Watch Some More Of Noel Gallagher's Interview With Mario Balotelli

Click here to watch the video.

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has told the club's fans not to target Carlos Tevez with any abuse when the Argentinian forward returns to action.

Tevez has not played for City since boss Roberto Mancini accused him of refusing to warm up at Bayern Munich in September - but he has now apologised.

Balotelli said: "I think supporters have to be like they were before.

"If they make pressure on Carlos, they make pressure to all the team, so they should do nothing."

Tevez, 28, had become a firm favourite with the City faithful after helping the club win the FA Cup last season following a switch from rivals Manchester United.

But that soured with his apparent refusal to come off the bench at the Allianz Arena in Germany - and he then returned to his native Argentina without the club's permission.

Following a five-month stand-off, Tevez returned to the club in February and has reconciled his differences after apologising for his conduct.

He returned to action in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Preston, then scored on his first public appearance for the reserves against Bolton.

Balotelli, speaking to former Oasis man Noel Gallagher for the BBC's Football Focus, said supporters should forgive him.

The 21-year-old said: "I think everyone can make a mistake. Carlos is part of the team. He's just a part of the team, so everybody loves him."

Manager Robert Mancini says he has already forgiven Tevez and is looking forward to the striker's return to first-team football.

Watch the full interview on Saturday's Football Focus at 1215 GMT on BBC One and on the BBC website.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

thanks to AG

Listen To Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds At The 02 Arena

Click here to to hear Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds recorded live at O2 Arena in London – the entire gig uninterrupted.

Noel Gallagher On Manchester, Oasis And More

Absolute Radio’s Pete Mitchell spoke to Noel Gallagher in an exclusive interview as part of a 2-hour documentary special to air on digital stations Absolute Radio 00s on Wednesday 14th March from 6pm and Absolute Radio 90s on Thursday 22nd March from 9pm. The man, recently crowned Godlike Genius at the NME awards revealed just how important his hometown was in shaping his career, explaining that:

“Manchester, as a musician, is a great place to grow up because you’ve got everything you need is there; little venues, big venues, nightclubs, or you had then nightclubs, music shops, if you needed a bass player you can get one, it’s got a musical history, it had great DJs at Piccadilly Radio, yourself being one”

Noel’s critically acclaimed album High Flying Birds has flown off the shelves both physically and digitally and Noel explains that he was confident that it would do well:

“I expect greatness from myself. So when people are saying ‘Wow, this is amazing’ and it’s selling, I don’t feel very proud of myself, I think that’s what I should be doing anyway, and I’m quite critical of myself, but, by the same rule, it’s great, I’ve got to say, but I kind of knew it would be well received because I’ve made so many records in the past and I knew that this collection of songs was a good collection of songs, if nothing else, you know.”

Noel tells Pete how he isn’t chasing success anymore and only really makes music now to please wife Sara:

“There was a point in the 90s and in the early 2000s where I was obsessed with success, do you know what I mean, and chasing the big hits and all that, but I’ve had enough of that now. Like I say, I don’t make records to be number one in the charts, but when it happens it’s great. I make them because, you know, my wife won’t let me sit round the house for more than 11 months, as has now become apparent.”

Noel talks about his creative process when it comes to writing:

“Sometimes I can write five songs in a row, very quick, over like a five week period, and then sometimes I go months and months without writing anything, and that’s when I used to get a bit edgy and nervous and like ‘Oh, I’ll just write something’. I’ve learned now to just let it find me, and I don’t know what it is. There’s no special room that I go to, I’ve not even got a music room in my house, my kids have taken over my house and are slowly demolishing it, and I don’t even have a music room. I don’t have a place where I keep all my notes or anything like that, do you know what I mean, it’s purely inspiration, my whole thing is pure inspiration, it’s just ‘There it is’.”

