Noel Gallagher breaks silence on Oasis rehearsals and gives verdict on band
Noel Gallagher has told his pal Bono he is 'shocked' at how the Oasis rehearsals are sounding. In the first revelation from the singer songwriter since the band reunited, US frontman Bono revealed Noel is confident the Oasis Live 25 reunion tour should sound great.
Bono, an Oasis fan himself, teased fans by saying we were going to have a 'good Summer' and he would be at the Gallagher gigs too.
On Oasis, Bono said in a new interview: "I love them. I just love them. And what I really love is this, the sort of preciousness that had gotten a part of what was called indie music. They just blew it out.
"And there was just a swagger. The sound of getting out of the ghetto, not glamorising it. And they're both funny, funny, funny.
"I'm still very close with Noel. And he got a message to me, and he says that he's kind of shocked by how great the band is. So I think we're going to have a good summer."
Asked if he would be going to see Oasis himself, Bono told Zane Lowe: "Of course! And remember what they did as well. Those kind of big guitars, big Neil Young generous sounds.
"They were against the law in the UK, and they're like, 'No, I have to do what I f**king want.'
"And then they had this kind of rhythmic, beautiful quality. 'Today is gonna be the day...' So that's a kind of, that's an almost R&B rhythm.
"But Manchester was very influenced by dance music, so they were groovier than anybody. They were rawer than anybody.
"And Edge and myself met them in the first album. We went to Noel's flat. And they're like... it's literally a basement flat first album.
"And it's like, 'Yeah, I'm into U2. Noel's like, 'Yeah, you're the Edge! Wow!' And Liam's whatever.
"And I'm saying, you know, America's great, because at that time It didn't get through - till now. By the way, Oasis message didn't get through maybe to America, and America didn't get through to... so this is going to be, this would be like their first tour in the US. People that know how great they are.'
Noel and Liam will walk on stage for the first time together in public, since the band split nearly two decades ago, on July 4 at Cardiff's Principality Stadium. There will also be dates in Manchester, London and Dublin as part of the tour.
The legendary Manchester band are reuniting for their first tour in 16 years, dubbed Oasis Live '25, after finally burying the hatchet last year.
Earlier this week frontman Liam admitted he was sad about the split.
A user asked on X: "How does it feel singing songs with ur brother again? Like old times? (sic)"
To which, Liam replied: "You know what it's spiritual but I can't help think about all those wasted years, what a waste of PRECIOUS time (sic)."
Oasis split following a backstage bust-up between the Gallaghers at Rock en Seine festival in Paris in 2009.
Their return to the stage has been one of the most anticipated music events of the decade, with rehearsals now well underway in London.
* The full interview with Bono is on The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
'Our biggest gig as an Oasis tribute band will be playing next door to our icons'
With Oasis set to take over Edinburgh in August, Livingston-based tribute band Definitely Oasis reveal how they feel about playing next door to their heroes when they rock Murrayfield Ice Arena at pre-gig events. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It feels a bit surreal to be playing next door to our heroes at Murrayfield Ice Arena. When we got the email to tell us, it was just amazing. I'd never even thought about playing there. The fact that it's next door to Oasis playing at Murrayfield Stadium is really surreal. It's huge, and just very surreal with what's happening next door when we are playing in the ice rink. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's the first time we have been back here since the 90s, we used to come to the disco on Friday nights quite regularly, pretty much every week for a while, we've got great memories of the place, good times. I used to love ice skating, I got into it in Livingston and when that closed I started coming here to skate also. I then got into music and going out, so the ice skating faded away. 'Liam' and 'Noel' from Livingston-based Oasis tribute band Definitely Oasis. | National World We are all Oasis fanboys, so to think they will be in the stadium doing a soundcheck and we will be here playing the same songs at the same time, it's mind-blowing. We don't suppose we will get a bigger gig than playing next door to Oasis. We've played to bigger crowds at festivals and big arenas, but this is incredible and the most excited we've been about playing a gig. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We got together in 2012 but never started playing properly as Oasis until 2015. We knew there was a demand to hear Oasis songs live given they split in 2009, but we didn't realise how big it was. The band were gone but the fans weren't, and they were still mad for it! We only played local gigs to start with, before we knew it we were all over the country and then the world. We absolutely love doing what we do for a job. We get in character on stage, with a bit of needle between our Liam and Noel, a bit of pantomime. Sometimes the egos take over on stage and we just get lost in the moment, forget we aren't actually Oasis! Acting is a big part of it, not just playing the tunes, but being them also. We are quite happy guys, so sometimes we have to remember to be a bit mean and moody on stage. