I took this photograph of Oasis on Primrose Hill, London in 1994 â it was a homage to my famous âThe Rolling Stones â Between the Buttonsâ photograph.
This shot was used by MOJO magazine. Taken with my Hasselblad 500C camera.
DETROIT. USA TOUR
MARCH 1995 // đ¸ JILL FURMANOVSKY
This is a contact sheet from March 1995. We must have gone for a walk. I didn't know them terribly well at this point. I'd done a couple of shoots with them but when you are on tour that's when you get to know them a little bit better. It's shot on a Hassleblad. Often you don't shoot photojournalist portraits on a Hassleblad, but for some reason I did that day and it produced some really great results.
no idea why but wayback machine wiped a bunch of the links iâd archived. iâll re-archive and update the posts soon. if anyoneâs looking for the photo sources, just dm me
i re-archived the links a few days ago, checked again today, and a bunch were gone again đ so from now on iâm not putting them in the main post anymore. iâll add the source + archived snapshot in the comments instead.
also: remember that huge oasis memorabilia auction propstore ran? the whole thing (almost 9 GB!) is backed up now just in case it gets wiped đ
Tim Marlow: What about the Gallagher brothers? âCause thatâs a great image. Theyâre together, but theyâre away from each other, and famously they fight. Do you remember anything about the shoot? Were they fighting?
David Bailey: Yeah, and I said to my assistant, âLetâs get these geezers done so we can get them out of here, âcause theyâre gonna end up killing each other.â And itâs sort of âCain killed Abelâ in a way, isnât it?
Tim Marlow: I know that the glare is their public persona, but itâs really interesting that they share this space, but you can see a kind of underlying tension.
David Bailey: You can see it. You could see it when they walked in the room.
Vision and Sound | David Bailey in Conversation with Tim Marlow
no idea why but wayback machine wiped a bunch of the links iâd archived. iâll re-archive and update the posts soon. if anyoneâs looking for the photo sources, just dm me
And there'll be better waves that begin to echo
Through the wasteland of your mind
Through the Milky Way, oh, my love will hold you
Hope it gets you through the night
Don't believe the little lies
Underneath the darkened skies
Stand up, I'll meet you there in the rain
Noel Gallagher's 1960 Cherry Red Gibson ES-355 Guitar
Damaged by Liam Gallagher The Night Oasis Broke Up
The Gibson ES-355 model was a personal favourite of Gallagher's from 1996 until 2011. This is arguably one of the most significant guitars associated with Oasis, as it was the catalyst for one of the most famous splits in music history, and symbolises the turbulent relationship of a band that shaped the 1990s.
Gallagher describes his love for his original Gibson ES-355, and reveals the fact that he had two of these guitars, in an interview with That Pedal Show on YouTube in June 2023. Between 1996 and 1997, Gallagher purchased two ES-355 guitars, and has stated that he wanted a red semi-acoustic guitar after seeing Johnny Marr play one in The Smiths. Gallagher bought this second ES-355 in a guitar shop in Parisâ La Pigalle district.
Interestingly, the second guitarâs serial number is the next one along from his original Gibson. This meant that two different Gibson employees made both guitars in Gallagher's collection on the same day. The second Gibson can be identified as it has a longer pickguard and a plain black truss rod cover.
On 28 August 2009, Oasis were scheduled to perform at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. While preparing, a violent argument broke out backstage between the brothers, resulting in Liam swinging this Gibson ES-355 guitar around, ultimately destroying it.
Liam chose this guitar as he knew it was one of Noel's favourites. âSo then he leaves and goes to his own dressing room and picks up a guitar,â Noel explained at a 2011 press conference. âHe comes back in and he starts throwing it around like an axe.â
A couple of hours after this infamous altercation, Noel announced that he was leaving the band, stating he could no longer work with Liam, and Oasis officially split.
