The incident upset Noel to such an extent he temporarily quit the band and flew to San Francisco (it was from this incident the song "Talk Tonight" was written). He was tracked down by Creation's Tim Abbot and they made a trip to Las Vegas. Once there, the elder Gallagher was persuaded to continue with the band. He reconciled with Liam and the tour resumed in Minneapolis. The group followed up with the fourth single from Definitely Maybe, "Cigarettes & Alcohol", and the Christmas single "Whatever", issued in December 1994 which entered the British charts at number three.
Noel Gallagher - Talk Tonight (Subtitulado) Live At The O2 Arena, London [HD]
Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcohol (Official HD Remastered Video)
Liam Gallagher - Whatever (Live 2018)
1995–1996: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, international success, and peak popularity
Oasis had their first UK number one single in April 1995 with "Some Might Say", at the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band. McCarroll said, on leaving Oasis, that he was "unlawfully expelled from the partnership" for what he called a "personality clash" with the brothers. The Gallaghers, on the other hand, doubted McCarroll's musical ability, with Noel saying: "I like Tony as a geezer but he wouldn't have been able to drum the new songs". McCarroll was replaced by Alan White formerly of Starclub and younger brother of renowned studio percussionist Steve White and recommended to Noel by Paul Weller. White made his debut for the band at a Top of the Pops performance of "Some Might Say". Oasis began recording material for their second album in May of that year in Rockfield Studios near Monmouth. The band, by this point, had recorded the concert that would see release in August as Live by the Sea.
Oasis - Morning Glory (Official HD Remastered Video)
Rockfield studios was where The Stone Roses recorded their last material for 20 years
Rockfield Studios was an oasis of piece and tranquillity - until Oasis the band showed up
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What's the story?
Manchester Britpop heroes Oasis were trying - and failing - to master their debut album Definitely Maybe there.
During their sojourn, (Temporary stay) frontman Liam Gallagher pinched the owner's combine harvester and crossed the fields to spy on the Roses at Rockfield. Oasis eventually finished their first album in Cornwall, but returned to Monmouth to record what would become some of their most celebrated anthems at Rockfield.
The Wurzels ORIGINAL PROMO FILM "Combine Harvester" No1 June 12th 1976
Liam remembered the good old times when Oasis were recording the "Definitely Maybe" album back in the 1990s in Monmouthshire, South Wales. And, according to Liam, he and Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs heard that The Stone Roses were recording their new music not that far away.
So what's the next logical step for Liam and Bonehead? Jumping into a combine harvester and paying Stone Roses a visit. Here's the excerpt from the interview – no one can tell the story better than Liam.
"We went to have a fucking little snoop. It was, 'Right, what the fuck are they up to?' as they hadn't been doing anything for three years.
"I'm on about a proper combine harvester — ones you've got to get a ladder up to and it's miles up. Off we fucking go, crawling down the road with the big fucking lights on. It looked bonkers.
"We drove it in, turned the lights off, and rolled out like something out of The Professionals. We could hear some fucking bassline and drums. We got caught, we went in and had a little chat.
"We might have had a spliff and that and then we fucking fucked off."
As Liam explains, The Stone Roses had to return the favor:
"Next night they came over on a tractor. We were in bed."
Seems like the 1990s were fun.
During this period, the British press seized upon a supposed rivalry between Oasis and Britpop band Blur. Previously, Oasis did not associate themselves with the Britpop movement and were not invited to perform on the BBC's Britpop Now programme introduced by Blur singer Damon Albarn. On 14 August 1995, Blur and Oasis released singles on the same day, setting up the "Battle of Britpop" that dominated the national news. Blur's "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll with It" 274,000 copies to 216,000 during the week. Oasis' management came up with several reasons for this, claiming "Country House" sold more because it was less expensive (£1.99 vs £3.99) and because there were two versions of "Country House" with different B-sides, forcing serious fans to buy two copies. An alternative explanation given at the time by Creation was that there were problems associated with the barcode on the "Roll with It" single case, which did not record all sales. Noel Gallagher told The Observer in September that he hoped members of Blur would "catch AIDS and die", which caused a media furore. He apologised in a formal letter to various publications.
(Click image above for website link) The Rise and Fall of Britpop – British Music in the 90’s and it’s last musical movement…
McGuigan briefly left the band in September 1995, citing nervous exhaustion. He was replaced by Scott McLeod, formerly of the Ya Ya's, who was featured on some of the tour dates as well as in the "Wonderwall" video before leaving abruptly while on tour in the US. McLeod contacted Noel Gallagher claiming he felt he had made the wrong decision. Gallagher replied: "I think you have too. Good luck signing on". To complete the tour, McGuigan was persuaded to return to the band.
Blur - Country House
Oasis - Roll With It (Official HD Remastered Video)
Scott McLeod
The YAYAS were a 1990's band, well documented in British music culture, as being one of the cities finest acts of the time.
Although a softer sound initially led to mixed reviews, Oasis' second album, (What's the story) Morning Glory?, was a worldwide commercial success, selling over four million copies and becoming the fifth-best-selling album in UK chart history. By 2008, it had sold up to 22 million units in the world, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. The album spawned two further hit singles, "Wonderwall" and Don't Look Back in Anger", which reached numbers two and one respectively. It also contained the non-UK single "Champagne Supernova", which featured guitar and backing vocals by Paul Weller and received critical acclaim. The song reached number one on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. In November 1995, Oasis played on back-to-back nights at Earls Court in London, the biggest ever indoor gigs in Europe at the time.
Oasis - Wonderwall (Official Video)
Oasis - Don’t Look Back In Anger (Official Video)
Oasis - Champagne Supernova (Official Video)
Paul Weller
Earls Court was genius because Oasis were doing stadium performances on pure instinct. Earls Court was just after the release of Morning Glory. It was pure hedonism.
Original Oasis concert ticket
Oasis Earls Court 1995 remastered full 1080P 60FPS
Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, originally opened in 1887, with an art moderne structure built between 1935 and 1937 by specialist American architect C. Howard Crane. With the active support of London Mayor Boris Johnson, in an attempt to create Europe's "largest regeneration scheme", its proposed heritage listing was refused after it was acquired by developers, who promptly in 2008 applied for and were granted a Certificate of Immunity from Listing by English Heritage, and its demolition was duly completed in 2017. The area has since returned to its former state of "waste ground" only with an adjacent devastated Green Corridor.
Oasis staged the two biggest ever indoor gigs at the time in Europe, at a specially expanded Earls Court. Between 28th May and 1st June 2002, On the night of 12 October 1994, Pink Floyd were scheduled to begin a 14-night residency of the venue as part of The Division Bell Tour. During their opening song, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" a section of seating, containing 1,200 attendees, collapsed, injuring 90 people with no fatalities. The show was immediately cancelled and rescheduled for 17th October.
On 11, 12, 14 and 15 December 1999, the Spice Girls performed Christmas in Spiceworld Tour. While dismantling the stage on 16th December, a worker died from falling more than 80 ft.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Full Length: Parts I - IX) - Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd Album - The Division Bell
The central area of the main hall concealed a massive pool area, formerly used for the London Boat Show which was held annually from 1960 until 2003. Earls Court was one of the most popular arenas to play in the UK, with a capacity of around 19,000 including standing room, meaning it was often chosen over other venues by bands with a large fan base. Slade and David Bowie were the first rock acts to play there, in 1973. Irish vocal pop band Westlife held concerts as part of their World of Our Own Tour supporting their album World of Our Own.
