Music icon Chrissie Hynde has urged Manc rockers Oasis to get back together - as she visited a major photographic exhibition of the band in the city centre.
Chrissie, frontwoman of rock legends The Pretenders, headed to Manchester Central Library to catch the Oasis:DNA exhibition, put on by her long-time friend Jill Furmanovsky.
Photographer Jill joined Chrissie for her visit to give her a private tour of the exhibition on Tuesday.
Chrissie said: “This is an exhibition of beautiful photographs of a great band and it gives a really good retrospective.”
Added Chrissie: “I just wish it was more up to date and that they hadn’t stopped when they did”.
“Like everyone else, I just hope they get back together. I know they have their family differences, but come on – think of your audience!”
Chrissie urged warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, who disbanded Oasis in 2009, to put aside their differences while “their fans can still dance.”
Chrissie said: “I hope they don’t leave it too long, or when they do come back, younger music fans will have forgotten them. They should get them while they can still dance.”
Chrissie and photographer Jill originally met in London during the heyday of punk in the late 1970s and have worked together ever since.
Chrissie said: “We’ve been mates for a long time and I can always call Jill with some daft idea and she says, “let’s do it”. So we have a huge archive now”.
“I have enough stuff on file to do a similar exhibition on Chrissie”, confirmed Jill.
The exhibition includes a picture taken at a 1994 Oasis gig in Cambridge that Chrissie attended.
It was the first time Jill had seen the band play – and she took Chrissie with her to check the young pretenders out.
“I remember that show and I thought they were a great band at the time, I loved them. And the camera loved them”, Chrissie said.
Jill added: “I have loved working with Central Library for this exhibition and I would love it to stay in Manchester permanently. It would be great to have a home for it in the city, because this band is part of Manchester’s cultural DNA.”
Chrissie said: “We don’t need a rock’n’roll hall of fame in the UK, but we do need living, breathing exhibitions like this one.
“If I was a young American rock’n’roller coming to the UK today, Manchester would definitely be on my list of places to go.”
The Oasis:DNA exhibition is at Central Library (First Floor Exhibition Space) until the end of March 2017 and is free entry.
For more information about Jill Furmanovsky, go to www.rockarchive.com/photographers/jill-furmanovsky.
Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