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The tribute band will play Murrayfield Ice Arena ahead of the massive Oasis gigs next door at Murrayfield Stadium in August. | National World The buzz of being them has never went. When the intro of the first song kicks in, especially if it's a good crowd, it's a great buzz to keep the music alive. Sometimes the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. There are so many layers to it. The first thing is everyone in the band are huge Oasis fans, we get to play the tunes we grew up with. And we're in a great band with great musicians, we sound great. Playing in front of great and very appreciative fans, it's such a buzz, and we never get sick of it. Oasis were our band growing up, and still are. They mean so much to us. Even since they announced their return the demand is still there for us to play. Everyone is so excited Oasis are back. It's amazing they are back, biblical. Especially for the younger fans who never got the chance to see them live, in all their glory. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's always been a 'will they, won't they' for years. But when Noel had his divorce I really thought for the first time that it could happen, and here we are. We are so excited to see the set lists when they kick-off the reunion tour next month. And they have done really well to keep the media blanket since the announcement. I hope there is a wee spark between them on stage. I hope they show passion. It would be nice to see some brotherly love, and it's not just a big pay day. The tribute act spoke of their love for Oasis and revealed their excitement at playing these special Edinburgh gigs. | National World We were always busy, but since the reunion news broke last year the bookings have went through the roof. We are playing constantly this year and probably next year as well. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's interesting now at our shows as adults are bringing their kids to see us, it's amazing the amount of kids that are into Oasis, and they sing every single word of every song. It's great that Oasis have still got that pull, just like the Beatles really. We have not met Liam and Noel yet, but we met Oasis bassist Andy Bell once at an after-show. We would love to meet them, not sure what we would say though. They are the reason we are into music and musicians. We would just love to say thank you for teaching us music. Oasis changed everything when they came out, not just music, fashion, everything. It's hard to overestimate the impact they had on us and that generation. You never know, we might meet them at Murrayfield when we are both playing there? Tickets, priced at £5- £10, for the Oasis pre-show events at Murrayfield Ice Arena are still on sale, for Friday, August 8, click here. For Saturday, August 9, click here. And for Tuesday, August 12, click here.
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Oasis' Noel Gallagher gave me his Wonderwall guitar
When she was called by a grovelling Liam Gallagher apologising, Lynne Brine wondered what on earth was going on."Hi, it's Liam Gallagher here, there's been a bit of an incident at Abbey Road," said the voice on the other end of the Oasis circus was at its 1990s peak and her teenage son was part of the band's inner circle as an engineer for their third album - as Mrs Brine thought "what has happened to my boy?".It turned out a furious Liam had smashed up the guitar she gave to her son Nick, thinking it belonged to Liam's brother and bandmate Noel. Nick's compensation was something money can't buy and a piece of rock'n'roll memorabilia - a guitar Noel used to create Oasis anthems like Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger."It was the morning after a heavy night and Liam was worse for wear," recalls Nick, who was at Abbey Road as a studio engineer on their third album Be Here Now."Noel had said something about him in the papers and Liam kicked off. I'm in Abbey Road's famous Studio Two setting up equipment and hungover myself, then looking up I saw a guitar come flying over from the control room."It was Noel's Fender Jag and it smashed to bits. I run to the control room and Liam also made a big dent in Abbey Road's mixing desk." Nick had worked with the Gallagher brothers previously on their hit record (What's The Story) Morning Glory and had seen flashpoints like this before, so he just left Liam alone."Then I see another acoustic guitar flying over the top and in a thousand pieces on the floor - and realise that's my guitar," Nick added. "I thought it best if I didn't say anything. Noel came in and said 'what the hell is going on?'. It kicked off."Noel saw his guitar smashed up, then points to my smashed guitar and says 'whose is that?' Liam replies 'that's your guitar too', to which Noel replied 'it ain't mine'." It was Nick's £100 1970s Japanese Fender that was in pieces."I sheepishly put my hand up and said 'actually Liam, it's mine!' "Then there was a big argument about who was going to buy me a new one. I told them it's not valuable but it has quite sentimental value as my mum gave it to me."Liam promised to take Nick to Denmark Street, an area of London famous for musical instrument shops, to buy "whatever guitar I wanted"."Noel replied to Liam 'what the hell do you know about guitars?'," recalled Nick. "He said 'I'm going to get him a guitar'. There was another kick off about who was going to buy me a new one." After giving his temperamental younger brother a telling-off, Noel insisted Oasis frontman Liam call Nick's mum Lynne, at home in south Wales, to apologise."It