David Beckham teases Noel Gallagher over football rivalry as they unite for rock star’s new film
DAVID Beckham ribbed pal Noel Gallagher over their football rivalry as they caught up at the premiere of the rocker’s new Oasis film.
The icons rubbed shoulders in the 90s when David played for Manchester Untied and Noel, who supports bitter local rivals Manchester City, was riding the Brit pop wave in Oasis.
There were hugs and smiles on Monday night as the pair watched Oasis at Knebworth 1996 – a new film remembering the band’s iconic sell-out gigs.
David wrote: “What a great film mate…Oasis at Knebworth 1996…Absolutely loved it…Took me right back to the good old 90’s when United were winning everything.”
Oasis played to 250,000 over a single weekend at Knebworth, when Liam Gallagher, brother Noel, Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, Paul “Guigsy” McGuigan and Alan White were at their unfiltered, unapologetic best.
Now a new documentary brings back how the Manchester five-piece were catapulted into the big time. The two sell-out nights 25 years ago were a huge, worldwide event — except for the boys in that band.
Noel, 54, told The Sun: “I was so f***ing arrogant at the time that it didn’t really register. Genuinely. It’s only since Supersonic (Oasis’s 2016 documentary) and this film that you try and put yourself back in there and you get goosebumps.
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“I’m not sure there are any bands who had that lift-off like we did. We were still in the same circumstances as our audience, almost. It is a snapshot of a band, of its zenith. It is a great moment for the band.
“Morning Glory (Oasis’s second album, in 1995) hadn’t really taken off. We were loaded but we hadn’t really got paid. You know, the f***ing chimps hadn’t turned up and tigers and fur coats.”
Knebworth followed Oasis’s 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe then even bigger follow-up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. Fans from all over the UK flocked to the Hertfordshire stately home for the £22-a-head gig. Footage has been remastered by director Jake Scott to create Oasis: Knebworth 1996.
While the crowd was wild with excitement, at the time Noel was more worried about making sure the telly in their dressing room worked than the prospect of walking out on stage to tens of thousands.
He added: “We didn’t feel that overwhelmed. I will see it differently from Liam and all the rest of the guys, but my own part of it, I don’t really remember sing it that much.
“I was more concerned about Sky TV working in the dressing room, to be honest, as it was a new thing. I think it was the FA Cup Final. I was like, ‘F***ing hell. Sky TV. What? In a tent?’”
Oasis shows — fronted by Liam, with big brother Noel on lead guitar and vocals, Guigsy bassist, Bonehead on guitar and White drumming — were a rite of passage for fans.
The film tells of individuals queuing through the night or repeatedly calling an engaged ticket hotline — in the days before ticket buying done over the internet. It was a time when fans were able to connect to the music without smartphones being waved in front of them and people trying to capture snaps for Instagram or Twitter.
As the camera pans over the beer-soaked crowd during the film, a watching Noel moans: “See, that now would be all mobile phones and f***ing people filming and texting someone who is watching on the internet.”