At Gallagherâs request, the guitar was restored in 2011 by skilled luthier Philippe Dubreuille, who painstakingly preserved its vintage look.
Dubreuille first learned about the bandâs breakup and the fate of Noelâs guitar through his working relationship with Oasis band members Gem Archer and Andy Bell. Two or three days after the fateful night in Paris, Gem Archer and his wife went to Dubreuilleâs Denmark Street workshop in London and told him that Oasis was âfinishedâ.
The precise details of the apocalyptic argument remain nebulous but, according to Dubreuille, it was Noel, infuriated by his brotherâs antics, who smashed Liamâs Gibson J-100 first. Dubreuille said the guitar had been signed by the younger Gallagherâs son and held sentimental value, perhaps explaining the righteous fury which Liam was said to have then vented upon Noelâs ES-355.
When he discovered the sad fate of the instrument, Dubreuille had a premonition. âI said: âOne day, I am going to repair that guitar.â It took two years to come to me. Noel kept it in a vault. He didnât want to be reminded of the story. And one day, somebody came. His name was Jason Rhodes and he was Noelâs guitar tech. Jason came with the guitar and said: âOK, Phillipe look, what do you think of that, can you repair it?â He said he had taken it to some other guy who said it was [irreparable], and he said âdo you think you can do something?â
âThe neck was off, a piece of the wood was broken, a piece on the front was missing, there was an ugly hole, a part of the piping was gone, and one of the pickups was hanging off. It took me a month to do it,â he said of the Gibson restoration. âRecolour everything. Revarnish the parts that were missing, and put the guitar in the incredible condition itâs in today. I really did a fantastic job. Like a wizard job.â
Gallagher kept the guitar as part of his collection for some time while performing with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
More than a decade after its restoration, the guitar changed hands once again, selling for ÂŁ289,800 at a Propstore auction on October 23, 2025.
This 1960 Gibson 355 serial #A34884 was the guitar that Liam Gallagher smashed up in Paris 2009 the night Oasis split up. It was also my #1 favourite guitar that I used for both writing and recording. Using it on many Oasis recordings as well as using it live!
Peace, love + Bananas!!
Noel Gallagher
This shot was one of many taken for a Revolver magazine piece on the upcoming 2001 U.S. Tour Of Brotherly Love, featuring The Black Crowes, Oasis and Spacehog. The name of the tour was an ironic nod to the fact that, among its members, each band contained a pair of brothers who were (are!) infamous for fighting both in and out of public.
On the day of the shoot, The Black Crowes were playing Scala [King's Cross, London] in the evening. The Gallagher boys were there to watch them, and I literally had only the unglamorous corridors of the venue (complete with empty beer cans and cigarette butts) in which to conjure up a makeshift âstudioâ space â very Rock ânâ Roll!
Despite such limitations, this shoot of the brothers Robinson and Gallagher produced some of what were to become my favourite images of Liam and Noel. Itâs amazing how you can start with a tatty and dreary environment and end up with something that looks like itâs been taken in a professional studio.
Itâs a case of extremes â a fitting description of the brothers themselves!
PULSE! DECEMBER 1997
đ¸ JILL FURMANOVSKY // âď¸ TOM LANHAM
Still in cuddly candid mode, Gallagher goes on to say that Liam always âknows what Iâm goinâ on about, even when Iâm goinâ on about nothing. We have the same sort of semi-delinquent state of mind. And Iâve always realized the importance of himâitâs just that Liam doesnât think that I do. Liam seems to think that I think heâs a shithead, but I donât.â Pause. Then a declaration. âI donât think heâs any moreâor any lessâthan the greatest singer in show business. Simple as that.â
âA good composer does not initiate, he steals.â âIgor Stravinsky
âTo the devil with all those who have seen in our sublime art nothing but an innocent tickling of the ear.â âGeorges Bizet
âEveryone is against me.â âFranz Liszt
Late September.