was like: 'Hello Mrs Brine, Liam Gallagher here, I'm ringing to apologise...', he told her what he'd done and was sorry. "That typified Liam, angry one minute then angelic the next, I've always enjoyed his company."The Oasis superstar then handed Nick a piece of history - a Takamine Acoustic, the guitar Noel used in their iconic Knebworth and MTV Unplugged concerts."Did I give it to you? No way," Noel said to Nick when the songwriter returned to Rockfield Studio in south Wales in 2020 for the 25th anniversary of (What's The Story) Morning Glory. "I used it on this record, so that's the one I played Wonderwall on."For comparison, last year an Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar used by Noel sold for £130,000 while a Silver Sparkle Gibson Les Paul sold for £226, has, in fact, had to insure the guitar as a piece of fine art and auction houses have estimated a starting guide price of £100,000 if Nick were ever to sell it."I was gobsmacked, I said 'it's OK, it's fine' but Noel insisted I take it," recalled Nick. "It more than made up for the smashed guitar, I couldn't believe it." It's just another pinch me moment that became the norm for Nick from the moment Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown gave him a lift to pick up his GCSE of his first engineering jobs was with the Roses for the epic 14-month recording of their Second Coming record at Rockfield."Ian was in the studio reading about GCSE results in the paper and asked 'Nick, how did you get on?'," recalled Nick."I'd got a job at Rockfield straight after leaving school and said 'I'm working here now' so I wasn't bothered."He said 'come on, I'll take you down. You've got to find out your GCSE results'." Nick arrived at Monmouth Comprehensive School minutes later in Brown's red Ford Fiesta and the singer, one of the biggest names in British music at the time, walked in with him to get his results."It was surreal, my mates couldn't believe it," remembered Nick. "But the Roses were so down to earth, a great friendly band to work with that allowed my band to use their kit when they weren't using it. It was incredible."The Roses gave Nick his first recording credit too as the then 16-year-old played tambourine on their hit single Love Spreads, still their highest-placing single which reached number two in 1994."I still get a nice cheque from it every year," joked Nick. It was around this time when Nick first met Oasis as they were recording their debut album Definitely Maybe up the road at Monnow Valley Studios. They had come down to give their demo tapes to Nick, hoping he would pass them on to the following year he first shared a studio with them at Rockfield as they recorded their seminal album (What's The Story) Morning Glory in Monmouth in a six-week session - before joining them at Abbey Road to make Be Here Now."Those Be Here Now Sessions were crazy," recalled Nick."We had press hounding us all the time to hear the songs, get any info because in 1997 Oasis were headline news virtually every day."I was in charge of locking the tapes away every night so if anyone snuck or broke in, no-one could get to the tapes. "Keeping them secret was almost a military operation which was made difficult as Liam used to bring people back to the studio from the pub to hear the recordings!"One welcome visitor was Hollywood movie star Jim Carrey who unexpectedly visited the studio made famous by The Beatles while Brine was working with Oasis."Jim was a huge Beatles fan and their legendary producer Sir George Martin had invited him in for a look around," recalled Nick."I loved his films, especially Dumb and Dumber. The Mask and Ace Ventura, then all of a sudden he's standing next to me, whispering 'this is crazy, I'm in Abbey Road and George Martin's showing us around!' "I remember thinking if you think that and you're a proper Hollywood A-lister, what about me?! I'm just a normal teenager from south Wales!"
Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Lee Mack lifts lid on Noel Gallagher 'snub' after meeting on show
Lee Mack quipped he "harassed" the Oasis singer with a specific request. Lee Mack has revealed he was "snubbed" by Noel Gallagher after making a specific request to the Oasis singer. The 1% Club host appeared on Friday's The One Show to speak about his new series of Not Going Out with Sally Bretton. At one point, during a new episode of the sitcom, Lee references Oasis, based on his own relatable experiences of failing to secure tickets to the reunion tour. However, he's now revealed he had plans to involve Noel in the series. "I like everybody else was queuing for hours online, and we couldn't get them, so I thought, well I haven't got tickets but I'll write a show about them," he told BBC hosts Alex Jones and Clara Amfo. "And there I am, proving I can't sing. And I thought, wouldn't it be great if Noel Gallagher turned up?" Lee recalled his last appearance on The One Show, which happened to be when he met the Wonderwall singer. "As far as I'm concerned, meeting someone for five minutes, we're now friends," Lee said. "So I harassed him and texted him, got his number and asked him to be on the show." "And?" hosts Alex and Clara probed. Sadly, it was a no from Noel, as Lee revealed: "He never contacted me." The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer. This is a breaking showbiz story and is being constantly updated. Please refresh the page regularly to get the latest news, pictures and videos. You can also get email updates on the day's biggest stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.
