled due to credit crunch, not Tibet
Chinese promoter claims authorities' withdrawal of performance licences had 'nothing to do with Tibet problem'
Oasis's cancelled Chinese gigs have nothing to do with Noel Gallagher's support of Tibet, according to the band's Chinese promoter. No – the government revoked Oasis's licences merely because the promoter is in a "tough economic situation".
The comments by Beijing All Culture Communication Co Ltd are in contrast to this week's statement by Oasis, which blamed Gallagher's 1997 Tibetan Freedom concert performance for the cancelled gigs in Beijing and Shanghai. "I have no money," the promoter's rep told Reuters. "It has nothing to do at all with the Tibet problem."
It is not exactly clear why a promoter's finances would prompt the Chinese Ministry of Culture to cancel Oasis's performance licences. Nor why the promoter's spokesman, Mr Luo, refused to provide Reuters with his first name or any other identifying information. Although Luo promised that such cancellations are "normal in an environment of economic crisis", there are many reasons a Chinese company may not want to be seen as the organisation that brought pro-Tibet rabble-rousers to a big stage in Beijing.
The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed Luo's assertion, albeit without clarification of any kind. "According to the organiser, the performance was cancelled because of some economic problems the organiser had," spokesman Qin Gang said at a press conference. "The Chinese authorities responsible for this, the cultural departments, have already required the organisers to provide more detailed information."
Or in other words: "Tibet? What's Tibet?"
The rest of Oasis's Asian tour, including a performance in Hong Kong, is still to go ahead as planned.
Current Credit Crunch Beneficial For Oasis Says Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher would like the credit crunch to get WORSE - to encourage him to write better music.
As deepening recession dumps tens of thousands of Britons on the dole, the Oasis guitarist and songwriter believes it can be beneficial for his band. "I hope the financial crisis gets a bit worse - at least we'll get a few good albums out of it," Noel, 41, told a Chinese magazine.
"When we started in the early 90s it was a pretty grim time when the Conservatives were still in power. Times of crisis usually bring out the best in music and fashion and politics and things like that."
BEIJING (Reuters) - Oasis will not play in China for economic reasons and not because of any connection with the Tibet issue, an official at the promoter of the shows said on Tuesday.
Oasis had said China blocked shows scheduled for Shanghai and Beijing after they found out that band member Noel Gallagher had appeared at a "Free Tibet" benefit concert in the United States in 1997.
But a promoter from Beijing All Culture Communication Co Ltd, a small event company which promotes more ballet and traditional Chinese concerts than rock concerts, told Reuters by telephone it was canceled due to a "tough economic situation."
"I have no money. It's normal in an environment of economic crisis ... It has nothing to do at all with the Tibet problem," said the man, who gave only his surname, Luo.
China has ruled Tibet with an iron fist since People's Liberation Army troops marched into the Himalayan region in 1950 and denounces any challenge to its authority.
The Foreign Ministry backed Luo's position, though spokesman Qin Gang added that the government was still investigating.
"According to the organizer, the performance was canceled because of some economic problems the organizer had," Qin told a regular news briefing.
"The Chinese authorities responsible for this, the cultural departments, have already required the organizers to provide more detailed information," he added.
The rest of the Southeast Asian leg of the Oasis tour will go ahead as planned, including a Hong Kong gig on April 7. Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Last year China said it would tighten controls over foreign singers after Icelandic pop star Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" at a Shanghai concert.
Despite hosting a raft of high-profile acts in recent years, including the Rolling Stones, China takes pains to ensure concerts are politically correct.
Artists are forbidden to perform content that would harm "national unity" or "stir up resentment" and promoters are asked to submit set-lists and lyric sheets for approval.
China's Ministry of Culture said here Tuesday that it did not ban British rock & roll band Oasis from giving concerts in the country.
"We have learned that the promoters of their concerts in China came across some financial problems," Sun Qiuxia, an official with the department of entertainment market under the ministry, told Xinhua over phone. "But we haven't received any formal document from the companies about canceling the concerts."
