Noel Gallagher - Channel 4/T4 - 2nd July 2005

Part 1




Part 2

Noel Gallagher - Key 103/Manchester Evening News - 1st July 2005

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LAST night's City of Manchester stadium gig was a novel experience for Oasis star Noel Gallagher.

In an interview with Key 103 DJ Mike Toolan, minutes before the band played to thousands of hometown fans, the die-hard Manchester City fan revealed he had never seen the team play at the ground that has been their home since 2003.

Then Burnage-raised rock star went on to say, "I always go and see them get hammered in London."

Later on he tried to reaffirm his blue credentials by slamming the Manchester United fans who held Malcolm Glazer's family under siege at the ground on Wednesday night.

He said to Mike Toolan, "You're a Red, I can tell by that stupid look on your face. 500 million fans worldwide and many turned up to protest? 200. You're s*** you are, you're rubbish."

Gallagher described Manchester as the most stressful gig because of family and friends, before adding that the Eastlands show was more "international" than Mancunian.

The millionaire artist then admitted the Gallagher brothers snubbed Manchester in the run-up to the massive homecoming show and stayed in Liverpool instead.

He explained: "The bar always gets mobbed. Then you wake up the next day and you're checking out with someone saying, `you owe me £1700 on the bar bill', and you realise all the scallies put drinks on it - and we have got a lot of mates over in Liverpool."

The guitarist also claimed there was no way the band could have played Live 8 and dismissed suggestions they would let down fans by postponing gigs that clashed with the high-profile charity event, before throwing in a catty aside.

He said: "U2, Paul McCartney and Coldplay have all got gigs on the same night, but of course us not being as important as U2 or Coldplay. I just don't think it would have been possible to do it."

He then described Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin as a good friend, but "very, very, very weird."

The singer also revealed age has not mellowed him with some near-the-knuckle remarks about female celebrities. When asked whether asked if he would bed, marry or push off a cliff Hollywood hellraiser Courtney Love, he answered: "I would bludgeon her to death with a baseball bat and then knife her."

Gallagher has also lost none of his trademark bravado with the passing years. When asked if he was nervous before the gig, he replied: "Not really. Nerves suggest you're some kind of charlatan who can't pull it off. "

The self-styled hardman of indie rock dropped his macho guard a little towards the end of the interview, when asked if he had any unfulfilled ambitions, saying: "It would be nice to have a no 1 album in America", before grumbling "Americans need a "lot of attention - and we're not really that kind of band."