Noel reflects on the success of Definitely Maybe:

Well that record is just a phenomenon that’s just… you know, to think that when I was writing those songs in a bedsit, a council bedsit in Manchester in 1991, ’92, that those songs, 20 years later, would still mean as much, not to people in England, but you take that for granted. I’ve just been out to Australia and Singapore, kids, you know what I mean, who wouldn’t have been born then, Cigarettes and Alcohol means the same to then as it did to me then, and that is an amazing thing, and I don’t know why that is. You know, I’d love to say it’s because I’m a genius and all that, which quite evidently I am, but it’s just a magical thing that we were all involved in and long may it continue. It’s just a great… I love that record.

Listen to Noel Gallagher “The Boy From Burnage” on Absolute Radio 90s on Thursday 22nd March from 9pm.

Noel Gallagher's Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere (Vol.2) Part Forty Two

From Noel Gallagher's 'Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere' tour diary.

Yes..well been mad busy. Lot's to tell. So . . . where were we? Barcelona right?

The trip from Barcelona to Paris was uneventful as you would imagine. Landed in the rain and rushed across town to sit in a cold room for 3 hours waiting to do some bizarre tv show where me and 6 other French people occupied some kind of rustic dining table for a casual chat while they ate desert!! For real!!!!! As you can imagine it was a bit awkward. Me . . . not knowing the lingo had to wear an ear piece what had an interpreter translating the conversation into my lug-hole. Still had no fucking idea what they were on about.

The gig in Paris was great. It was in a place called Grand Rex Theatre. Incredible upholstery!! The seats would most definitely have been stolen had it been in England!! 2 of that band The Strokes were there . . . Fab and Albert to be exact. I ain't seen them for long time..cool cats man.

Had a brilliant night out after.stumbled into an empty restaurant at fuck knows what time to catch 2 french dudes - one on piano and one on the guitar - playing that song "harvest moon" by Neil Young. What followed was mega. They started taking requests. . . well at least I think they did . . . and before you know it it was 5am!! They went through every genre of music I've ever heard of!! 50's,60's,70's,80's . . . they stopped at the 90's though thankfully. My lovely good lady wife kept them on their little French toes with a barrage of 80's demands what peaked with "the wham rap"!!! It really was fucking mega. Needless to say the next day was spent nursing a rather sore head. Well worth it though. I LOVE PARIS!

So...last night's gig here in Hamburg was ok . . . not bad . . . if I'm being honest I was still feeling it a little bit from Paris. Someone - they were definitely german - kept shouting out, clear as day, in between songs . . . "KEVIN KEEGAN!!!!"
??????????????? Indeed.

Off to Berlin just now.

Gotta go.

ONWARDS.

GD.

Source: www.noelgallagher.com

Keep up to date with Noel's award-winning tour diary by signing up to Noel's Official Website's Inbox here.

On This Day In Oasis History...

'Falling Down' was a single released on March 9th 2009 by English rock band Oasis, featured on their 2008 seventh studio album Dig Out Your Soul. Written and sung by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher, it was released as the third single from the album and is also the final single released by the band with the digital release occurring a day earlier.

The song debuted at 10 in the UK Singles Chart.

"Falling Down" is the fifth Oasis single to be sung by Noel rather than Liam (not including "Lord Don't Slow Me Down"). It is also the second Oasis song to be used in a TV series (the first being "Half the World Away").

"Falling Down" posted a subtle improvement from its predecessor, "I'm Outta Time" on the UK Singles Chart, reaching #10 in its chart entry week. This was something of a return to form for the band, after "I'm Outta Time" charting at #12 made it the first Oasis single released in the UK to fail to reach the top 10 since "Shakermaker" in 1994.

Between the two releases the band had put out 22 singles which made the top 10.



















However, it still showed a decline in the band's fortunes; from the release of "Whatever" at the end of 1994 until the release of "I'm Outta Time" the band had only had one single which failed to reach the top 4 in the charts, and that had been 2007's "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" which was only a minor promotional release and a non-album track and also download only.



The heavily compressed drum-rhythm and sense of disillusioned psychedelia bear a strong resemblance the Beatles song "Tomorrow Never Knows", being cited as Noel's finest effort so far to emulate the atmosphere of that song.