She stressed that the ministry has approved Oasis' two concerts, April 3 in Beijing and April 5 in Shanghai, and did not revoke them.
The concerts were cancelled because the company had some problems with cash flow, said a manager surnamed Luo with Beijing-based performing company Suoyou, one of the concerts' promoters, in Monday's Beijing Times report.
The promoters were working on a solution about how to refund those who had bought tickets, he said.
Reuters quoted the band in a Monday report as saying that their concerts in China were called off because Chinese authorities discovered band member Noel Gallagher had appeared at a "Free Tibet" benefit concert in the United States in 1997.
On the band's MySpace page, two China concerts were still on the list of the upcoming shows. Its official website www.oasisnet.com is not currently operational and visitors are redirected to the MySpace page.
Oasis and The Killers will headline the annual V music festival this year, organizers said on Monday.
The festival, sponsored by Virgin Media, takes place in Chelmsford and Staffordshire on August 22 and 23.
Joining the headliners will be bands including Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Fatboy Slim, Keane, The Specials, Elbow and festival newcomers Pendulum, The Ting Tings, MGMT and Lady Ga Ga.
"Our headliners ... are two of the biggest acts in music today and with them being joined by some really exuberant newcomers, this summer's V Festival is set to give festival fans something to shout about," said festival director Bob Angus.
Tickets go on sale from Friday, March 6, at 10 a.m. on the festival website www.vfestival.com.
Oasis Band Statement Regarding China Cancellations
"Oasis were informed Saturday (February 28) by their Chinese promoters, (Emma Entertainment/Ticketmaster China) that representatives from the Chinese government have revoked the performance licenses already issued for the band and ordered their shows in both Beijing and Shanghai to be immediately cancelled. The government have instructed the ticket agencies to stop selling tickets and to reimburse the thousands of fans who have already purchased tickets for these inaugural Oasis shows in the People's Republic of China.
"The licensing and immigration process for the two shows had been fully and successfully complied with well before the shows went on sale. The Chinese authorities action in cancelling these shows marks a reversal of their decision regarding the band, which has left both Oasis and the promoters bewildered.
"According to the show's promoters, officials within the Chinese Ministry of Culture only recently discovered that Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert on Randall's Island in New York in 1997, and have now deemed that the band are consequently unsuitable to perform to their fans in the Chinese Republic on 3rd and 5th of April, during its 60th anniversary year.
"Oasis are extremely disappointed that they are now being prevented from undertaking their planned tour of mainland China and hope that the powers that be within China will reconsider their decision and allow the band to perform to their Chinese fans at some stage in the future.
"The rest of the South East Asian leg of the band's tour, including the Hong Kong show, will go ahead as planned."
Noel Gallagher's ' Free Tibet ' Appearance Has China Pull Plug on Oasis Gigs
British rock band Oasis's live concert debut in mainland China has been cancelled, organisers said Monday.
Concert promoter Luo Xiaochuan declined to give a reason for the British group's Beijing and Shanghai appearances, scheduled for April 3 and 5, not going ahead, but word on the street has it China has a problem with Noel Gallagher's appearance at the Free Tibet Concert in 1997 and decided to pull the plug on Oasis
Free Tibet 1997 , Noel Gallagher
Their website and tour blog made no mention of the cancellations. It was not immediately clear whether the band's Hong Kong concert on April 7 would be affected.
The Chinese dates had attracted the attention of some music fans (L4E?) curious to see how lead singer Liam Gallagher, known for his abrasive attitude and unpredictable behavior, would fare in a country where live performances are tightly regulated.
Authorities have tightened restrictions following a Shanghai concert last year by Icelandic singer Bjork, who concluded her show by shouting: "Tibet!"
The subject of Tibet remains extremely sensitive in China amid allegations by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan exiles and activists, of Chinese repression in the Buddhist Himalayan region.
|
UK ONLYThe Times and Times Online are offering you five free Noel Gallagher tracks to download from Tuesday, March 10 to Saturday, March 14.
