Breaking News

What's It Like To Be On The Road With Oasis?














What's it like to be on the road with Oasis? All these people know, so sit back and enjoy some of the best tour stories ever told.

Robbie Williams
Who: Fat dancer formerly of Take That
When: June 23-25, 1995
Where: Glastonbury
"I nicked 16 bottles of champagne from this do, stuck them in the back of this blacked-out Jag and arrived like a nonce at Glastonbury. I pulled up, saw Liam walking towards me and he goes, 'Take f**king what?' and I thought, 'Right, that'll do for me,' popped the hood and there's all this f**king champagne in there. I was at Glastonbury for a reason."

Liam Howlett, The Prodigy
Who: Liam Gallagher's old-rave brother-in-law
When: August 11, 1996
Where: Knebworth House, Hertfordshire
"I remember Liam popping his head out of the portakabin as we came of stage, shouting 'What the f**k was all that noise? Turn the f**king bass down!' Later he said the whole portakabin was shaking, so, y'know, we'd done our job properly..."

Tom Meighan, Kasabian
Who: Empirical party-starter
When: 2005-2006
Where: Various venues worldwide
"The best memory I've got of being on the road with Oasis, is the night of Liam's birthday when the midgets turned up. Suddenly the doors burst open and there were these midgets there. There were three of them and they just run in with this birthday cake, it was absolutely magical - mind you, we were all of our heads at the time, which made it even more special. I was on acid that night, it was fabulous - it was blowing my mind! I hugged one of them too! The other thing that springs to mind is playing football with Noel backstage at our gig at Ally Pally in 2006. The area looked awful, there was beer and piss everywhere and in the end people were playing with a crushed can, until someone kicked a ball over. It was like 20-odd a side at one point - I think Noel was playing on both sides!"

Richard Ashcroft, The Verve
Who: He casts no shadow
When: 1993-1997
Where: Various UK Venues
"The first time I saw them I went, 'This is amazing, this is bonkers!' They shifted the whole rock'n'roll thing almost overnight. I remember we played a gig with them down in Southend, and it was such a young audience, it was incredible. Noel loved the idea of us going on before them. It wasn't like a patronising thing. It was literally, like, 'Wow! I'd love to have The Verve on before us, playing to all these kids, 'cos it'll blow their minds.' Much later we played with them at Earl's Court, and that was like, 'Jesus, wow.' I'll always be thankful to Noel - he went out of his way to help us. It was just pure, like. We were genuinely his favourite band. He loved us, you know?"

Andy Burrows, Razorlight
Who: Anvil-jawed sticksman
When: December 10, 2005
Where: Millenium Stadium, Cardiff
"Noel walked past us onstage when we did our little bit. We got a Noel escort from the dressing room to the stage! Afterwards there were several aftershows. Johnny got invited to the Oasis one but I wasn't. I remember being at the bar talking to actor Ralf Little while Carl [Dalemo, bass] was passed out on the sofa. That was bizarre. I've only met Noel though - I don't want to meet Liam. I saw him in town the other day and it freaked me out. Don't meet your heroes!"

Steve Cradock, Ocean Colour Scene/Paul Weller
Who:
The Modfather's right hand man
When: 1995-1996
Where: Various UK and European venues
"We were playing a festival in Spain with Paul Weller and Oasis were on the bill. The gig wasn't that remarkable, but as we were leaving the site our tourbus was behind Oasis'. We were going over this bridge and suddenly there was this huge commotion. Liam had climbed out of the skylight on top of the bus and was standing on the roof, with no shirt on, draped in a Union Jack. That's Liam - he's a legend. There were some funny scenes at Knebworth too. Liam had been up all night and was driving this golf buggy about. Then he wouldn't do the soundtrack. At Knebworth! But the gigs were phenomenal."

Read this weeks copy of the NME for four pages of the best Oasis tour stories ever told.

Source: NME Magazine

No comments