An autumn chill creases the last rays of summer. Itâs a great Saturday to be alive in London, especially if youâre one of several thousand kids funneling your way into arena-size venue Earlâs Court for the most eagerly anticipated rock event of the year. And theyâre having a blastâwhooping it up, slugging down contraband lager as they winnow their way toward the hall entrance.
Two giant screen prints sandwich the Earlâs Court marquee: on the left, a black-and-white billboard of guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher, cutting right down the middle of his caterpillar-browed mug; on the right, a half-face picture of Gallagherâs singing kid brother Liam, with matching monobrow and surly glare. A single word adorns both signs, and itâs all you need to know: OASIS.
For a third night, the greatest band in the land is headlining another sold-out gig in its new hometown, supporting its newest album, Be Here Now (Creation/Epic). The portraitsâshot by Jill Furmanovsky, whose Oasis-chronicling âWas There Thenâ photo exhibit currently tours Englandâadd to the electricity already jigs awing through the night air.
Inside, opening act the Verve finishes a somber, brilliant set. Lights dim, and the Gallaghersâattired in casual Polo shirts and sweatersâsaunter out to deafening cheers from the mostly laddish crowd. The stage design echoes Be Here Nowâs surreal cover art: Liam, walking like an arthritic King Louie from Disneyâs The Jungle Book, shuffles past a four-foot clock, a tilted phantom phone booth and a Keith Moonâmocking Rolls-Royce submerged in a faux-pool. Then he cocks his head back, folds his arms behind him, plants his upper lip firmly on the microphone andâin patented John-Lennon-meets-trap-clamped-mic styleâbegins to sing. âWash your face in the morning sun! Flash your pan at the song that Iâm singing,â he yowls from Be Here Nowâs title track, while Noelâs guitar grinds out the songâs stamping cavalcade of riffs.
Down on the floor, the lads are bouncing up and down. Rigorously. Deliriously. And crowd-surfing to every Liam-sung line. Two wall-mounted monitors project a real-time film of the event, perfectly capturing Noel grinning hyena-happy at the stunning enormity of it all, at the sheer rabble-rousing euphoria that is Oasis.
âIâm not really bothered with the bullshit of the business or about being #1 anymore or anything like that,â heâd humbly confessed during a candid pre-show chat. âIâve had all that when I was younger, dâya know what I mean? Iâve had my states of competing with other groups and watching other groups compete with us. But I think we settled those scores a few years ago, so itâs like, we just wanna have a good time now and play music for the people.â
But Oasisâ power isnât so easily defined. A few songs later, some 40-odd thirsty folk are gathered at a Carlsberg lagerâahemâoasis (one of many that dot Earlâs Courtâs walkways), when the band breaks into a signature anthem, âDonât Look Back in Anger.â As the chorus hitsâ"So Sally can wait / She knows itâs too late as weâre walking on by"âeveryone in line, bartenders included, throw heads back, Liam-like, and bay blissfully along.
One British mag last year listed 100 wonderful things about England: âPub sing-alongsâThanks, Oasis!â Clearly, no spectator is immune to the magic Gallagher spell. And itâs a visceral think: Definitely Maybe, (Whatâs the Story) Morning Glory? and the face-slapping rebuttal Be Here Now. Twenty million records sold to date, written for the clock-punching masses by one of their own. Dig deeper into the Oasis mythologyâlook the gift horse in the mouth, in other wordsâand youâll miss the truly mystical point.
Why has Oasis become such an institution abroad? Could be the friendly familiarity in the architectural skills of Noel, whoâs defended his habit of plundering the pop vaults (the T. Rex/âBang a Gongâ riff of âCigarettes & Alcohol,â the quasi-Stevie Wonder/âUptightâ chorus of âStep Out,â the cagey Lennon piano notes that open âAnger,â the blatant aping of Coca-Colaâs âIâd Like to Teach the World to Singâ anthem on âShakermakerâ) with a brash âSo fucking sue meâsee if I care. And they do. Sue me, that is.â
Or how about his musicâs singsong, hand clap-propelled moods, compounded by lyrics that often border on nursery-rhyme childishâwhich, ironically, are rooted in an adult respect for attention-grabbing TV jingles and, Noelâs admitted, the late-night rants of the WWF?
