Slings and arrows at the ready....
I love this - the O2 is hell on earth.
Oasis' singer/guitarist Noel Gallagher has rubbished rumours that his band are set to play a residency at the London O2 Arena, saying they will never play at the venue.
As previously reported on NME.COM, the Sunday Mirror quoted an anonymous source as saying that Oasis were close to announcing a ten-date London O2 Arena residency at the venue for Autumn.
Despite quashing the rumours, speaking to BBC News, Gallagher hinted that Oasis had plans to play live dates in the UK in 2008.
"We'll never play the O2," he said. "We went there to see Led Zeppelin [last December] and to be honest the gig was fantastic, but it was the most soul destroying venue I've ever been to.
"Much to our manager and agent's disappointment we came back and said we would never play there. So it means we are going to have to do 640 nights at Earl's Court, I would have thought.
"It's [the O2 Arena] too Americanised for me, and it's too far away. Any gig you can get to by boat that hasn't got a beach is wrong."
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What amused me about Noel's comments
was when he claimed that the next Oasis album was "All done". Now we know what he was up to last Wednesday afternoon between 2 and 3 pm.
I really really hope that they prove you wrong
But somewhere in my heart of hearts I doubt that they will, and even if they did you wouldn't be listening...
Anyway he's right about the O2 - it is wretched.
having said that..
the time I saw Oasis at Earls court years ago wasn't exactly fantastic in fact Oasis were so uninspiring the Verve stole the show from them! Earls court is shed who ever plays there.
Isn't it because
As reported in the Word podcast, the 02 isn't loud enough? How Spinal Tap can you get?
How
about they just tour Butlins on a co-headline with the Quo?
Joking aside, Noel is right on the money here.
Why is it that, after all this time, the UK is littered with venues with the acoustic properties of a Peek Freans Family Assortment tin, and the punter-friendliness of a back street dive in Blade Runner?
I'm sure many of us can recite the names of ghastly sheds which ruin countless fine acts. Some of us will be able to list a handful of really good venues. Some venues, of course, are great even when the sight-lines are poor, the toilets are weapons-grade lethal, and the fire escape is a length of rope; they have some strange quality that makes up for other shortcomings (Shepherd's Bush Empire, anyone?).
But far, far too many of our big venues are utterly dismal. It's a scandal.
Customer Service
It's a wider issue than having somewhere to plonk a band and a sound system. It's about this country's tendency to see the punter as a walking ATM.
If you go back 20/30 years ago, the sheds in the States wouldn't have been much better than ours are now, but as the era of mega-artists kicked in over there, so did the Americans' innate sense of customer service. However cliched 'Have a nice day' is, it cannot be argued that they know how to look after the people who pay for the experience.
We've seen a little of it over here in our football stadia; as the powers that be begin to understand that their bottom line will suffer if they don't provide half-decent facilities, we've gone from a manky burger bar and urine wall to a surfeit of ethnic food choices and, gulp, toilets.
The promoters of live music haven't cottoned on to the blindingly obvious yet, hence we're sheperded into warehouse-like spaces with all the acoustics of a bedsit with egg-box dampers, charged £8 for a pint of something resembling warm piss and told to like it or lump it. I was told once at the Hammersmith Odeon (Apollo? Huh?) that the toilets were broken, but I could go in the corridor if I wanted. Sorry?
If I understand correctly, we're going to more live music today than ever before, so I guess the promoters must think they're doing okay and will see no reason to change it. Why spend money on decent facilities and quality soundboards when they can fill the 02 at £60-£100 a seat - simple economics suggests they'll do it until demand drops.
"urine wall"? Luxury.
You've never been to a Wales match at Twickers then? No wall required.
No wall required...
A Phil Collins remix, or just because on my birthday this year Wales pissed all over us English (the valley swine!)? : -)
20 years ago it certainly wasn't the case...
I went to see the Grateful Dead at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and I was practically strip-searched before going into the venue. Not pleasant.
I bet you were wearing
one of those T shirts, weren't you?
The O2 (small venue)
The small hall at the O2 is a pretty good venue. Both the sound and sightlines were very good when I saw Lucinda Williams there a few months ago. Not only did my friends and I think the sound was excellent, but Lucinda did as well, commenting on it early in the set.
I seem to remember...
...Mark Ellen informing us in the podcast that Liam Gallagher considered the Zeppelin O2 gig 'fookin' rubbish'!!
and on the landing grounds...
I do like his comment about " Any gig you can get to by boat that hasn't got a beach is wrong" surely for a few 1000 the GLA and environment agency could re-landscape the domes riverside so Noel could reinact saving private ryan, or maybe put in some palm trees and tiki bars for that IBZA vibe I don't think the dome is lost just yet.
There's no beach at Worthy Farm,
but a boat would have come in handy several times over recent years.
Good one
I liked that quote too - surely there is a thread here (which could go into the hundreds) - dim things rock stars say. My favourite is from Paul Weller, on his hatred of iPods - "it looks like a fucking fridge, and it is a fucking fridge with no beer in it". Classic.
Bloody small fridge
Certainly not big enough for the thirsty Modfather's beer stash. Perhaps he'd just seen this:
I think it was built just so that U2...
could have U2@O2 on their posters for their next tour.