Noel Gallagher Talks About His Upcoming Teenage Cancer Trust Shows
Posted by Joseph Lee on 03.14.2013
He had a lot of people turn him down...
Noel Gallagher recently spoke with Shortlist about his upcoming Teenage Cancer Trust gigs, for which he is a curator. He took over for The Who's Roger Daltrey who will be on tour at the time. Here are highlights:
On booking a week's worth of shows: "Well, I did most of the work last year, because I was out at festivals, so I tapped most of the bands up then. But to go and knock on dressing room doors of some of the biggest bands in the world and ask if could they possibly [do it], would they be noble enough – it brought out a side I don't like."
On who turned him down: "I'd talk to Ed Sheeran and Mumford & Sons thinking, "I'll just f*cking do the seven nights myself; what the f*ck am I asking these people for?" And I got let down a lot. Everybody says yes to your face. Everybody. And then the agent will call, and their management will call and then their PR will call and say, "Ah, they're going to be in Australia at the time." Really? Well they never said that to me. What's interesting is all the working-class bands said yes straight off the bat, no f*cking inkling of when it was. The middle-class bands said yes and wriggled out of it. I dunno what that means, but it must mean something. It was an interesting summer. But I will say, if the people that blew me off but said they'll do it next year actually do it, it might be the greatest event since Woodstock. Symbolically we wanted to get Jake Bugg, because he's a teenager. And for a teenager to be helping teenagers would have been a massively symbolic moment, I think. But he can't do it because he's on tour. Metallica: they're another band who have promised to do it next year for the last couple of years, but we'll get them eventually. I know Lars: I call him from time to time and he texts me. He's a f*cking dude. He's a nutcase. I love him in Some Kind Of Monster and he's just exactly like that, but he's great. Of course, people always go "You and Lars? What the f*ck is all that about?" But I'm like, "Look man, he's my f*cking mate, leave him alone.'"
On sharing a night with Blur: "The idea was to get tickets on sale before Christmas, when people aren't skint. So we thought, "We need something that's a proper jaw-dropping bill." And then I thought, "Well, Blur have never done it, so I'll ask them." As luck would have it, I was on tour with Graham, so I asked him then. He said Blur had been put to bed for the time being, but he'd ask Damon. So I have Graham to thank for this. It was quite a moment when I got the call saying, "They're definitely going to do it." I wanted them to headline, with me going on [before them]. But I don't think they were comfortable with that, so the night before the announcement we switched the billing. I don't know what they're going to do, actually. I was speaking to Damon at the Brits and he was a bit coy, but he said it's going to be something "unique and special". I just think it will be one of those nights where people can say they were there."