âThe thing is, when youâre writing lyrics like âIâm Feeling Supersonic,â you only have to watch these wrestlers, man. The speeches that they give before a matchâtheyâre great lyricists, man, them wrestlers!â
Noelâs case is aided greatly by having his epithets delivered in Liamâs bratty, devil-may-care bleat. But thereâs something far greater at work here, creeping through the tunesmithâs warm chordings and classically fluid leads, a wide-eyed reverence for all things majestic in rock: Noel Gallagher believes; you just know he does. Which is probably why Oasis had no trouble finding believersâso many that a legion of cover bands has sprung up overnight, led by No Way Sis (first no-brainer single: âIâd Like to Teach the World to Singâ). Even the London Philharmonic hopped aboard, with a plush orchestral disc, Plays the Music of Oasis (Music Club).
The U.S., it appears, is the last place to succumb to the Oasis hoodooâwhere Morning Glory made a triple-platinum U.S. splash, Be Here Now (after losing a #1 debut spot to Puff Daddy by a mere 700-some units) puttered around in the 30s, only earning Gold certification last month.
In person, thereâs nothing remotely sorcerous about Noel Gallagher. The mouthy Mancunian comes off like a really quick nightclub comic, albeit with a prankster edge. Beneath his heavy brow are still heavier eyelids, which create a dopey effect. Except when heâs onstage and bright-eyed beaming, Gallagher always manages to look stoned, really âWhoa, dude!â out of it. Donât be fooled. âHeâs a very clever man, very clever,â warns Gallagherâs Morning Glory/Be Here Now co-producer, Owen Morris.
Two years ago, Noel sat down for a backstage chat andâfielding a question about what it was like meeting Beatles hero Paul McCartneyâswore that the only advice he took from that historic summit was: âDonât marry a Japanese woman!â He puffed on his Silk Cut, let the deadpanned aside hang just long enough in the air before breaking into a goofy grin and adding, âIâm jokinâ, of course!â
This time, however, the claws were out, as Gallagher contrasted his self-sung âMagic Pieâ track and McCartneyâs coincidentally title new disc: âFlaming Pie is a bag of shite, a load of fookinâ rubbish. I donât like it at allâIâve never liked McCartneyâs stuff.â This coming after Macca went on record slamming Oasis as derivative.
Gallagher may swear heâs finished scrapping with other groups. But heâs got a bigger fight on his hands now. Take, for example, this illuminating tidbit from âMagic Pieâ: âThey who donât say what they mean/ Will live and die by their own sword.â The subject of his diatribes: the prying media. Why? Here are just a few of the media-sensationalized Gallagher escapades that have rocked Britain since Morning Glory catapulted Oasis to worldwide, paparazzi-dogged prominence.
In August of â96, Noel winged an Oasis MTV Unplugged appearance after Liam skipped out; a few weeks later, Liam offered a makeup present to MTVâa nasty wad of lager-fueled spittle on its Award Show stage and an exaggerated fart in the cameraâs direction. Liam also bailed on a U.S. jaunt at Heathrow Airport, claiming house-hunting for he and then-galpal, actress Patsy Kensit, as an excuse.
âNO-asis!â screamed the U.K. tabloid headlines later that September, as a fed-up Noel packed his bags on said tour in Charlotte, N.C., and headed home. The London-held Q Awards in November saw Oasis tagged as âBest Act in the World,â Liam punched a News of the World photographer afterward (whoâd taunted him with a racy photo of him kissing someone other than Kensit) and, the next morning, got nabbed on Oxford Street for cocaine possession.
