So cool and awesome and important that when Kneecap performed in Cardiff, they had an opening act that was also a bilingual rap act who performs in Welsh and English. And I do highly recommend Sage Todz, he's really cool.
If you can remember 2022, he created a version of the protest folk song Yma O Hyd, by protest folk singer Dafydd Iwan, before Wales played their World Cup games. Dafydd Iawn wrote and performed it in the 50s and 60s during the language rights protests to officially make Wales a nation of two equal languages, and over the last few years, the Football Association of Wales and its players, who were then young enough to themselves be Welsh speakers and learners, have really picked up and supported the language. (Not every player that qualifies to represent Wales necessarily grew up in Wales and so might not be Welsh speakers at home, nor attended schools in Wales where Welsh has been a compulsory subject in the curriculum since 1988 at least.)
The team had been playing the song and the fans began singing the song during games, and things just escalated from there; the fans were heard singing it before games and it sort of became an unofficial anthem. And all of a sudden, Dafydd Iwan himself found that the protest folk song he had written, with a chorus that said, 'We are still here, in spite of everyone and everything... we are still here' about the Welsh language, that he had written nearly sixty years ago. Suddenly, it was being sung by choruses of thousands of Welsh fans, reverberating around stadiums. And they called him to sing it before the World Cup qualifying game against Austria:
Huge, emotional moment. If I remember right, it went hugely viral too. It was then that Sage Todz remixed the song, sampling sections of it and updating it for the modern day. The FAW posted it and that led to a lot of people discovering rap in Cymraeg for the first time.
So it is lovely to see Kneecap also encouraging that, and exposing their fans, people who are already fans of hip hop in a minority Celtic language, where being used in the modern world and not being relegated to myths and folklore of the past, to another person revitalising a language in revival, and updating it to be true to Wales in 2024. This was at their gig at the Tramshed last year. No doubt this year's shows are going to be significantly larger.
It's true that I'd sort of stepped out of Oasis fandom for the decade from about 2015-2025 (mainly because my thought process was ‘why would I willingly put myself in proximity to Oasis fans?’ and had you met an Oasis fan in 2015? Things changed a bit with distance and time but that was gradual. Even in 2025, my best friend, who is brown, didn't feel too safe about going to see them in London. (Said the potential for kick off didn't justify the £££ ticket prices) I went, but Oasis are a different beast in the UK than in North America. A discussion for later)
But people in this fandom shudder about how fans survived running fan blogs in the breakup decade. And I really really feel that. Obviously I was also caught in the lurch of the "will-they, won't-they" of EVERY time Liam hinted they might and then Noel said don't be silly. But even more than that, I know that pain because I was for the longest time the only person in the Super Furry Animals tag.
10 long years they were split up. And the reunion was only a tour, sadly. It felt a bit similar to Oasis looking back only because as one of the Creation bands that came into existence around the time of the linking of rock music and football, they were also really closely associated with the sport. They'd sponsored Cardiff City FC for a brief spell (Creation money) and there are Cardiff City SFA shirts that are very rare.
They also split in 2009-10. After 7 long solo years, they reunited and their 2016 run of shows is forever linked in the minds of fans with Wales' dream 2016 Euro run, where the men's national team made it to the semi finals before crashing out. The SFA tour sort of followed the Wales team. Toulouse was magic. SFA were there in the stands of course, for when it all went down. Bing Bong was the official Wales football anthem for that tournament.
David Owens Wales fans at Euro 2016 will have plenty of favourite moments from a tournament that exceeded all our expectations and fulfilled
That's what it feels like right now for England. Wonderwall is unofficially becoming the anthem for England. In 2016, friends and fans banded together for the Wales cause. It felt like you didn't have to be Welsh to support Wales. Everyone wanted the Welsh team to do well and the Welsh fans to experience that elation. First time since 1958 or whatever.
It kind of feels like that for England right now. I've never seen this much goodwill for the English side. It's always been "anyone but England", especially for fans of the other three home nations of the UK plus Ireland. But people sort of are happy for English fans right now. I've not seen that sentiment in nearly 30 years. And it's all soundtracked by Wonderwall. I had to unfollow Gene Gallagher yesterday because ALL this guy had been posting for 24 HOURS was clips of the English team and fans singing Wonderwall in the stadium. Lmao. Even Noel, famously not an England football supporter, rather a Republic of Ireland supporter, said he's happy to see England win. For his kids' sake, but he's happy.
There is a rare moment when things just come together of their own accord and everything seems to go right and happen at once. I feel like Oasis are similarly at the tip of the blender, about to become everything to the nation, culturally again. You reckon there HAS to be another album in this light, surely the pull is too strong for Noel Gallagher to fight?
But I went on a football-music-culture tangent. To come back to the question I was answering. I was the only person in the SFA tag!! When fans ask what on earth was being posted by Oasis fans for 10+ years when nothing happened, you just had to make your own fun! You'd find some meaning in Noel albums but have learned that even his strongest nostalgic sentiments didn't necessarily mean a reunion. You'd read a Gruff Rhys interview saying he and the rest of the Furries were all very good friends and hung out, but this guy had a book, a film, an app and an album coming out at the same time (I'm not joking, this was just American Interior...) Where did he have time for a reunion.
After the 2016 reunion, nothing happened. Gruff went back to his solo work. Cian went back to scoring films. Hello? Album 10?
Noel Gallagher strongly vetoed a reunion for the first two album's 20-year anniversaries in 2014 and 2015. But he did say he wouldn't mind writing music for Liam. And then Liam disappeared from music. Hello?
Eventually Das Koolies formed, the techno side project of the Super Furries. It was Huw Bunford, Cian Cíaran, Daf Ieuan and Guto Pryce. It was all the techno edge of the Furries, but the melody seemed missing. Someone was missing (LISTEN I love DK.01 very much, just let me make my point without killing me okay).
Liam returned to music. Came out with Coldplay. Soared. Got to Glastonbury. Led a singalong of Don't Look Back In Anger. But he wasn't singing it himself, it was the crowd. Someone was missing.
Noel, will you ever reform Oasis? No. Too much has been said. It's in the past. Gruff, do you ever see yourself going back to Super Furry Animals? No, I feel too old for that music.
How glad I am to say they were both wrong.
It was just about keeping the faith, keeping the disappointment at bay, and honestly just about falling in love with modern bands. What did I do while my faves were away? I became a huge Fontaines D.C. fan. That's what I did.