Great Wheel 1894 - Earls Court London
As their career reached its zenith, Oasis performed to 80,000 people over two nights at Balloch Country Park at Loch Lomond in Scotland on 3 and 4 August, before back-to-back concerts at Knebworth House on 10 and 11 August. The band sold out both shows within minutes. The audience of 125,000 people each night (2.5 million people applied for tickets, and 250,000 were actually sold, meaning the possibility of 20 sold out nights) was a record-breaking number for an outdoor concert held in the UK and remains the largest demand for a show in British history. Oasis were due to record an episode of MTV Unplugged at the Royal Festival Hall but Liam pulled out, citing a sore throat. He watched the performance from a balcony with beer and cigarettes, heckling Noel's singing between songs. Four days later the group left for a tour of American arenas but Liam refused to go; the band decided to continue the tour with Noel on vocals. Liam rejoined the tour on 30 August and on 4 September 1996, Oasis performed "Champagne Supernova" at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Liam made gestures at Noel during his guitar solo, then spat beer all over the stage before storming off. A few weeks later Noel flew home without the band, who followed on another flight. This event prompted media speculation that the group were splitting up. The brothers soon reconciled and decided to complete the tour.
Oasis - Live in Loch Lomond (4th August 1996)
The crowd on August 3 1996 (Image: Media Scotland)
The Gallagher brothers on stage (Image: Media Scotland)
Liam Gallagher
8/04/2021 Updated 4th Aug 2021..By" Gregor Kyle...It was arguably the biggest single gig of the nineties, attended by 80,000 fans. Picture this iconic moment in Britpop; Oasis at the peak of their powers, performing on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond. August 1996, some 25 years ago, one of the defining gigs of the nineties in Scotland, and perhaps across the whole of the UK. Thousands packed onto trains from Glasgow with their carryouts clinking, making their way to Balloch for a moment decades on they'd be able to look back and say - 'I was there'. Aged 18, I was one of the 80,000, donning a Kappa raincoat, desperately trying to pull off a hairstyle that made me look more like Dudley Moore than the Liam Gallagher. Many of the thousands who descended out of the city were dressed in a similar style as myself, falling out of trains onto a packed platform and marching through the town to the site. Some residents had complained about the gigs, they fought to have their licence revoked. In the end, this little town of 5,000 had to roll with it, accepting that there was very little they could do about the invasion. I'll admit that my own memories of the day are just a little bit hazy. I remember a couple of the support acts, Black Grape and Cast. I have vague memories of not particularly liking the Bootleg Beatles. The setting itself was spectacular, the site giant with the stage sitting at the bottom of a slope. I remember there was one particularly large tree sitting in the middle, towards the back. That's where one friend of mine awoke around midnight, having gone for an afternoon nap and slept through the entire show, even the fireworks that followed. I can also remember songs, Colombia, which glancing back over the set list, was the opener and also Supersonic and Slide Away.
An aerial view of the huge crowd when Oasis performed on the banks of Loch Lomond..
A glance back at the clippings brings back other not so warm memories, the bottle 'fight' and people staggering through mounds of rubbish on the way out, way way past the point of no return. I had my own regrets as well, ones really not worth revisiting today. More than two decades on, what has stuck with me is the 'feeling', the sense that we were all taking part in something special. This wasn't a festival, attended by thousands of fans there to see different bands. It was a one off, one of the biggest single live events to be put in Scotland that showed just how big Oasis were at that time. And in the years that followed, as the Britpop bubble burst and the band imploded, you knew there would never be anything like it again. Oasis played a number of big open air shows, Knebworth in England taking place just weeks after the Loch Lomond gig, which sold out on the first day of sales. An aerial view of the site shows the scale of the event. The main stage sits in front of the loch, with the VIP area to the right and beer tents dotted around. There was always an element of uncertainty about their shows, the band were prone to the odd strop and walk off as fans in Glasgow at their SECC gig would later learn.
There were no such scenes in Balloch although the rehearsals were marked by a tragic accident, when lorry driver James Hunter, who was working there, died when he was trapped between a lorry and forklift truck. "We are devastated that this has happened," said the band at the time. "Our only thoughts are with his loved-ones." It might seem hard to believe now but in 1996 these men were style icons. The site was cleared within days of the gig. Not even a single empty bottle of lemon Hooch remained. Despite all the concerns from locals the concert went well with very few complaints afterwards.
Oasis toured in 2008 - Oasis start the US tour tonight at the Oakland Arena, Oakland. The tour then moves to the following US cities.
04.12.2008: Los Angeles - Staples Center
06.12.2008: Las Vegas - The Pearl
08.12.2008: Denver - Broomfield Events Cener
10.12.2008: Minneapolis - Target Center
12.12.2008: Chicago - Allstate Arena
13.12.2008: Detroit - Palace Of Auburn Hills
17.12.2008: New York - Madison Square Gardens
19.12.2008: Camden - Susquehanna Center
20.12.2008: Washington - GMU Patriot Center
Oasis - MTV Unplugged 23.08.96 *Remastered*
Interior - Radio City Hall - New York City
Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being Center Theatre. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the Music Hall to bankruptcy. Radio City Music Hall was designated a New York City Landmark in May 1978, and the Music Hall was restored and allowed to remain open. The hall was extensively renovated in 1999. One of the more notable parts of the Music Hall is its large auditorium, which was the world's largest when the Hall first opened. The Music Hall also contains a variety of art. Although Radio City Music Hall was initially intended to host stage shows, it hosted performances in a film-and-stage-spectacle format through the 1970s, and was the site of several movie premieres. It now primarily hosts concerts, including by leading pop and rock musicians, and live stage shows such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. The Music Hall has also hosted televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the NFL Draft.
Mariah Carey
Pink Floyd played at the Music Hall on March 17, 1973. The Grateful Dead played eight shows over 9 days in October 1980, culminating on Halloween; two of the shows from this run were released as the video Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead. American new wave band Devo performed at Radio City Music Hall on October 31, 1981, during their New Traditionalists tour in the 1980's, Liberace grossed $2.5 million from fourteen performances with a combined audience of 82,000, setting a box-office record for Radio City Music Hall at the time.[179] In 1986, the Norwegian group A-ha held two concerts there. Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett performed at the Music Hall as part of their Cheek to Cheek Tour on June 19–23, 2015. The pair also performed on August 3 (Bennett's 95th birthday) and August 5, 2021, for Bennett's farewell concerts. Adele also performed a one-night-only concert at the Music Hall, which was recorded on November 17, 2015, and broadcast on NBC on December 14, 2015. In addition, Britney Spears performed at the Hall for two sold-out shows as part of her Piece of Me Tour on July 23 and 24, 2018. Christina Aguilera performed there for two sold out nights as part of the Liberation tour on October 3 and 4, 2018. Mariah Carey performed to a sold-out crowd as part of her Caution World Tour on March 25, 2019.
Lady Gaga
Tony Bennett -Hanging up the mic … Tony Bennett. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Some might say that 95 is a decent age to call it a day. But Tony Bennett, who is retiring from live performance after more than eight decades in the business, is only doing so on strict doctors’ orders.
According to the singer’s son and manager, Danny, last week’s sold-out shows alongside Lady Gaga at Radio City Music Hall in New York will be his last. “There won’t be any additional concerts,” Danny Bennett told Variety. “This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is however doctors’ orders. His continued health is the most important part of this, and when Tony’s wife, Susan, heard the doctors she said, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Lady Gaga Tony Bennett
Lady Gaga: 'I tell Tony Bennett every day that he saved my life'
Earlier this year it was revealed that Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016; he has continued to perform live in the five years since. The singer was expected to appear at a handful more US dates later this year but these shows have now been cancelled. “It’s not the singing aspect but rather the traveling,” said Danny Bennett. “He gets tired. We don’t want him to fall on stage, for instance. We’re not worried about him being able to sing. We are worried, from a physical standpoint … about human nature. Tony’s 95.”” This doesn’t mean the end of Bennett’s working life, and there are already releases in the pipeline. An album with Lady Gaga, Love For Sale, is due in October and will comprise of covers of Cole Porter songs. The two won a Grammy for the 2014 collaboration Cheek to Cheek.
Adele performs at Radio City Music Hall on Nov. 17, 2015 in New York City.
Virginia Sherwood—NBC
Promotional image used by Radio City Music Hall on their social media for the Britney Spears Piece of Me Tour two night sold out show on July 23rd and 24th
It's Britney Bitch! The legendary Ms. Britney Spears brought her Piece of Me Las Vegas show on tour this summer and did a two night, sold out engagement at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in New York City!