Other hassles ensued: Liam got thumped by two thugs in a pub restroom, got into a nightclub donnybrook with Hurricane #1 singer Alex Lowe, and assaulted a limo-tailing cyclist, who testified to police that Gallagher broke his expensive sunglasses. (âItâs like, âWell, go and sell the photograph youâve just taken and buy yourself a new pair of sunglasses then!ââ Noel growls defensively.)
The biggest snafu, though, belonged to Noel, whoâspeaking to some post-awards radio reporterâdrunkenly noted that taking drugs was like having a cup of tea in the morning, and that a good portion of Parliament was already hooked on cocaine or heroin. Returning to London the next day, he found his house surrounded by a media swarm, with then-girlfriend Meg Matthews trapped inside.
Oasis high points? There were a few. April 7, 1997: Liam and Patsy tie the knot at Marylebone Registry Office, the site of Paul and Linda McCartneyâs 1969 nuptials. June 7: Noel and Meg wed in a secret Las Vegas ceremony, catered by an Elvis impersonator. Then, after the Labour Party swept elections, new Prime Minister Tony Blair invited Noel to a private party at his #10 Downing Street headquarters. A fair exchange, since Gallagher had nicked part of a Blair campaign speech for âMagic Pie.â What deep thoughts did the two exchange? âUhhhh ⌠I canât really rememberâI was quite drunk at the time!â downplays a snickering Noel, whose estimated worth has spiralled past ÂŁ40 million.
âI was just sorta tryinâ not to fall over and embarrass me Mam, who was watchinâ on television. He said, âCongratulations on your success, blah, blah, blah,â and to be quite honest, my wife butted in at that point and she spoke to him more than I did.
âI got the invite to go, and it was like âUmmm, whatâs this, then?â But my star sign is Gemini, yâsee, so I had to satisfy my curiosity by goin.â And of course, me being a rockânâroll rebel.â Gallagher cackles again. âEveryoneâs going, âWell, you should tell him to fuck off!â And Iâm thinking, âAhh, but people like me canât do that, yâsee. People like me are too curious. People like me have to go and see what itâs like inside, see what wallpaper theyâve got up, see what color the carpets are!ââ Sure, he sighs, âIt was a publicly staged thing. But now Iâve been there! And they have these tiny little white porcelain ashtrays with a Number 10 in the middle! I was trying to pinch an ashtray, but I didnât get out the door with it.â
The Gallaghers may be on the Downing Street A-list now, but it wasnât always that way. Noel, 30, and Liam, 25, were raised mainly by mother Peggy, and weaned on such TV rock shows as Tony âFactory Recordsâ Wilsonâs So It Goes. It wasnât a privileged upbringing; according to Oasis legend, the teen brothers often stooped to burglary to make ends meet.
By 1989, budding songwriter Noel had entered popdomâas roadie for the Inspiral Carpets. In the first Noel-less Oasis lineupâfeaturing mainstay bassist Paul âGuigsyâ McGuigan and guitarist Paul âBoneheadâ ArthursâLiam wrote the lyrics (early example: âShe Always Came Up Smilingâ).
After watching his brotherâs band onstage in 1991, Noel invited the band to his flat to hear his solo songs. He laid down strict ground rules for a merger; the group agreed. It was the beginning of a new era in English music. Oasisâ albumsâand a catty rivalry with chart foes Blurâbrought the term âBritpopâ into common parlance. And the bandâs habit of tacking three album-worthy B-sides onto its CD singles pumped still more fresh blood into an emaciated U.K. music market.