An excerpt of the B-side song "Those Swollen Hand Blues" appears at the end of "Mucky Fingers", second track of Oasis' 2005 album Don't Believe the Truth.

The lyric: "Catch the wheel that breaks the butterfly" references the quotation: "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" from Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot".

The song was released as downloadable content for the video game Guitar Hero: World Tour on 29 January 2009.

The song was used in the opening sequence for the Production I.G anime Eden of the East, which first aired on Fuji TV's noitaminA timeslot on April 9, 2009.

Noel Gallagher: "Forget About Me, Balotelli's The Real Rock Star"

We want to believe this kid goes into petrol stations and buys everyone a full tank.

The BBC had been trying to get hold of Mario Balotelli to do a TV interview with him for quite a while. But he doesn't do TV interviews because he doesn't like journalists. And they kept going back to him and he kept saying no.

But I've been on tour and I've been dedicating a song What a Life to him every night. It's amazing the reaction that it gets, all around the world. People love him. It starts off with booing because he's a City player, but it turns into cheers because he's a modern day rock-star.

And he'd heard of this and he said if he was going to do an interview he'd only do it with me. So they asked me to do it, and I cleared my schedule. Too right, I'll do that for a laugh.

I spent an hour with the lad, he was quite shy. You could tell he's got a bit of the devil in him. He seems to be very much unaware of why people would make a fuss about him. He seemed very interested as to why I would dedicate a song to him. He's like all naturally talented people: he's not got a clue what he's doing.

I can only liken it to this: I was born with a natural gift for music. And I've never had a lesson in my life, I was never taught to play the guitar, or any musical instrument, and I can play half a dozen of them. I was never taught how to write or sing or anything.

And when people ask me to teach them to play the guitar, I'm at a loss, because it just comes to me. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing when I do it. And when I meet other songwriters, and they talk to me about my songwriting, they might as well be talking French. Because I don't understand any of this, I just do it. And it's like that for him.

I was asking about his penalties, and he just shrugged his shoulders the way that he does when he scores. I asked him about the stoppage-time penalty against Tottenham: The league title's on the line, you're 21, and in a new country, why did you grab the ball? "Because I always score." But what about the senior players? Sergio Aguero and Gareth Barry, did they not make a move? "No, because they see me in training every day, and I never miss." He said that he regularly puts 10 out of 10 past Joe Hart.

I asked him what was going through his mind with his "Why Always Me?" T-shirt in the derby at Old Trafford, the day after he nearly burnt his house down with fireworks. "I got up, and I read the papers, and I knew I was going to score a hat-trick". But you only got two? "That's because Mancini took me off, if he'd kept me on I'd have scored a hat-trick." And I believe him. So I asked him about "Why Always Me?" And he said it was a message to the press: "Why are you so interested in me?"

I go all over the world and all over Britain, and my one topic of conversation – if it's not music – is football: with black-cab drivers, people in pubs and so on. And everyone loves Balotelli. Everybody in England, even Man United fans, they all love him. And that's fascinating for him. I'd love him if he played for United. At the interview he asked a question: "Why do you love me so much?" And my answer was five minutes long, and he was laughing all the way through. I don't think he could quite fathom what all the fuss is about.

But it's the goal with the shoulder, the penalties, the bits on YouTube where he nicks Aguero's gloves in the warm-up, all that kind of thing. He's young enough for it to be all innocent. And he shows flashes of sheer brilliance.

So I asked him about the rumours, we listed them all. Unfortunately 90 per cent of them are bollocks, but there's a grain of truth in them all. I told him he was killing me, because we want them all to be true. We want a footballer to be going around giving £1,000 to a homeless person, because it's just cool. We don't want professional footballers to be like Michael Owen or Ashley Cole, people that think the world owes them something. We want to believe that this kid goes into petrol stations and buys everyone a full tank of petrol. Not because that's what they should do, but because footballers are young and they should behave young.