As soon as I heard that the Piece of Me show was coming to Radio City Music hall I got tickets ASAP! As you know Radio City Music Hall is the exact location that Britney performed many of her iconic MTV VMA moments. During the show Britney reminded the audience that the last time she was on the Radio City Music Hall stage she kissed Madonna! YOUR. FAVES. COULD. NEVER!
One of the most iconic moments in pop culture history took place on the Radio City Music Hall stage during the 2003 MTV VMAs when Britney and Madonna kissed during the opening performance. The moment made headlines around the world.
Christina Aguilera said she didn't realize her kiss had been cut out of the airing until the next day, saying: I definitely saw the newspaper the next day and it was like, 'Oh, well I guess I got left out of that one. Scott Gries / Getty Images
1996–1999: Be Here Now and The Masterplan
Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at Abbey Road Studios in London and Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey recording their third album. Quarrels between the Gallagher brothers plagued the recording sessions. Be Here Now was released in August 1997. Preceded by the UK number one single "D'You Know What I Mean?", the album was their most anticipated effort, and as such became the subject of considerable media attention. Footage of excited fans clutching copies made ITV News at Ten, leading anchorman Trevor McDonald to intone the band’s phrase "mad for it". By the end of the first day of release, Be Here Now had sold 424,000 units and first week sales reached 696,000, making it the fastest-selling album in British history until Adele released 25 in 2015. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in the US, but its first week sales of 152,000—below expected sales of 400,000 copies—were considered a disappointment. Predominantly written by Noel Gallagher during a holiday with Kate Moss, Johnny Depp and Mick Jaguar, Gallagher has since expressed regret over the writing process of Be Here Now, adding it doesn't match up to the standard of the band's first two albums;
Jill Furmanovsky recalls "I was asked to shoot a band session at Abbey Road, about a month after the media furore that was going on at the time. The band had cancelled their American tour due to a major Noel/Liam row and the papers were saying that they’d split up. But they hadn’t, so we needed some shots to show that they were still a working unit. We were going to do the shoot outside the studios by the wall of graffiti but Noel said “We’re not going to be Japanese tourists.” So we used the interior where they were about to record anyway."
Oasis - Location: Abbey Road Studios, London, UK Date: 17th October 1996
Jill Furmanovsky recalls 'Early in October 1996 fans found out that Oasis were recording in Abbey Road and the graffiti outside started showing Oasis content among the Beatles scribbles. I was photographing it when Liam arrived. He agreed to pose briefly outside the famous front door. It was as exciting for me as it was for them. I had been a huge Beatles fan as a teenager.'
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London Date: October 1996 - Noel Gallagher tuning his guitar on the floor of Studio Two, Abbey Road Studios during the recording sessions for Be Here Now in October 1996
Noel Gallagher whilst recording the Oasis album 'Be Here Now' in October 1996. Location: Abbey Road Studios, LondonDate: October, 1996
Noel Gallagher rehearsing in Studio Two at Abbey Road in October 1996 during the recordings for the Oasis album 'Be Here Now'
Studio Two in Abbey Road Studios, Liam Gallagher performing during a recording session for 'Be Here Now' in 1996
“It was a fantastice time…” Billy (L) and Frank (R) Andrews at Ridge Farm. (Photo: Edward Girardet)
When some 30 police officers raided both Ridge Farm, one of England’s earliest rural rock recording studios, and the nearby Plough Pub, at 6.00 am in spring, 1982, they were hoping to bust what they thought was an international drug ring. The police had been doing clandestine surveillance of both establishments located just outside the small West Sussex village of Rusper. For days, too, undercover drug squad officers drank at the pub to observe its comings and goings.
But all they could find were traces of marijuana in an ashtray of the pub’s private quarters. At the farm some two kilometers away, they only secured small amounts of hash. Their meagre haul was not exactly what the police had expected, particularly given that certain well-heeled residents in this affluent part of England’s Stockbroker Belt with its gardened manors, manicured cottages and horse stables considered Ridge Farm to be a rock ‘n roll “den of iniquity’. After all, what else would these long-haired rock musicians from leading bands such as Queen, Bad Company, Roxy Music and Black Sabbath be doing in the depths of rural Albion?
The Plough was particularly well-known. Most evenings it would attract crowds with the knowledge that pop stars regularly turned up from Ridge Farm to drink, relax and show off. Ozzy Ozbourne, who was then with his newly-formed band Blizzard of Oz, was renowned for his heavy drinking, but also for his magnanimousness by standing drinks for anyone who happened to be there. “He was very popular and liked to stick his whole face into a glass of beer. People found that very funny, but not too happy when he pissed outside. A very nice guy though,” recalls Billy Andrews, who, together with his brother Frank, had set up Ridge Farm as a creative retreat for rock groups.
Freddie Mercury with a cuppa at Ridge Farm. (Photo: Ridge Farm archive)
The local Establishment was never too keen
“There was a real atmosphere of freedom and happiness,” notes Frank, who, with his shoulder-length grey hair, looks as if he has just been transported into the present as an older version of a late 1960s younger self. “Sure, there were drugs, but it was all pretty low-key, or it was all behind the scenes even if some really wild things did go on.“ For the two brothers, it was clear that some of the local ‘pommy’ Establishment didn’t like what was happening and probably reported them to the police. Fortunately, at the time of the raid there was no band at Ridge Farm and is probably why the police did not find anything egregious.
Billy, however, who is now 65 and the more effusive of the two brothers, was fined 40 pounds for the remains of a joint in the pub, which was run by his mother. Disappointed, the police blocked the renewal of The Plough’s alcohol license, a decidedly underhand move which eventually forced the family to sell the establishment. “This was a pity because the pub had just won the Egon Ronay Cheese Pub of the Year Award for the whole of England,” explains Frank wistfully. At the time, the Egon Ronay Food Guide, which is now run by the Royal Automobile Society, was widely renowned for its good taste and responsible for significantly raising the quality of British restaurant food from a broadly mediocre base.
As for Ridge Farm, the police charged their father, John Andrews, the Cambridge-educated Chief Engineer of the National Coal Board, with being the mastermind behind the supposed drug ring. It took several years for the father to clear his name. Nevertheless, the tension created led to the departure in 1983 of Billy, leaving Frank to continue developing Ridge Farm into one of Britain’s most important countryside production and recording locations for leading bands, including Oasis, Roxy Music, Pearl Jam, Bad Company, OMD and Wet Wet Wet.
Roxy Music disc plaque at Ridge Farm. (Photo: Edward Girardet)
This continued until the early 2000s. But by then, the record business had changed. Major companies preferred that their protégés use their own establishments in London or Los Angeles rather than disappear into the rural outback. Furthermore, given Ridge Farm’s success, other entrepreneurs had set up their own recording studios. The last musician to record at Ridge was Joe Jackson, a British performer and songwriter, in 2002.
British performer Joe Jackson..
Secluded and rustic: a most unlikely rock centre
Located in a quiet, out-of-the-way rural setting with 16th century converted farm buildings, swimming pool, tennis court and sprawling woodland garden, basically, the romantic English country idyll, Ridge farm now operates as a much sought-after location for weddings, birthdays, business meetings and other events. Its corridors are lined with best-selling disc awards for the Ridge Farm bands and other memorabilia, such as the same croquet set that Queen used. Or the kitchen where the staff catered meals for the bands; some of them sometimes cooked for themselves or at least made tea. More recently, the Farm has attracted nostalgia aficionados, particularly from China and Japan, wishing to see where Freddy Mercury played tennis or the Gallagher brothers of Oasis sat around producing – and arguing.