Fellow Mancunian and old industry pal Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays/Black Grape renown) has an Oasis theory or two: âIâll tell you what Noel and Liamâs mission wasâit was to live a rockânâroll life and to earn money. They were kids who came from a very boring, shitty council estate; they werenât going anywhere with their jobs. And the only way you make it out of that situation is, you either become a footballer, you get into the music business, or you become a real fucking villain. They wanted to be rockânâroll stars, and the great thing about it is, they make damn good pop songs.â
The notoriety didn't gel during â94âs Definitely Maybe. It was only after the breakthrough Morning Glory (and ballady U.S./U.K. hits
like âWonderwallâ and âChampagne Supernovaâ) that the Gallaghers
became front-page tabloid fodder. So hunted, in fact, that Noel had to retreat last year to the tiny island of Mustique, just to write and demo songs for Be Here Now. He was cornered, nonetheless; Mustique photos quickly circulated, of Noel strolling the beach with his new buds Kate Moss and Johnny Depp (who contributed a wicked slide guitar to âFade In-Outâ). Is it any surprise that the record wound up so reactionary?
How does a musicianâonce heâs created an inside-dirt demand for
himself through his populist anthemsâmake music undisturbed? Or shake pursuing dirt-diggers and proceed normally with his life? A Sisyphean, impossible task? The Princess Diana tragedy, Gallagher
sighs, gave him pause.
âNow I'm not a fan of the Royal Family or anybody connected with the monarchy in any way, shape or form. But having been in that type of position meself, been in the back of cars being chased through the streets by paparazzi, I suppose I stopped to think about it for maybe half an hour. And I thought âWell, that couldâve been me in that car.â I was quite upset at the way it happened, but I mean, you knowâshit happens, people die every day, donât they? And until somebody changes the law, I donât think thereâs much anybody can do about it, apart from just try and cope with it as best you can.â
Gallagherâwhose customary tabloid shot is a two-fingered âfuck youââadds that he's tried to put himself in the photographerâs shoes: âTried to understand that the people behind the camera have got a job to do. But I just canât get their vibe on it at all, I just canât.â And if Di was the #1 most-badgered personality in Britain at the time of her passing, he says: âMe and Liam are #2, closely followed by a footballer by the name of Paul Gascoigne. The Spice Girls are up there with us as well. And the longer it goes on, the more you expect to see yourself in the paper. Say, likeâhypothetically speakingâif I went out tonight and went to a strip joint, like. I would expect that to be in the papers the next day. I just would. Me and me brother have been followed ⌠well, Iâve been followed around today, shopping, actually. You canât really see who they are, but you know theyâre there somewhere. You know they are.â Gallagher stops for a second, then adds, âOr maybe itâs just paranoia. I donât know.â
Maybe not. On the eve of Be Here Nowâs unique Thursday release this August, U.K. rags ran pictures of Noel and Meg, emerging from their island-hideout beach house, as well as a St. Tropez-relaxed Patsy and Liam, who had irked the resort community by carelessly tossing beer bottles into its waters. And, yes, paparazzi had captured him, mid-lob. Noel gets steamed up just thinking about it. âThe thing that annoys me is, surely there must be more news to report than the drunken babble of a pop star. Iâd have thought, dâya know what I mean? There was a story on the front page of one of the main papers yesterday. You know how Scotland and Wales are voting at the moment on whether to go independent from England and set up their own governments? This thingâs been going on for 800 years, right? And they finally get to vote. That was on page three, this big vote thing. On page one was a story about Liam going into a fishânâchip shop and buying a meat and potato pie, and swearing at the girl behind the counter. That was the front page news! Itâs like, Fookinâ hell! Get your fookinâ priorities right, dâya know what I mean?
