Former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has revealed why he turned down an offer to perform at the recent London Olympic Games Closing Ceremony.
In an interview with XFM, Gallagher said that while he and his current band, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds were initially interested in the opportunity, the clouds of secrecy shrouding the event marred its appeal. “I asked who else is playing and they said, ‘I can’t tell you. You’ve got to sign a confidentiality agreement.’ It’s like it’s the Iran nuclear program or something.”
The final straw came when Gallagher was told that the performance must be mimed: “They wanted me to do it acoustically and wanted me to mime,” he said. “I’m all for miming in TV shows, I love that… But if you’re in a stadium with 80,000 people and you’re pretending… I said I could play live and one of the organizers said, ‘It’s a big gig’ and I was like, ‘Really? I do this for a living.’”
The game’s organizers then requested that Gallagher re-record the song for the show: “In the end I was like I’d rather watch in on the telly…” he explained.
Gallagher’s refusal of the invite ultimately led to his brother and former Oasis bandmate Liam Gallagher and his current band Beady Eye performing the Oasis classic ‘Wonderwall’ instead.
Noel Gallagher later labeled Beady Eye as being “Stratford’s finest Oasis tribute band” and said that he waited until the very last minute to give the band permission to play the song.
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