Location: Portland Place, London Date: 1995 - Oasis group shot taken during a video shoot in London in 1995
“The idea of setting up a studio at the farm was obvious,” recalls Frank Andrews as we drink tea and eat baked potato in what used to be Ridge Farm’s main studio building. His brother Billy and two collaborators – both veteran music technicians who have been working on and off at Ridge Farm for decades – are chatting with us. “All these bands needed an out-of-the-way place to rehearse and to record…to get away from all the London distractions,” he adds.
The first band to come in 1975 – Ridge Farm’s launch year – was Back Street Crawler, an English-American rock band founded by former Free musician, Paul Kossoff. As Frank explains, they turned up with Ronnie Laine’s mobile recording unit. Laine, who died in 1997 of multiple sclerosis, was best known as a musician, producer and songwriter as well as a founding member of the British rock group The Small Faces – and later Faces. “It all took off right after that. The bands started coming.”
Despite their earlier dispute, Frank and Billy now regularly see each other. As we talk, both are eager to share their reminiscences of the studio’s heyday since the mid-1970s until well into the 90s. For three of their five kids, now in their twenties and also listening in the kitchen, this was the first time that they have heard some of these stories. “Of course, it was all very basic in the beginning…just a place to rehearse,” continues Frank, eyes sparkling at past memories.
(Left to Right) Brian May, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor of Queen at Ridge Farm with Andrews
family dog. (Photo: 5Fantastic e B&F)
Noel and Liam Gallagher take a break from recording in a pub near Abbey Road. Jill Furmanovsky recalls "The atmosphere between them had been tense in the preceding weeks, but Noel’s sympathetic support for Liam after a drugs bust helped heal the rift. From then on they worked harmoniously during the Be Here Now recording sessions." Date: 24th October 1996
Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody and the Ridge Farm piano
Frank’s main job was lighting technician for Queen, Rolling Stones, ABBA and other groups during their concert tours across the UK and Europe. “I would often be away for months on end,” he recalls. “It was a fantastic time…And there are lot of stories I’m not going to tell you,” he adds with an enigmatic smile. When Queen told him that they were looking for a place to get away, he suggested Ridge Farm.
Queen turned up for six weeks in 1975. At the time, the band was still relatively unknown, but in the process of exploding onto the scene. They were working on “Night at the Opera”, their fourth album. Frank had yet to install the studio’s state-of-the-art recording facilities, so the four band members only used the farm to write and compose their songs. They later travelled to Rockfield in Wales to record. The 2018 movie Bohemian Rhapsody, which profiles Freddy Mercury’s life, depicts Ridge Farm but another location was used for the filming.
The band lived in the main building with its irregular wooden staircases, uneven floors and secluded bedrooms, each one completely different. “There was very much a family atmosphere. It was all very informal with flared trousers, or in the case of Freddie, very short shorts and black-painted fingernails,” recalls Frank. “They played snooker and tennis – Freddie was really good at tennis. Or they went for swims in the indoor pool. They also loved our dog and were constantly playing with it.” Evenings they would all drive to the pub to chat and relax. “Some of the pommy clientele probably hid their daughters when the lads came in with their long hair and jeans,” adds Billy with a grin.
Location: Abbey Road London Date: October 1996 -
Guitars and equipment on display in Studio Two, Abbey Road during the recording sessions for the Oasis album 'Be Here Now'
Signed by Jill Furmanovsky
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Freddie Mercury (L) playing snooker with John Deacon. (Photo: Ridge Farm Archive)
Both brothers agree that Freddie was extremely quiet and shy, and very polite. For a musician later renowned for his ostentatious behaviour and for being gay, or at least bi-sexual, and who died of AIDS, Mercury also turned up with his girlfriend Mary. “Really not quite what you would expect, but clearly a very complex fellow,” he adds. Smiling, Billy nods in agreement. “Queen were exceptional.”
“Yeah, but Queen were very serious. Very professional. They worked hard,” interjects Frank. He points to the room next door, which still serves as a studio by one of the Andrews’ children. It is crammed with equipment, boxes and other items. Frank gestures to the piano. “I like to imagine that Freddie composed ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on it,” he muses. “In actual fact, he didn’t like our piano and had his own brought in, you know, the famous white one. But as far as we’re concerned, our piano was the inspirational one.”
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Establishing one of the UK’s leading musical retreats
As wild as many of these bands were, Frank understood the need to get away in order to rehearse and work on their songs. On return from one of these tours, he found that his parents had moved and no longer wished to live at the farm. So together with Billy, they proceeded to transform one of the old buildings into a studio. Several years later, once the Ridge Farm began to prove successful, Frank arranged to buy the farm off his parents.
From then onwards, Frank and Bill began to develop Ridge Farm into a musical retreat. This was before the two feuded. “A bit too much drinking and too many drugs,” admits Billy with a laugh. “I was a bit all over the place. There were also a lot of roadies around.”
Freddie Mercury and John Deacon of Queen at Ridge Farm with Andrews family dog. (Ridge Farm archive)
Consisting of several typical post-medieval main buildings and barns partially constructed from old ship lumber, Ridge Farm proved ideal. Not only did it offer both space and privacy, but it was also not far from London. Barely one hour’s drive and 30 minutes from Gatwick Airport. While the two brothers together with several other tour technicians created a studio, it was initially only for rehearsing, not recording. The bands had to bring their own mobile sound equipment. It was only much later that Frank set about building a state-of-the-art recording facility, the Ridge Farm Studio.
At the time, the idea of producing a rock album in the countryside was completely unique. The managers liked the concept because their bands could focus on getting the job done. “It was really a great location, a bit of traditional England and a complete contrast to their rock ‘n roll lives,” explains Frank, who continued touring with bands for another five years before focusing completely on the studio operation. “There was a lot of drinking and drugs. A lot of white powder with some of the bands getting pretty ripped. I would have died had I continued.”
During the 25 years that Ridge Farm functioned as one of England’s leading music retreats, numerous renowned musicians and bands passed through, some to work, others simply to party or to jam. “It was fantastic to think that we jammed with people like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Bad Company, or Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull,” says Billy, who plays the piano.
Pearl Jam. (Photo: Edward Girardet)
Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean? (Official HD Remastered Video)
“The bands could work however and whenever they liked,” Frank continues. “Sometimes you would turn up first thing in the morning and some of the band members would just be going to bed. Or, you’d have to go and wake them to drag them out of bed.” At the same time, he adds, “a lot of them were exceptionally serious musicians. They worked very intensely to create some incredibly epic, legendary music.”
Oasis, the highly influential English band from Manchester known for its feuding, drugs and bad behavior came to Ridge Farm in 1996 in a bid to find some peace and quiet in order to complete their third album, ‘Be Here Now.’ “They were also very serious about their music, but constantly bickering. There was a lot of shouting and swearing,” says Frank, with Billy nodding.
Mentioning band after band, or individual musicians whom they revered, the two of them recall the great or memorable moments of Ridge Farm of which there are clearly many. One of the most notable being the time when Sharon Aaron, Ozzy Osbourne’s then girlfriend and later wife, tossed his Rolex into the garden pond during one of their many arguments. “We had to come in with a metal detector. We looked really hard, but we never found it,” Frank says before pausing. “It could still be there.”
Entrance gate to Ridge Farm today. Little has changed….(Photo: Edward Girardet)
ITV News at 10 with Trevor Mcdonald
It is 55 years since News at Ten first aired on ITV.
The programme broke the mould with in-depth news reports, and quickly became one of the most-watched programmes on television.
One of its most famous features over the years is the 'And Finally' report.
Here we take a look back at some of the more memorable items used to close the programme.
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The hamster with a bus pass
When 11-year-old Wayne Bass from Birmingham hopped on board a bus with his school's pet hamster in a cage under his arm in 1995, the mean driver charged him 36p - and another 45p for the hamster.
Wayne was taking Sweep the hamster back to his school having looked after him for the weekend, but when bus company chiefs heard about the potential PR disaster, they moved quickly.
Not only was Wayne given a free travel card, but Sweep was issued with his own bus pass as well.
sherry drinking mice
Sherry drinking mice
My Funny Pet Hamster in Tayo The Little Bus Maze
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The woman who lived in Sainsbury's
Gloucestershire pensioner Eileen Halliday lived in the cottage she was born in.
