Musician and Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher prepares to "get inside the mind of one of the greatest characters ever to grace a football pitch in Britain".
To find out who Noel is talking about, tune in to Saturday's Football Focus at 1215 GMT on BBC One and this website.
See a short video of Noel for Football Focus here.
From Noel Gallagher's 'Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere' tour diary.
Yes..now then.
Been a long time eh? Lots to tell .. . think the last time we had words I was just on my way to the great city of Glasgow? Had a gig at the SECC I think? Top night as I recall. It always is up there.
There was a nice surprise before the show. Bonehead was in town and stuck his head round the door to say hello!! Hadn't seen him for . . . well fuckin' years!! He was in good spirits, he says hello by the way.
Did a gig at that 02 place in London couple of nights after. It was shit yet mega at the same time somehow. It felt a bit too big for me. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood. Dunno. I didn't enjoy it much anyway. I seen people eating while I was playing . . . ACTUALLY EATING!!!!!!!??????????? Please somebody explain to me what the FUCK that's all about. Cheeky cunts! Tthere is of course a time and a place for such things and surely at a gig isn't one of them . . . is it?
After that nonsense it was good to jib back up to Glasgow for a little (and I mean tiny) gig for some competition winners in a place called "the Grand Ole Opry" which was neither grand nor old!! Great night though. Loved it. Next up was them NME awards. Bizarre affair that thing now. Is it an award ceremony or is it a mini indoor festival?? Seems like it's a bit of both. I was presented with the god-like genius award, which was nice. I must thank all the people what said such nice words about me. I'm talking 'bout you Paul Weller and you Ray Davies and you Bobby G and you Guy Garvey and you Sergio and you Brandon Flowers and you Sir Roger Daltrey and you you little Arctic Monkey chops and Johnny Marr. Had to keep a lid on the celebrations though. Had a gig up in Birmingham the next day. Great show. Some clowns down the front were seemingly hell bent on trying to start a fight. Luckily they never quite managed it. Knob heads.
Legged it up to Manchester that night as I had been invited to go and watch Man City train!! What an honour. Fuck me them boys can play. Got to meet and do an interview with the man simply known as . . . Balotelli. It was filmed by the BBC so you'll be able to see it soon. WHAT A DRUID!!! That kid truly does not give a flying fuck about anything.
You currently find me in the great city of Barcelona. Had a gig last night which was tip- top. Some of the lads were in a right mess from the night before. A dodgy rogan-Josh apparently!!!
The year's most rock 'n' roll awards show kicks off at London's Brixton Academy. Hosted by Jack Whitehall and featuring live performances from Kasabian, Florence + The Machine, The Horrors, The Vaccines, The Maccabees, and Godlike Genius Noel Gallagher.
Below is the setlist for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds concert at the Razzmatazz in Barcelona, Spain yesterday.
(It’s Good) To Be Free Mucky Fingers Everybody’s On The Run Dream On If I Had A Gun The Good Rebal The Death Of You And Me Freaky Teeth Supersonic (I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine AKA... What A Life! Talk Tonight AKA... Broken Arrow Half The World Away Solder Boys And Jesus Freaks (Stranded On) The Wrong Beach Whatever Little By Little The Importance Of Being Idle Don’t Look Back In Anger
A number of pictures from the gig can be found on our Twitter page here.
Later today Absolute Radio are hosting a Noel Gallagher night. The show features music and conversation with Noel as well as an exclusive stage set recorded at the recent sold out show at London's O2 Arena.
The night will include a documentary on Noel's extensive career as well as a music special where he plays and discusses some of his favourite records.
You can listen to the show, hosted by Absolute's Pete Mitchell, from 7pm GMT HERE.
Noel Gallagher has revealed how comic legend Billy Connolly helped him kick the £1million cocaine habit threatening to wreck his life.
The former Oasis star turned to The Big Yin when he went cold turkey in a last-ditch bid to quit drugs.
He had become pals with the funnyman after a chance meeting while shopping in Harrods in London.
Noel, 44, said: “I’ve only ever really been star-struck twice.
“One was Neil Young and the other was Billy Connolly. I don’t know why. I met him in Harrods. He went, ‘Awright, ma wee brother’. I was like, ‘F***, it’s Billy Connolly’. “I’d seen him live and watched his DVDs. He makes me laugh till it hurts.
“When I decided I was going to kick drugs, I spent a lot of time lying on the couch, eating soup and watching his DVDs.
“They say laughter is the best medicine. I assure you it is. I love the guy. He’s great.
“I met him recently at the premiere of the George Harrison movie Living In The Material World in London. A top man.”
Noel was in Glasgow last week playing a sell-out gig at the 10,000-capacity SECC followed by a secret show for 300 fans at The Grand Ole Opry, the city’s famous country music club.
The singer returns to Scotland on July 7 to play the Main Stage at T In The Park alongside his music heroes The Stone Roses.
He will also headline Edinburgh Castle 10 days later. And he might be measuring for curtains because he wants to buy the castle for his wife Sara MacDonald, who is from Edinburgh.
Noel said: “I’ve been up to the castle with the wife but never gone inside. If it’s for sale, I’ll be putting in a bid. I’ll buy it for the missus as a weekend gaff.”
He married long-term girlfriend Sara last summer in a private ceremony in New Forrest National Park and comedian Russell Brand was his best man.
The couple have two sons, Donovan Rory, four, and Sonny Patrick, two. Noel also has a daughter, Anais, 12, from his previous marriage to Meg Mathews, which ended in divorce in 2001.
Noel claims to have ditched his wild party lifestyle since meeting Sara at the Space club in Ibiza in 2000.