âBut it will never keep us from going out. I go out in London quite a lot, just to spite the people who would like to see you stayinâ indoors for the rest of your life.â
Via leviathan, multitracked guitar-work and Liamâs especially acidic phraseology, Be Here Now exorcises all that anger and frustration in long, spine-vibrating torrents, such as âMy Big Mouth.â Near the close of the track-which sonically resembles a jumbo jet nosediving into a screaming suburbâLiam sings a curious Noel couplet: âAs you look into the eyes of a bloody cold assassin/ Itâs only then you realize with whose life you have been messinâ.â It's probably his ultimate, and darkest, fame analogy, Noel concedes. âI suppose itâs when John Lennon mustâve stared into the eyes of Mark Chapman at some point, and the things he was sayinâ, the things he was writinâ, were obviously fookinâ with somebodyâs brain. Thatâs not to say that you shouldnât [write and perform songs]âI mean, the geezer was obviously fookinâ mental. But what I was sayinâ was that I would imagine that only then did everything run through Mr. Lennonâs brainââFook! Shit! I was affecting people!ââ
Distractions aside, Gallagher still managed to produce. Yes, a couple of wry plagiarist gags remain on the new disc: âLong and winding road,â âThe fool on the hill and I feel fine,â âSo get on the helter-skelterâ (âI suppose I went a bit overboard with the jokes this time,â Noel chuckles). But it isn't the sound of Revolver-era Fab Four, Gallagher clarifies. âWe use the tones. And obviously, we derive something from the Beatles. A bit. But not as much as people say we do. I mean, apart from the end of âSheâs Electric,â which is a direct ripoff of ⌠well, whatever the fook it is [âA Little Help From My Friends,â actually] and the beginning of âDonât Look Back in Anger,â which is a direct ripoff of âImagine,â Iâve never sat down and listened to Beatles records and tried to rewrite them. People who say that are insulting me as a songwriter, and insulting the band as a band, really. And just being idiots, so fook âem!â
How far did Gallagher push the creative envelope? Leadoff single âDâYou Know What I Mean?â is a perfect example. He and co-producer Owen Morris combed through more than 30 tape-looped rhythms before settling on three hip-hop sluggish grooves. Then drummer Alan âWhiteyâ White topped it with a thundering tandem salvo, which inches its way toward a Goliath all-stops crescendo (and a hypnotic chorus of âAll my people right here right now/ Dâyou know what I mean?â) thatâafter a few listensâfeels as fervent as a tent-held revival meeting. The bridge, with palpable irony, coldly skewers organized religion: âI met my maker I made him cry/ And on my shoulder he asked me why/ His people wonât fly through the storm/ I said âListen up man, they donât even know youâre born.ââ Morris see the song as âvery much a mantra, by the time it gets going.â Fran Healyâfrontman for another Oasis opening act, Travisâis in absolute awe of the track. âNoelâs taken something that millions of English people say at the end of their sentencesââDâya know wot I mean?ââand stamped âProperty of Oasisâ on it. Now any time anybody says âBlah, blah, blah, dâya know wot I mean?â itâs Oasis! Subliminally! Now how smart is that?â
Gallagher takes it all in stride. âA lot of people don't seem to get [âDâYou Knowâ]. It is a marching song, a song meant to be sung on picket lines, or a song meant to be sung when youâre marching somewhere.â In âMy Sister Lover,â the composer had stated his credo more clearly: âFaith in the Lord is something I will never have/ âCause the Lord I know donât got no faith in me.â Gallagher was simply using a softer touch on âDâYou Knowâ: ââMakerâ is the alleged Lord Almighty, and it would make him cry by tellinâ him what the world is really like, the world that he allegedly created. What itâs really likeâthe poverty, the pain, the hardship, the homelessness, the rape, the murder and the drugs and all the rest of it.â If Gallagher could meet God, he insists heâd call him on the heavenly carpet by asking ââDo you know what shit you left behind, mate? Where the fookinâ hell have you been for the last 800 years, while weâve been wallowing around in the shit you left for us?â Youâd make him cry and then,â he adds, all out of breath, âwell, then maybe heâd apologize.â