My favourite Balotelli story is the magic tricks. One day he was wandering through the Trafford Centre minding his own business, as if he could do, like a modern-day Mr T. And there's a guy doing magic, and he asked if he could teach him some magic. The guy said, "No, I don't teach magic." So Mario went home, pondered it, and thought, "I'm not having that", so he went back to the Trafford Centre and said to the bloke, "teach me these magic tricks". The guy said, "No, there's too many people here." So Mario took him in his car, back to his house for dinner, and the guy showed him magic over dinner. That's where he learnt the tricks.

He's not arsed about the money, where he is, who he's playing, none of it. He does have a great affection for Roberto Mancini. He said the only reason that he's in Manchester is because of Mancini, they obviously have a bond. I think he loves the fans, because for all the times he's been sent off the fans have never turned on him. I asked him what he wanted to achieve in football, and he just wants to be the best player in the world. But I'm not sure he knows how to go about that. He's just a force of nature.

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds To Play Another Date In South Korea

It's been reported to me me via Twitter and eMail that Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play a second gigin Seoul, South Korea on 29th May 2012 at the AX Hall.

No official word yet, but I will keep you updated.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Bird's Land In Berlin

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play at the Max-Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany later today (March 9th).

If you are going to the show, and you are able to scan your ticket or send in pictures email them to us @ scyhodotcom@gmail.com.

You can also tweet us pictures and updates @scyhodotcom

Setlist: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds In Hamburg

Below is the setlist for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds concert at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany 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.

Video: Noel Gallagher Meeting Fans In Barcelona

Click here to see a video of Noel Gallagher leaving his soundcheck and meeting fans at the Razzmatazz in Barcelona.

Noel Gallagher Interview In This Week's NME Magazine

The current issue of the NME features an interview with the Godlike Genius Noel Gallagher.

On sale in newsagents and online now!

Another Gallery: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds In Paris

Click here for a number of pictures from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds gig at the Le Grand Rex in Paris, France.

On This Day In Oasis History...

The video below is from March 8th 1995, when Oasis appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in New York and played the classic Live Forever.

Gallery: Noel Gallagher And Mario Balotelli

Click here for a number of pictures of Noel Gallagher meeting Mario Balotelli at Manchester City's training ground last week.

Thanks to AG

Noel Gallagher Praises Mario Balotelli

Click here to watch Noel Gallagher talk about Italian and Manchester City footballer Mario Balotelli.

Thanks to AG

Noel Gallagher Rues Taking His Daughter To Gig

Rocker Noel Gallagher was left disappointed when he took his young daughter to one of his solo gigs - she spent the show texting pals.

The former Oasis star crowned his triumphant comeback as a solo artist with a concert at London's enormous O2 Arena last month (Feb12), and he was so proud of the achievement he took 12-year-old Anais along with him.

But his joy turned to horror midway through the performance when he spotted his little girl in the crowd and realised she was more interested in messaging her friends than listening to his songs.

Gallagher tells Nme magazine, "I looked up as I was singing - and if this isn't a sign of the times, I don't know what is - there she was, middle of a packed arena, texting. My own flesh and blood! Disgraceful. Afterwards, I went to her, 'I saw you, texting during the gig.' She goes, 'No that wasn't me.' I'm like, 'You're my child! I f**king know who you are! I know it was you.'"

And family problems weren't the only issue that marred Gallagher's big night - in a post on his blog, he writes, "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 (sic) people eating while I was playing... Actually Eating!!!!!!!??????????? Please somebody explain to me what the F**K that's all about. Cheeky c**ts!"

Source: www.contactmusic.com

Noel Gallagher: I Loved Andre Villas-Boas For Being A Colossal Lunatic!

Noel Gallagher joins Andy Goldstein and Jason Cundy to give his views on Andre Villas-Boas' sacking at Chelsea claiming it is a 'wonderful glorious mess'.

He also speaks about the title run-in, claiming he would prefer Manchester City to have a hard sequence of games and admits the key game isn't again rivals Manchester United but actually the game after, against Newcastle.

