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And Finally
Liam had to ask permission to sing Wonderwall at Olympics closing ceremony, says Noel Gallagher
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 16 August 2012
Noel Gallagher has said that his brother’s band Beady Eye had to get permission to perform Oasis song ‘Wonderwall’ at Sunday’s Olympics closing ceremony, it being a Noel original and all.
Speaking to Xfm, Noel said: “They had to re-record it and then send it to me. I did play a bit of cat and mouse with them for a few days – I took it til Friday night at ten o’clock before I said yes and they were shitting it. Not Beady Eye, the organisers. Because I had to say yeah and I was like: ‘Meh, it’s alright. I’m not sure with this new string arrangement’, and they were like: ‘Fuck! the gig’s on Sunday’, so I was like: ‘OK, alright, you can have it then'”.
He added that he turned down the opportunity to play the London 2012 finale himself, saying: “I was asked to do it a long time ago and, to be frank, they were being [too] secretive about it. I was like: ‘Who else is playing?’, and they were like: ‘We can’t tell you, you’ve got to sign a confidentiality agreement’ – it’s like it’s the Iran nuclear programme or something. I mean what do they think is going to happen? ITV are going to get hold of it and put on a gig the night before with the same bill?”
He continued: “[After that] they [said they] wanted me to do it acoustically and then they wanted me to mime. I’m all for miming in TV shows – I’m all for that – but if you’re in a stadium with 80,000 people and you’re pretending…? I can play live! One of the organisers, I said [to him:] ‘Why do you want me to mime?’ and he said: ‘It’s a big gig’. Really? I do this shit for a living! In the end, I was just like: ‘You know what I’d rather watch it on the telly'”.
According to The Guardian, Noel got another dig into Beady Eye’s performance at a War Child Benefit gig on Tuesday, dedicating his own performance of ‘Wonderwall’ to “Stratford’s finest Oasis tribute band”.