He was so smitten with the PR girl, he wrote Waiting For The Rapture, a track on Oasis’s 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul, for her.
She also helped straighten him out at a time when he was blowing £1million on drugs as Oasis ruled Britpop.
Noel even claims to have snorted coke in a Downing Street toilet reserved for the Queen after being invited to No.10 by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997.
Noel once said: “Doing drugs is the most beautiful thing about being in a rock band. Up until 1998, I must have spent £1million on drugs. Then I stopped because it is bad for your health, brain, life and for people around you.”
After 18 years as an addict, he reached a crossroads when he woke up in his plush London home after an all-night party and found the place full of hangers-on who he didn’t recognise.
He said: “I got up one morning in 1998 during the World Cup when Germany were playing Italy. There was a load of people in my house – I didn’t know any of them – who were carrying on the party from the night before.
“The first thing I did was walk to the fridge and get a beer and got back on it. But then I thought, ‘This weekend will end with me speaking to a stranger about the Pyramids’.
“I changed my life. It sounds pretty corny but I kissed drugs goodbye. I was depressed and felt weak. When I talked to a doctor, he gave me simple but sound advice – ‘kick the drugs’. I did and don’t really miss it.”
Noel jumped at the chance to appear on the Main Stage at T In The Park for one good reason – he wants to see The Stone Roses, who have reunited after a 15-year split.
He turned down an offer from T boss Geoff Ellis to headline the King Tut’s Tent because he didn’t want to go head-to-head with them.
Noel said: “I’m a huge fan. The first time I saw them was in 1985 at the International 1 in Manchester when Sally Cinnamon first came out and they were selling the 12-inchers at the merchandising stall. I remember it like it was yesterday.
“I’m glad I’m playing with them at T because I’m not going to get the chance to see any of their other reunion gigs. They tried to put me on in the tent at the same time they were on the Main Stage.
“There’s f****** no way that’s going to happen. I want to see them. I’m made up I’m gonna to do my thing, then they are gonna do theirs.”
Noel’s solo career with his latest project, the High Flying Birds, has given him a new creative lease of life since quitting Oasis in 2009 after one bust-up too many with brother Liam.
He has scored hits with singles AKA…What A Life!, The Death Of You And Me and Dream On from his debut album.
The singer is estimated in The Sunday Times Rich List to have a personal fortune of more than £52million but he says he’s not motivated by money.
Noel said: “It depends what you’re driven by. If you’re driven by money and you end up with lots of it, I suppose you might think, ‘I’ve got money now’.
“In the early days I was driven by the need to make a mark or leave a footprint. Now I’m not as driven but enjoy it more.
“I was saying to some young people at The Brits the other week, ‘You’re all living someone else’s dream. Don’t let me catch you moaning because there’s a kid in a council estate somewhere with a guitar watching this and all he wants is what you’ve got. So if you complain, step aside. There are plenty more who will take your place’.”
Noel Gallagher has reportedly declared that he is "not arsed" about world peace ever being achieved.
The ex-Oasis singer joked that he has no issue with conflict, as his outspoken nature and frequent feuding with brother Liam Gallagher helped fuel his success.
"I'm not arsed about world peace," he told James Merritt on Birmingham's BRMB radio. "A bit of war is good - it sorts men out from the boys.
"But I'm more about a war of words - I built a career on it."
Noel also admitted during the interview that he had hoped for backing dancers at the Brit Awards like fellow performer Olly Murs.
He asked: "Where's my dancers? I suppose I could have them - but what would the wife say?"
Noel Gallagher is gloriously good value when it comes to not sugar-coating his opinions.
The rocker, who has enjoyed enormous success with his Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds music, has shared his views on TV in a new interview.
Asked by Radio Times what shows he doesn't like, he said: "Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay. I don't cook but that's not the problem: I can't handle Jamie Oliver's worthiness and I can't handle Gordon Ramsay's attitude - if you make a bad omelette, it's like the end of the world.
"Who gives a f**k? I'm from the school of thought that one eats to survive; one cooks to be a smart arse."
He also said he isn't a fan of a certain popular series on ITV. "And I don't like any period drama - Downton Abbey, all that s**te. Men with wigs on."
Noel Gallagher: "I would bring back Top of the Pops in a heartbeat"
Noel Gallagher has sung the praises of defunct TV show Top of the Pops, stating that he would bring it back in a "heartbeat".
Speaking to Radio Times magazine, the former Oasis man bigged up the legendary music show and said that he is grateful to have appeared on it in the past.
He called it a "British tradition" and called for its permanent return. When asked if he laments the passing of Top of the Pops, he replied:
"Absolutely, don't you? I think everybody does. It was fantastic to watch it growing up and it was great to be on it when it was still going. I don't even know why they don't have it on any more. It was a great British tradition to have Top of the Pops on a Thursday, and it gave you a chance to see what these people looked like who you were listening to on the radio, and we don't get that any more. I would bring it back in a heartbeat."
As previously reported, Gallagher joked in the same interview that he would consider becoming an X Factor judge for £1m post tax.
Watch Pete Mitchell's full-length in-depth interview with Noel Gallagher - with most of it exclusively available for Absolute Radio Account holders.
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This Sunday, 4th March, Absolute Radio are hosting a Noel Gallagher night. The show features music and conversation with Noel as well as an exclusive stage set recorded at the recent sold out show at London's O2 Arena.
The night will include a documentary on Noel's extensive career as well as a music special where he plays and discusses some of his favourite records.
You can listen to the show, hosted by Absolute's Pete Mitchell, from 7pm GMT HERE.