Her grandfather had bought it a century earlier, and having already fought off attempts to build a bypass over it she wasn't moving for anyone.
So when Sainsbury's decided to put a supermarket next door in 1997, they had to build the car park around her.
Neighbours sold up, but despite huge offers, she stayed put, befriending the builders and getting Sainsbury's to repair her chimney and put in double glazing. She even opened the store once it was built.
On the 20th of July, 1982, sixteen horses and soldiers of the Queen’s Household Cavalry were travelling through Hyde Park en route to the Changing of the Guard when a nail bomb exploded in a parked car. The bomb, planted by members of the Irish Republican Army, killed seven horses and four soldiers and injured every remaining horse and soldier, as well as a number of civilians.
The most seriously injured of the surviving horses was Sefton, an Irish Draught/Thouroughbred who had been chosen for the Household Cavalry due to his colouring: black with four socks and a blaze. Sefton’s wounds were life-threatening and he was the first horse to be transported back to the army barracks, where it took almost ten hours of surgery to treat his 34 wounds, severed jugular vein and wounded left eye. With a 50/50 chance of survival, Sefton pulled through and became a British hero overnight. During the months of hospitalisation that followed, Sefton received bucketloads of get-well cards and mints. Donations totalling over £620,000 resulted in the construction of the Sefton Surgical Wing at the Royal Veterinary College. When he was again fit for riding, Sefton returned to duty, regularly walking past the very place where the bomb had detonated. Although cantankerous at times (his stable nickname was ‘Sharky’ thanks to his habit of biting!) he was such a level-headed horse that the trooper who was riding him when the bomb exploded remarked that thanks to Sefton’s competence, there was no chance of him being thrown. A few months later, Sefton was named Horse of the Year, receiving a standing ovation at the ceremony. He was also one of the first horses entered into the British Horse Society’s Hall of Fame, and the Sefton Award for outstanding contributions to equestrian safety is still awarded each year. Sefton’s media coverage and public appearances continued for years, but he was retired from service just two years after the bombing, at age 21. His last ceremonial outing was the Queen’s Birthday Parade in 1984, after which he lived out his days at the Horse Trust’s Home of Rest For Horses. Two of his friends in retirement Echo and Yeti, who were also wounded in the Hyde Park Bombings. Former Yard Manager, Shirley Abbott, said of them, ‘it was a joy to see such gentle animals enjoying the company of each other after such a horrific act of violence. With the care and expertise of our staff they were able to grow old together and live a long and peaceful life.’ A statue of Sefton now stands at the Royal Veterinary College to commemorate not just Sefton, but all animals who serve.
Sefton gives a friendly kiss to his handler and rider Sergeant Michael Pedersen after recovering from his injuries
TONY SAPIANO/REX FEATURES
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The couple who couldn't decide what to call their baby.
In 1961, News at Ten featured a couple who just couldn't decide what to call their baby daughter.
Within a few days of the birth, the couple decided to give the tot every single name they liked - all 139 of them. But it could have been worse, their original list stretched to 217.
Baby Names - Saturday Night Live
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Astronaut drops his tools in Space
Astronaut Who Lost Tool Bag Admits Mistake
Astronauts working on the International Space Station lost a tool bag when American astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper watched helplessly as the kit drifted away from her.
She was working on servicing the solar array system on the orbiting platform.
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The new tallest man in the world?
In 2009, ITV News Correspondent John Ray reported on the story of a former basketball player who looked set to inch his way into the record books.
Chinese doctors claimed at the time that at 8 foot 1 inch, Zhao Liang is the tallest man on earth.
Incredibly, both of his parents are of normal height.
The 30 Tallest People Ever
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Prince Charles turns 60
Twelve years ago, News at Ten presenter Mark Austin reported on a very special birthday party for Prince Charles.
A glittering dinner was held at Buckingham Palace - and a host of comedians put on a special performance for the heir to the throne.
HRH Prince Charles
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Tsunami dog rescued after three weeks at sea
The rescue of a dog off the coast of Japan after apparently surviving three weeks on a floating house roof at sea was one moment of comfort amidst so much loss and destruction.
'Ban' was discovered drifting on the house roof 1.8 kilometers from the coastal town of Kesennuma.
The dog then reunited with its amazed owner.
Dog rescued at sea in Japan
A DOG rescued from a roof drifting off Japan's north-east coast more than three weeks after the giant earthquake and tsunami has been reunited with her owner.
The owner recognised the dog from a television news report on the rescue on Friday.
Ban, the dog found floating on debris off Japan, is reunited with her owner.CREDIT:HIROTAKA YOSHIMOTO
Meanwhile, radiation several million times the legal limit has leaked into the sea in the past few days from Japan's tsunami-disabled nuclear plant, its operator says.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said yesterday that samples taken from seawater last weekend near one of the reactors contained 7.5 million times the legal limit for radioactive iodine. Two days later, that figure dropped to 5 million.
Other measurements several hundred metres away have declined, to levels about 1000 times the legal limit.
Releases of radioactive water into the ocean near Japan's stricken nuclear complex shouldn't pose a widespread danger to sea animals or people who might eat them because of dilution, experts say. ''It's a very large ocean,'' said William Burnett of Florida State University.
Close to the nuclear plant - less than 800 metres or so - sea creatures might be in danger of problems such as genetic mutations if the dumping goes on a long time, he said.
The female owner and the two-year-old dog, called Ban, had an emotional reunion at an animal care centre where she was being looked after.
''We'll never let go of her,'' the owner, who wished to remain anonymous, was quoted as saying by a centre official.
The dog was found by Japan's Coast Guard on a drifting roof 1.8 kilometres off Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst-hit areas on Japan's north-east coast.
The roof is believed to have been detached and washed out to sea by the retreating waters of the devastating tsunami, which hit the country on March 11 2011.
Ban jumped up and wagged her tail when her owner appeared, local media reported.
''I'm happy for the reunion, after they were separated by the disaster,'' said Toshiro Suzuki, head of the animal shelter.
He said the shelter was caring for 19 dogs and several cats separated from their owners after the tsunami.
And Finally..........
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Landfill search for the £4 million computer hard drive
LONDON — A British man who accidentally threw out a hard drive with a trove of bitcoin on it is once again urging local city officials to let him search for it in a landfill site. James Howells, a 35-year-old IT engineer from Newport, Wales, said he discarded the device while clearing out his house in 2013..He claims he had two identical laptop hard drives, and that he mistakenly put the one containing the cryptographic “private key” needed to access and spend his bitcoins in the trash. After all these years, Howells is still confident he’d be able to recover the bitcoin. Though the external part of the hard drive may be damaged and rusted, he believes the platter inside may still be intact. “There is a good chance the platter inside the drive is still intact,” he told CNBC. “Data recovery experts could then rebuild the drive or read the data directly from the platter.” Howells says he had 7,500 bitcoins which, at today’s prices, would be worth more than $280 million. He says the only way to regain access to it would be through the hard drive he threw in the trash eight years ago. But he needs permission from his local council to search a land fill site he believes contains the lost hardware. The landfill is not open to the public and trespassing would be considered a criminal offense.
Welsh IT worker James Howells wants to recover his laptop from a land fill site which he accidentally threw out into the trash..
Howells has offered to donate 25% of the haul — worth around $70.8 million — to a “Covid Relief Fund” for his home city if he manages to dig up the hard drive. He has also promised to fund the excavation project with the backing of an unnamed hedge fund. But the Newport City Council has so far rejected his requests to look through the landfill, citing environmental and funding concerns. And it doesn’t seem like local officials are about to budge anytime soon. “As far as I am aware they have already rejected the offer,” Howells said. “Without even having heard our plan of action or without being given a chance to present our mitigations to their concerns regarding the environment, it’s just a straight up ‘no’ every time.” A spokesperson for the council told CNBC it had been “contacted a number of times since 2013 about the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to contain bitcoins,” the first being “several months” after Howells first realized the drive had gone missing.