Be Here Now winds down with an optimistic, epic-length nod to the Beatlesâ âHey Jude,â âAll Around the World.â The album even closes on an uplifting note, with the clanging, muddy-mix rocker âItâs Gettinâ Better (Man!!)â Other revelations may shock Oasis fans. Like Gallagherâs admission that âMagic Pieâ was born when he misread the word âmagpieâ in a rhyming dictionary. Oasis uses a rhyming dictionary?! âAfraid so, afraid so,â he laughs, good-naturedly. âI never wanted to be a guitarist and songwriter. I never wanted to be a lyricist. So I have to use everything in my power, really, and Iâm afraid rhyming dictionaries are one of the things that I do use when I get stuck.â
Still in cuddly candid mode, Gallagher goes on to say that Liam always âknows what Iâm goinâ on about, even when Iâm goinâ on about nothing. We have the same sort of semi-delinquent state of mind. And Iâve always realized the importance of himâitâs just that Liam doesnât think that I do. Liam seems to think that I think heâs a shithead, but I donât.â Pause. Then a declaration. âI donât think heâs any moreâor any lessâthan the greatest singer in show business. Simple as that.â
Back to Earlâs Court. Midconcert, one aging soccer tough, late 40s most likely, repeatedly jumps to his feet between songs, as Liam murmurs, mumble-mutters various indecipherable asides, manyâafter some miscreants attempt to blind Noel with pesky pocket lasersâpeppered with myriad âYa fookinâ coonts!â ââAtâs it, lads!â the gent blusters. âYou tell âem âow it is! You fookinâ tell âem, lads!!â
But what was Liam actually saying? The chap, red-faced with drink, shrugs his shoulders and cackles. âI âavenât a clue, mate!â
Perhaps the Oasis enigma was best summarized on Definitely Maybe, wherein Noelâs prophetic âRock and Roll Starâ words drip from Liamâs curled lips like so much venom: âIf youâre not down with who I am/ Look at you now, youâre all in my hands tonight. ⌠â
Don't fight it. Lift your lager to Oasis and shout along.
Noel announced Little by Little and said it was âfor the manâ twice while pointing at the sound booth⌠pretty sure he meant Donovan, who was there and had a birthday like a week ago??
Also spotted in the sound booth: Sally, who got Donât Look Back in Anger dedicated to her.
Noelâs crowd interaction during DLBIA was gold. You know that part at the end where the crowd always comes in too early? This time he hit us with a âYou what?â Crowd: âWe donât look back in angerâŚâ Noel: âYou what?â again. This back-and-forth happened like 3 times. Weirdly flirty? đŤŚ
Liamâs âSee you next year,â and I was just standing there like 𤨠babe, youâre here tomorrow, same place, same time. Pretty sure itâs not even a big spoiler, considering Knebworth House socials teased that Oasis 30th anniversary gig months agoâŚ
Roll With It is officially the kiss cam anthem, right? Thereâs literally a heart graphic with âKISS MEâ on the screen. Remember that London (?) show in July/August when Noel kissed Bonehead on the cheek? And then there was that almost lip-on-lip collision between Liam and Noel?? So Iâm on high alert. Tonight, Noel blocked Liamâs way backstage again. My theory: heâs baiting Liam into kissing him. I will die on this hill.
Am I crazy or did they switch Slide Away visuals back to that grainy, analog TV static look? Same as first Cardiff shows? âšď¸ Bring back the pretty visuals pls.
Liam is still growing out his hair. Cute.
Liam also scratched himself aggressively under the parka at one point like a literal caveman. Poor itchy psoriasis boy. (Obligatory: my dogâs been itching, itching in the kitchen once again)
He was chewing gum THE WHOLE GIG. I saw it just flying around in his mouth seconds before he started singing. I genuinely thought he was gonna inhale it and drop dead on stage đŹ
Already said this under @theimportanceofbeingidle post, but the Supernova hug was adorable. You could literally see Noel go from his usual grumpy resting face to the softest, brightest smile when he looked at Liam.
Short video of Noelâs Live Forever solo for tax (this was supposed to be a media blog after all lol). Love it when he goes for those higher notes in this solo.
