Noel Gallagher says his “legs turned to jelly” while playing the first show of the Oasis reunion tour in Cardiff and has spoken about how much he “grossly underestimated” the scale of the shows.
Oasis concluded the first stage of their ongoing reunion tour in the UK and Ireland with two concerts in Dublin at the weekend. After less than a week off, they are due to begin the North American in Toronto on Sunday 24 August.
Speaking to talkSPORT hosts Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent in his first interview since the tour began in July, Noel said he was “completely blown away” by the audience’s reaction to the band.
“It’s difficult to put it into words, actually. Every night is the crowd’s first night, do you know what I mean? So every night's got that kind of same energy to it, but it’s been truly amazing. I’m not usually short for words, but I can’t really articulate it at the moment, to be honest,” he said.
“I can't speak for anyone else, but for me personally, I grossly underestimated what I was getting into. It was kind of, after about five minutes, I was like, ‘All right, can I just go back to the dressing room and start this again?’
“I’ve done stadiums before and all that, but I don’t mind telling you, my legs turned to jelly after about halfway through the second song and I could have done with going back and taking a minute, but it’s been an amazing thing.”
One of the defining bands of the Nineties, Oasis split up in 2009 after Noel quit the band at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, claiming he couldn’t work with his brother Liam “a day longer”.
Last year in August, the brothers appeared to have mended their longstanding rift and announced that they would join each other onstage for the Oasis Live 25 tour and play a string of shows through 2025.
The band started with shows in Cardiff, then performed to sold-out crowds at Heaton Park, Wembley Stadium, Murrayfield Stadium, and Croke Park. They will next be performing in Canada, the United States and Mexico, return to the UK for two more Wembley shows, and then conclude the tour with Asia-Pacific and South American runs.
On working again with Liam, Noel said it was “great” being back in the band with him.
“It’s great just to be back in, back with Bonehead and Liam and just be doing it again,” he said, referring to guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs.
“I guess when it's all said and done, we'll sit and reflect on it. But it’s great being back in the band with Liam. I forgot how funny he was.”
Noel joked that Liam’s voice sounded great because of “AI,” but ultimately said the frontman was “smashing it”.
“I’m proud of him. Having fronted a band for 16 years, I know how difficult that is,” Noel said, referring to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, which he started in 2010 after leaving Oasis. “I couldn’t do the stadium thing like he does it, it’s not in my nature. But I’ve got to say, I kind of look around and I think, good for you, mate. He's been amazing.”
To a question on what plans the band have after the tour ends and if the rumours are true that they will be playing Knebworth Festival next year, Noel chose not to answer by replying: “Right, let’s talk about football.”
Authorities are currently investigating reports that state up to 200 people were able to sneak into the concerts at Wembley Stadium without tickets.
Tickets sold out in hours when they went on sale last year and the high demand resulted in a surge in ticket prices and a row over Ticketmaster’s so-called “dynamic pricing”, which the company denied using.
Reports now state that some concertgoers paid £350 each to be smuggled into Wembley through a disabled entrance across the five gigs, allegedly using copies of the same ticket to get through security.
A Wembley Stadium spokesperson said in a statement: “Entering Wembley Stadium without a ticket is a serious offence and we are investigating these allegations.
“If they are substantiated, we will refer our evidence to the police.”
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