Finding the lost hard drive may prove to be a colossal task as it may lie under tons and tons of rubbish..
Johnny Depp, Noel Gallagher, Kate Moss & Meg Matthews, Q Magazine, 1996.
“The council has told Mr Howells on a number of occasions that excavation is not possible under our licencing permit and excavation itself would have a huge environmental impact on the surrounding area,” the council spokesperson said. “The cost of digging up the landfill, storing and treating the waste could run into millions of pounds — without any guarantee of either finding it or it still being in working order.” It’s not hard to imagine why Howells would want to salvage the equipment. Bitcoin prices have skyrocketed in the past few months, hitting an all-time high near $42,000 last week before pulling back sharply. The New York Times reported that a programmer in San Francisco has been locked out of 7,002 bitcoins — worth about $267.8 million today — because he forgot the password needed to unlock a small hard drive containing the private key to a digital wallet. Bitcoin’s network is decentralized, meaning it isn’t controlled by a single individual but a network of computers. Each transaction originates from a wallet which has a "private key." This is a digital signature and provides mathematical proof that the transaction has come from the owner of the wallet.
Liam Gallagher and Mick Jagger
Noel's words about the album..Be Here Now
In the studio it was great, and on the day it came out it was great. It was only when I got on tour that I was thinking, ‘It doesn’t fucking stand up.’ People are prepared to have stand-up rows with me in the street: ‘I fucking love that album!’ And I’m like, ‘Mate, look, I wrote the fucking thing. I know how much effort I put into it. It wasn’t that much.’
Noel had been ambivalent about the album in pre-release interviews, telling NME, "This record ain’t going to surprise many people," however there was nobody around him to echo his reservations. “Everyone’s going: ‘It’s brilliant!’” he later said. “And right towards the end, we’re doing the mixing and I’m thinking to myself: ‘Hmmm, I don’t know about this now.’” When the album was released Oasis were woven into Britain’s cultural fabric like no other band since the Beatles, and according to their former press officer Johnny Hopkins: "There were more hangers-on, constantly telling them they were the greatest thing. That tended to block out the critical voices." Dorian Lynskey writes, "If it couldn’t be Britpop’s zenith, then it must be the nadir. It can’t be just a collection of songs – some good, some bad, most too long, all insanely overproduced – but an emblem of the hubris before the fall, like a dictator’s statue pulled to the ground by a vengeful mob."
Noel Gallagher and Meg Matthews pose with friends outside their infamous party house, Supernova Heights Image:
Zed/Capital Pictures)
After the conclusion of the Be Here Now Tour in early 1998, amidst much media criticism, the group kept a low profile. Later in the year, Oasis released a compilation album of fourteen B-sides, The Masterplan. "The really interesting stuff from around that period is the B-sides. There's a lot more inspired music on the B-sides than there is on Be Here Now itself, I think," said Noel in an interview in 2008. It was during this time period that Noel lived at Supernova Heights in Belsize Park with his then wife Meg Matthews. Noel Gallagher lived at this property between 1997 and 1999 which was known for raucous celebrity parties with guests such as Kate Moss, Rhys Ifans, Lisa Moorish and fellow band The Charlatans, The house was eventually sold in 1999 to Davinia Taylor..
The Masterplan
Article written on 8th November 2019..
"If only Supernova Heights could speak," Noel Gallagher's ex-wife Meg Matthews said last month of the £8million Primrose Hill party pad they shared in Britpop's heyday.
Infamous for its bacchanalian excess, the north London home was the unofficial HQ of the hottest stars of the nineties, including Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Johnny Depp and Ronnie Wood.
"I remember Gwyneth Paltrow running in going, 'Look at my engagement ring from Brad Pitt.' I mean, there were all sorts of things going on," Meg told podcast White Wine Question Time in September.
But A-listers flashing their engagement rings is one of the more tame stories to have come out of the place, which played host to an almost-endless orgy of drink and drugs.
The fridge was stocked with lager, cranberry juice, more lager, half a jar of marmalade and a jug of gone-off Bloody Mary, according to one report. Steve Coogan was on the voicemail.
And the feral antics of Noel and his glitzy pack infuriated his well-to-do neighbours, who called police after one particularly riotous party.
Celebrating Noel's 30th birthday, officers found the heavily-refreshed Oasis star and a hoard of his mates crammed onto a coffee table screaming along to the Sex Pistols. “All my Pistols tracks, right, have been trashed in this house," Noel once bragged.
The property, pictured in 1997, was across the road from Jude Law and Sadie Frost's home (
Image:
FilmMagic)
"I’ve got a coffee table downstairs that holds about four ashtrays. There must have been 15 people on it and the police show up and we were going, 'And I wanna be anarchy'. ‘Excuse me, sir, could you turn the noise down?’ It’s the Pistols, man, you know what I mean?”
But while the boys were bad, Noel claimed the girls were even worse.
"Meg is hardcore, her and her f***ing girlfriends are worse than any bunch of guys I've ever been out with," he once said.
"I mean it, man. They are f***ing hardcore rock'n'roll women. They can be a bit scary when they're out, actually."
The Sex Pistols
Kitted out with sixties retro furniture, bespoke leather beds seventies toilets, psychedelic patterned carpets and one enormous fish tank, the address also housed many a showbiz lodger, including Kate Moss.
In 1997, Noel revealed how he tormented a group of unsuspecting fangirls who turned up wanting the supermodel's autograph.
"Kate Moss’d be staying here for a couple of weeks and I’ve got loads of shopping, so I’m trying to open the gate and there was these four girls, they’ve got these books and they’re going, ‘Can you get me Kate’s autograph?’" he told radio host Sean Rowley.
“You’re coming round ‘ere, to my ‘ouse, asking for supermodel’ autographs? You taking the piss, or what? Do you not want mine? Well, I’ll tell you what, you’re not going until you have mine. You’re having my autograph now!
"I ended up walking up the street going ‘C’mere! No, c’mere! Gimme the book! Gimme the book! ‘No, I don’t want your autograph.’ ‘Gimme me the book!'"
Hollyoaks actress Davinia Taylor also lived there for a period with then-partner Dave Gardner, and described how she'd pop across the road to Sadie Frost and Jude Law's place to get sozzled.
"I used to go to Sadie's in my pyjamas with a bottle of - actually, who am I kidding? - a box of wine!" she told The Times.
One time she was chilling at Supernova Heights when the doorbell whet at 3am. It was Liam Gallagher.
"He goes, ‘Thank God for this place. It’s like a church, it’s always open,"" she recalled.
"Crack open a bottle - I’ve got the new Oasis album to play you.'”
But by 1997, the bad times had started to outweigh the good.
Noel was suffering from crippling anxiety attacks and realised his drug-taking was "out of control".
Then an epiphany came on June 5, 1998. Waking up to watch Germany play Greece in the World Cup, he ignored the masses of unknown people rolling joints and racking up lines of cocaine around his house and sat down with a Pot Noodle instead.
Resolute in his desire to get clean, he sold the house to Davinia and Dave - who sold it to David Walliams in 2005 - and headed off to Thailand for a month with Meg.
When they arrived back, they moved to the country and took the phone off the hook. Noel was done with drugs and done with his mates.
Meg and Noel co-parented despite divorcing in 2001Credit: Bruce Fesericks
1999–2001: Line-up change and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
In early 1999, the band began work on their fourth studio album. First details were announced in February, with Mark Stent revealed to be taking a co-producing role. Things were not going well and the shock departure of founding member Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs was announced in August. This departure was reported at the time as amicable, with Noel stating Arthurs wanted to spend more time with his family. Arthurs' statement clarified his leaving as "to concentrate on other things". However, Noel has since offered a contradicting version: that a series of violations of Noel's "no drink or drugs" policy (imposed by Noel so that Liam could sing properly) for the album's sessions resulted in a confrontation between the two. Two weeks later the departure of bassist Paul McGuigan was announced. The Gallagher brothers held a press conference shortly thereafter, in which they assured reporters that "the future of Oasis is secure. The story and the glory will go on." The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Bonehead's guitar and McGuigan's bass parts.