PLEASE NOTE THIS WAS POSTED THE OTHER DAY

To listen to the interview click here.

Mario Balotelli Tells Noel Gallagher He Needs To Mature

In a BBC exclusive interview with musician Noel Gallagher, Manchester City's Mario Balotelli admits he has to grow up.

Watch a short part of the interview here.

The Italian striker has been involved in a number of controversial incidents since joining City in August 2010.

When told boss Roberto Mancini wanted him to mature, Balotelli said: "If Mancini says something, he's right."

The forward added: "But I'm 21, so I'm still young. I think from last year, already I'm bigger [older] in my head."

Balotelli was fined a week's wages after breaking a curfew ahead of City's 2-0 win over Bolton at the weekend.

And he was disciplined by City for throwing a dart at a youth team player in March 2011.

Firefighters were also called to the forward's detached house in Cheshire in October when his bathroom was set alight by fireworks.

But the Italy international has also hit the spotlight for positive reasons, notably when he convinced a bullied truant to return to school before giving the antagonists a telling-off.

He has also substituted in a pre-season friendly for showboating, had a bust-up in training with Micah Richards, and wandered into a Manchester school to look for a toilet.

Balotelli rarely gives interviews but agreed to speak to former Oasis man Gallagher, a City fan and self-confessed admirer of the player, for the BBC's Football Focus.
He told Gallagher he is happy in England and said Mancini, who coached him at Inter Milan, was a major reason he decided to join City, for a reported fee of around £20m.

"If Mancini wasn't here, I never come here," said Balotelli, who was born in Sicily to Ghanaian immigrants. "But now that I'm here, I'm OK, I'm happy."

Balotelli, who began his career with Serie C side Lumezzane, added that he was a "really private" person and said he could not understand why being seen about Manchester caused such excitement in the media.

"I don't like when people talk about my business or my life," he said. "I'm really private. Maybe someone thinks I'm arrogant or something but it is just me.

"I don't care, they can say what they want. I just walk in town like a normal guy. I go to the pub. Not to drink."

Balotelli has become one of many influential players for City, who currently top the Premier League.

He has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season, finding the net in each of City's last three league games.

With 11 matches to go, City, who take on Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on Thursday, are two points ahead of neighbours Manchester United.

Ahead of the game against Sporting, Mancini confirmed Balotelli has been fined a week's wages for breaking curfew.

He also warned Balotelli and the rest of the City squad that they needed to think about their actions before matches.

"I've spoken with Mario and given him a one-week fine for what he did," said the City boss.

"It's a no-no. Every player should have good behaviour before the game."

Watch the full interview on Saturday's Football Focus at 1215 GMT on BBC One and this website.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Noel Gallagher Meets Mario Balotelli

"Hi Mario, I'm Dan Walker from the BBC".

"Hello... wait... BBC? Journalist?"

"Yes".

"I do not like you already".

That was the conversation that accompanied my first meeting with Mario Balotelli, the Italian enigma who has excited and baffled in equal measure since stepping on to these shores.

Singer Noel Gallager and I had been waiting for the striker at Manchester City's training ground. We had arrived nice and early and been given a tour by Patrick Vieira, who is near the top of my "nicest Frenchmen I've met" list. He's just behind the guy who gave me an extra "boule" of chocolate ice cream last summer.

After the tour Noel challenged me to a game of darts on the board outside the "player care" area. I asked if he wanted to play Killer but he was unfamiliar with the rules so we decided to go for the classic 501. That was swiftly abandoned after it became clear our remedial maths was holding up play significantly.

Eventually we settled on "around the world" (or "around the clock" in some parts) which, for those of you who don't know, rewards the dartist who hits every number in order first, starting at one and ending at 20. I got off to a flyer, reaching seven in my first nine darts while Noel was struggling - even landing one "arrar" dangerously close to the foam-surround protecting the precious wall.

Just as Noel was explaining that he was struggling because we were using a "cockney" dartboard and not a proper "Mancunian" one, our interviewee turned up.

