The one band Noel Gallagher thought ended terribly: “I’m not going out like that”
Any band should have the opportunity to go out on their own terms. Most people can only dream of that final wave goodbye to the fans, but it hurts to see some of the greatest artists in the world have their years of bad behaviour catch up with them and cut them down before they have a chance to bow out gracefully. While time has been slightly kinder to Noel Gallagher during his moments in the spotlight, he knew that some of his contemporaries didn’t have the same luxuries as he did.
Because for all of the great moments in Oasis’s discography, Noel was known to be the most sensible one. He was the one who wrote all the songs, after all, so he would be the one who managed to dictate where everything would go and try to keep himself on an even keel before it came time to do a show, even if the rest of his bandmates were living up to every rock and roll stereotype they could.
Considering how much time he put into the band, it almost made sense for him to continue once he eventually dissolved everything in 2009. The hardcore fans may have been torn apart knowing that the Britpop legends were no more, but Noel figured there was more to life than singing stadium rock songs all the time, whether that meant making artistic rock detours on Who Built the Moon? or working on new collaborations with members of Gorillaz.
Despite looking like the stick in the mud half the time, it was easy to see why he couldn’t take it any longer with the rest of the band. His relationship with Liam had grown sour, and no matter how many times he left in a huff and came back as if nothing had happened, there’s only so many times that someone could go on that torture merry-go-round before they wanted a break from everything.
“I want our last photo shoot to look good.”
Noel Gallagher
Even though Noel would have preferred to have carried out the rest of the tour and not left the kids hanging that fateful night in Paris, he could rest easy knowing that he hadn’t had the kind of flameout that Pink Floyd did. As much as he loved projects like The Wall growing up, he felt that watching the band get back together for Live 8 was one of the most egregious examples of people getting back into music only for the money.
When talking about those shows, Oasis remembered listening to tracks like ‘Comfortably Numb’ with a little bit of disappointment, saying, “I don’t ever want to end up like Pink Floyd. Now, I f***ing love Pink Floyd, but on stage at Live 8, well, I’m not going out like that. I want our last photo shoot to look good.” But that final shot might have less to do with how the band looks and more about the consequences behind everything.
After all, Roger Waters had spent years trying to sue his bandmates for the rights over the name, and hearing them get back together again must have been unbelievably uncomfortable for David Gilmour, who looked like he didn’t want to focus on anything else but his guitar playing. Even though their curtain call bow was reassuring for anyone who grew up with Dark Side of the Moon, there was no way that anyone was going to get that kind of camaraderie out of them ever again.
And considering how much Noel hated the way one of rock’s all-time greats went out, getting Oasis back together may be his way of writing a few wrongs as well. Live 8 may have been a sad reunion of friends that had already drifted apart, but Noel knew that his fans deserved a final bow better than going out with a whimper.