He wrote 2000's Where Did It All Go Wrong about that friendship group, admitting he took a time out for "five or six years".
"We've since all re-acquainted and become friends again. We were all too up in each other's faces 24 hours a day," he said.
So does he have any regrets about creating one of the most infamous party houses of the decade?
"I can look back on it and say it was a good time, but I made some fundamental mistakes in my life," he told the Guardian.
"Getting so involved in that circle of people. Letting my house turn into a nightclub."
Meg says people saw a woman who was married to Noel, shopping and drinking - but no one knew the real herCredit: Getty - Contributor
MARK ‘SPIKE’ STENT
Mixer / Producer
After the completion of the recording sessions, the band began searching for replacement members. The first new member to be announced was new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer, formerly of Heavy Stereo, who later claimed to have been approached by Noel Gallagher only a couple of days after Arthurs' departure was publicly announced. Finding a replacement bassist took more time and effort: the band were rehearsing with David Potts, but he quickly resigned, and they brought in Andy Bell, former guitarist/songwriter of Ride and Hurricane#1 as their new bassist. Bell had never played bass before and had to learn to play it (with Noel since saying, "I was amazed that Andy was up for actually playing the bass y’know, cos he’s such a good guitarist"), along with a handful of songs from Oasis' back catalogue, in preparation for a scheduled US tour in December 1999.
Andy Bell: ‘Oasis definitely did change my life when I first heard them’
13/10/2015
Andy Bell is currently touring Uk with is reformed band, Ride. Speaking to Music Radar, the former Oasis’ member, who replaced the original band’s bassist Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan in 1999 and also played guitar in Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis band Beady Eye, expressed all his gratitude to the mancunian group.
Article written November 03, 2015 by Matt Frost - Total Guitar
Back in the early 90s, it seemed that youthful Oxford four-piece Ride had a huge future ahead of them and were on course to become one of indie’s big hopes for the new decade.
The group’s early sound was dominated by the oft-ethereal effects-heavy attack of Andy Bell and Mark Gardener’s guitars, ingeniously fused with their hook-laden 60s vocal melodies and the solid grooves of drummer Loz Colbert and bassist Steve Queralt.
Rides’s early sound was dominated by the oft-ethereal effects-heavy attack of Andy Bell and Mark Gardener’s guitars
Along with the likes of Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Moose and Lush, Ride were lumped into the ‘shoegazing’ scene by the British music press, who invented the term for non-confrontational bands that spent a fair amount of time staring at the floor and/or their pedalboards during gigs.
In recent years, shoegaze has of course once again come into common (although decidedly more positive!) parlance, with contemporary acts citing Ride and others of that era as an important influence.
Ride’s first two classic albums, Nowhere (1990) and Going Blank Again (1992) on Creation Records, peaked at number 11 and five respectively in the UK charts. But, after two more conventionally rock records, the guys sadly parted ways in 1995, with Andy going on to form Hurricane #1, before joining Oasis on bass and then moving back to guitar in Beady Eye with Gem Archer and Liam Gallagher in 2009.
However, in November 2014 it was announced that Ride were to reform after 20 years apart. The first tour, in April and May of this year, met with rapturous receptions and critical acclaim.
He said: “Oasis definitely did change my life when I first heard them! They were like a breath of fresh air. To put it into context, Ride were working on the third album, ‘Carnival of Light’, and we were taking a bit of a break. We were starting to get a bit frayed at the edges and we were starting to pull in different directions musically, too. We were really shooting for a kind of West Coast Byrdsy California sound mixed with a little bit of Led Zeppelin and a little bit of classic rock. I think we were also subconsciously trying to make a cleaner record, because we’d stopped getting played on the radio … but then along comes Oasis sounding like the Jesus and Mary Chain meets the Sex Pistols and just completely blew everything out of the water!”
About Noel Gallagher he added: “I just want to say that I think Noel’s really underrated as a lead guitar player. His playing is like a John Squire-y thing, but there’s a lot more muscle behind it. He kind of trademarked his own style, which has become something that everyone uses now – that massively overdriven sound with quite a lot of delay on it. [His playing] just sounded epic”.
Oasis - Go Let It Out (Official Video)
Oasis - Sunday Morning Call (Official Video)
With the folding of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, which released all of Oasis' subsequent records in the UK and Ireland. Oasis' fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in February 2000 to good first-week sales. It reached number one on the British charts and peaked at number 24 on the Billboard charts. Four singles were released from the album: "Go Let It Out". "Who Feels Love?", "Sunday Morning Call" and "Where Did It All Go Wrong?", which the first three were top five UK singles. The "Go Let It Out" music video was shot before Bell joined the group and therefore featured the unusual line-up of Liam on rhythm guitar, Archer on lead guitar and Noel on bass. With the departure of the founding members, the band made several small changes to their image and sound. The cover featured a new "Oasis" logo, designed by Gem Archer, and the album was also the first Oasis release to include a song written by Liam Gallagher, entitled "Little James". The songs also had more experimental, psychedelic influences. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants received lukewarm reviews and sales slumped in its second week of release in the US.
IT is exactly 21 years since Bolton hosted two concerts by Manchester music legends Oasis who arrived at the then Reebok Stadium for one of the biggest live events ever staged in the borough. More than 70,000 fans watched the band over two nights at the home of Bolton
Wanderers as the Gallagher brothers opened the UK leg of their world tour with the band's first gig on home soil for over two years.
The first of two sold-out concerts on July 15 2000 was only the second to feature Noel Gallagher after he quit overseas touring duties with the group earlier in the year after a row with brother Liam in Barcelona.
The period leading up to the gigs marked a hugely fraught time in the notoriously unstable band: founding members Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul McGuigan had left the previous year with new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer, formerly of Heavy Stereo, and bassist Andy Bell, ex of Ride and Hurricane #1 joining the new look line up.
With the departure of the founding members, the band made several small changes to their image and sound, with their new album, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, the first Oasis release to include a song written by Liam Gallagher, while other songs also had more experimental, psychedelic influences. Despite this the band's fourth album received lukewarm reviews and remains the Oasis' lowest selling studio LP.
The gig itself was played in a highly charged atmosphere with the Bolton Evening News reporting that "more than four hours before the band were actually due to perform, hundreds of fans had crushed themselves in front of the stage.
"Dozens of others remained outside the stadium perfecting their Liam-type swagger or playing impromptu football among the hot-dog stands."
Support came from the Happy Mondays, along with the Mancunian debut of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr's new outfit The Healers.
As Oasis walked on to the stage, a crush developed at the front as some people fell over. Security intervened to rectify the situation immediately and the band themselves urged the crowd to be careful. Noel shouted: “If anyone falls over next to you, make sure you pick them up. It’s just polite. We don’t want anyone dying before they’ve bought a f***ing T-shirt on the way out,” before adding, “Tell you what, though, whoever’s in charge of security out front’s getting sacked.”
The band also stopped playing at one after a fan climbed a huge speaker stack, prompting a Liam to shout: “Am I everyone’s dad here or what? Oi, Elvis, get down off them speakers!”
The NME reported that "at various points, gangs of men were heard to chant 'No surrender to the IRA' and shower the singer with cries of 'Heil Liam'.
But otherwise, the two-hour greatest hits set passed without trouble, weighted in favour of earlier material, as well as Noel‘s regular cover of Neil Young‘s Hey, Hey, My, My (Out Of The Blue).
Despite the problems our reviewer wrote: "Nobody was ever in danger of being hurt and there was little trouble of note.
"The Oasis experience was certainly one of the biggest events to ever hit Bolton and will hopefully lead the way for more bands to also appear at the Reebok.