The chat with Mario had taken the best part of five weeks to arrange. Balotelli simply does not talk publicly. As you will see when you watch the whole thing on Football Focus on Saturday, he has no time for the media. Manchester City are inundated with requests throughout the season but 99.9% of them are turned down because the player simply says "no".

It is odd for a footballer who rarely talks to be so captivating but Balotelli is not a normal footballer. Whether it is the rumours about dressing up as Santa Claus or paying for people's petrol, doing magic tricks for friends during a game, stamping on opponents, scoring with his shoulder, frequenting various nocturnal establishments, setting off fireworks or his "Why Always Me?" T-shirt, the man is a fascinating individual.

Like every other broadcaster in the known universe we had made several attempts to interview him throughout his time in England. About five weeks ago I called Manchester City's press department on the off-chance he had decided it was time to sit down in front of a camera. He hadn't.

Now it should be said that City are one of the most approachable, forward-thinking and accommodating clubs when it comes to player access. They are constantly doing things in the community, supporting charities and giving us the opportunity to talk to their highly paid stars. With that in mind, I went back to the club a few days later with a second proposal: What if we could get Noel Gallagher to do the interview? Again the answer was "No, I just don't think he's interested, but let me talk to Mario". This seemed like serious progress and a week or so later we were on the phone again.

"He'll do it," said the voice at the other end. "He likes Oasis and he'll talk to Noel... but only Noel". The only thing we had to do now was get Mario - who does not have a great track record when it comes to reliability - and Noel - the busiest man in showbusiness - together. Cue two weeks of conversations with agents, agencies, friends and friends of friends to find a suitable date and a suitable location.

The most important thing in our favour was that Gallagher loves Balotelli. He is currently on tour with High Flying Birds and dedicates a song to Mario each night. To Noel, Balotelli is a rock star who happens to wear a pair of shorts. Such was the former Oasis man's keenness to sit down with his favourite player that he was willing to change his entire schedule to get to Manchester last Friday.

I don't want to say too much about the interview other than that it was fascinating to watch. Balotelli comes across as a shy, slightly awkward individual, almost entirely unaware of the talent he has at his disposal and slowly coming to terms with the responsibility that accompanies his fame. When asked if he had a question for Noel at the end of the interview, he said: "Why do you like me so much?" He seemed baffled that someone could have that much affection for him. Noel's answer was about four minutes long!

You will hear him talk about Roberto Mancini, his own attitude, his need to mature, his goal celebrations, the return of Carlos Tevez, his background and his future in the game. Perhaps most interestingly of all, he deals with some of the many rumours and myths that accompany his activities in and around Manchester. Did he really attend mass on Christmas Eve and put £1,000 in the offering box? Did he take a bullied child back to school to deal with the oppressor? Does he drive around Manchester handing out money to onlookers and what is the real story behind the impromptu firework display at Balotelli Towers the night before the Manchester derby?

It is also worth saying that Mr Gallagher plays a sterling roll in all of this and brings the best out of the striker. There are a number of celebrities who "like" football because they feel it essential to their popularity, but Noel is a genuine supporter. Within minutes of meeting him, he was running through Vieira's career statistics and detailing where City had improved since the days of Danny Tiatto and Bob Taylor.

We will have a full-length interview with Noel coming up in a couple of weeks, but Saturday's Football Focus is all about Balotelli. I know it is easy to overhype these things but the stuff you will see was well worth the hundreds of phone calls, emails and logistical shenanigans it took to set up. I hope you enjoy it and don't forget you can always find me at twitter.com/danwalkerbbc

You'll be able to see Noel Gallagher's in-depth exclusive interview with Mario Balotelli on Saturday's Football Focus at 1215 GMT on BBC1.

See a picture of Noel and Mario here, and scroll down the page.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Bird's Land In Hamburg

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will play at the Alsterdorfer Sporthalle in Hamburg, Germany later today (March 8th).

If you are going to the show, and you are able to scan your ticket or send in pictures email them to us @ scyhodotcom@gmail.com.

You can also tweet us pictures and updates @scyhodotcom