"The crowds left feeling happy and hoarse after singing to all their favourite songs and hopefully the residents of Lostock and Horwich were not too disturbed by the hundreds of Liam lookalikes on the loose."
Setlist: Go Let It Out, Who Feels Love?, Supersonic, Shakermaker, Acquiesce, Step Out, Gas Panic!, Roll With It, Stand by Me, Wonderwall, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Don't Look Back in Anger, Live Forever
Encore: Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover), Champagne Supernova, Rock 'n' Roll Star
To support the record the band staged an eventful world tour. While touring in Barcelona in 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a gig when an attack of tendinitis caused Alan White's arm to seize up, and the band spent the night drinking instead. After a row between the two brothers, Noel declared he was quitting touring overseas altogether, and Oasis were supposed to finish the tour without him. Noel eventually returned for the Irish and British legs of the tour, which included two major shows at Wembley Stadium. Alive album of the first show, called Familiar to Millions, was released in late 2000 to mixed reviews.
Oasis - Liam Gallagher Reebok Stadium in Bolton 2000
Liam Gallagher Wembley Stadium 2000
2001–2003: Heathen Chemistry
The bands two concerts at Wembley were the most eagerly anticipated shows of the summer and proved to be incredible highlights of what had been the bands most well attended and successful world tour ever.
The sold out Wembley shows were a rock'n'roll triumph with unprecedented atmosphere, 70,000 people each night captivated by the bands every move and blown away by the scorching sound and stunning imagery. I have this gig on DVD this is Britain's finest rock'n'roll band at the peak of their form.
The DVD includes an exclusive documentary, multi-camera angles on cigarettes & alcohol, 4 short films taken from the oasis stage production and a full discography with audio clips. The gig features all their best tracks and a Neil Young cover of 'hey hey, my my'. The 'familiar to millions' CD also features a cover version of The Beatles song 'helter skelter' which was recorded somewhere in the states.
The documentary is a build-up to the gig following large crowds of loyal oasis fans travelling to the gig and watching their every move. It consists of mostly fighting outside the stadium and people making fun of police officers which I find very very funny. All the fans featured in this DVD are most definitely MAD FER IT as Noel or Liam would say.
The documentary also shows views right inside the stadium during the gig. It shows the gig being filmed and instructions being called out to change the camera angle in order to get the best view of the band on stage.
Also another thing that I love about this DVD is that there is one pornographic reference at the end of 'roll with it' Noel and Liam manage to persuade this young lass to 'get her tits out' in front of the camera so that it could be showed on the large screens behind them and it was. I will hopefully be getting a screenshot of this incident soon in the meantime keep checking this page regularly for any changes.
The performance is fantastic above all, this is oasis at their very best. The gig is a selection of their best songs which have been very carefully picked. Quite simply if you have any concept of good music you will be sure to like oasis and if you like oasis then you must make it your top priority to go out and buy this DVD A.S.A.P (as soon as possible).
The tracks are well arranged with 'fuck'in in the bushes' being played through the speakers in the stadium at the start of the concert as a build up to the band coming onto the stage. Then they all walk up on stage and absorb the atmosphere of their 70,000+ fans standing in front of them. Liam punches the air with his fist and from then on it's just business as usual pure rock'n'roll and pure singing from Liam and Noel.
The first three tracks are taken from 'standing on the shoulder of giants' which are 'fuck'in in the bushes', 'go let it out' and 'who feels love'. Followed by the 'definitely maybe' anthems 'supersonic' and shakermaker'. Then 'acquiesce' taken from 'the masterplan' and 'step out' possibly a cover I don't know this was sung by Noel.
Then there was another 'standing on the shoulder of giants' classic 'gas panic'. Followed up by 'roll with it' taken from '(whats the story) morning glory'. 'stand by me' was to be the only song taken from 'be here now'. Followed up by 'wonderwall' from '(whats the story) morning glory' ,'cigarettes & alcohol' from 'definitely maybe', 'don't look back in anger' from '(whats the story) morning glory', 'live forever' from 'definitely maybe'
Then 'hey hey, my my' sung by Noel which was a Neil Young cover to round off the night they finished two great songs 'champagne supernova' from '(whats the story) morning glory' and 'rock'n'roll star' the first song off their debut album 'definitely maybe'. All I have to say is WHAT A CONCERT and I wasn't even there.
Throughout 2001, Oasis split time between sessions for their fifth studio album and live shows around the world. Gigs included the month-long Tour of Brotherly Love and the Black Crowes and Spacehog and a show in Paris supporting Neil Young. The album, Heathen Chemistry, Oasis' first album with new members Andy Bell and Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. The album reached number 1 in the UK and number 23 in the US, although critics gave it mixed reviews. There were four singles released from the album: "The Hindu Times", "Stop Crying Your Heart Out", "Little by Little/She Is Love" which were written by Noel, and "Songbird", written by Liam and the first single not to be written by Noel. The record blended the band's sonic experiments from their last albums, but also went for a more basic rock sound. The recording of Heathen Chemistry was much more balanced for the band, with all of the members, apart from White, writing songs. Johnny Marr provided additional guitar as well as backup vocals on a couple of songs.
Spacehog
In the midst of brotherly feuds, the Tour of Brotherly Love was created. That's right, your favorite rockstar siblings, Oasis, The Black Crowes and Spacehog, all banded together to embark on a North American Tour. The pairs of brothers featured: Noel and Liam Gallagher, Chris and Rich Robinson, Royston and Antony Langdon, respectively. The name of the tour was actually a nod to the fact that the brothers were (are) infamous for fighting both in and out of public.
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Black Crowes reminisce on Brotherly Love Tour
The tour kicked off on this day, May 11th, in 2001 at The Joint in Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. It's not Thursday but this "Setlist History" is truly the ultimate throwback.
Each band performed a 12-song set, made up of their best hits and new material at the time. Oasis had released their fourth studio album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants a year prior, and they included two tracks off the LP on their setlist: opening song "Go Let It Out" and "Gas Panic!"
Oasis also unleashed several gems from the vault on kickoff night:
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"Columbia" was performed for the first time since 1996
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"Morning Glory" was performed for the first time since 1997
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"Fade Away" was performed for the first time since 1995
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"Slide Away" was performed for the first time since 1998
And their set closer, a cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus," was performed for the first time since 1998. Albeit shorter than their normal sets, the tour's setlist was still a gold mine for Oasis fans with the addition of those deep cuts.
Check out their kickoff setlist here:
The Black Crowes
While Oasis hasn't reunited since disbanding in 2009, and Spacehog hasn't released an album since 2013, The Black Crowes announced their third reunion in 2019.
Oasis - The Hindu Times (Official Video)
Oasis
Their setlist stayed the same on most of the 21 dates of the tour, with the exception of "Some Might Say" which they replaced with "Acquiesce" for the remainder of the trek.
Spacehog were supporting their third album release Hogyssey at the time, which dropped a month prior to the tour. The Black Crowes had just released their sixth studio album Lions, so half of their setlist was made up of those tracks.
Most nights on the tour, Noel Gallagher and Gem Archer of Oasis, along with the Langdon brothers, would join The Black Crowes for their encore to perform a cover song. On kickoff night, they did Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well."
Oasis - The Hindu Times (Official Video)
Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Official Video)
Oasis - Songbird (Official Video)
After the album's release, the band embarked on a successful world tour that was once again filled with incidents. In late summer 2002, while the band were on tour in the US, Noel, Bell and touring keyboardist Jay Darlington were involved in a car accident in Indianapolis. While none of the band members sustained any major injuries, some shows were cancelled as a result. In December 2002, the latter half of the German leg of the band's European tour had to be postponed after Liam Gallagher, Alan White and three other members of the band's entourage were arrested after a violent brawl at a Munich nightclub. The band had been drinking heavily and tests showed that Liam had used cocaine. Liam lost two front teeth and kicked a police officer in the ribs, while Alan suffered minor head injuries after getting hit with an ashtray. Two years later Liam was fined around £40,000. The band finished their tour in March 2003 after returning to those postponed dates.