Noel Gallagher goes to Glastonbury to people watch.
The former Oasis guitarist – who headlined the Worthy Farm festival twice in 1995 and 2004 with the ‘Wonderwall’ group, after first performing in 1994 – is set to make his solo debut with his High Flying Birds on the Pyramid Stage tonight (25.06.22).
However, the 55-year-old rocker has confessed it’s actually the mad antics of festival-goers he goes for, not the line-up, though he’ll be catching Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney’s headlining set and a few of his favourites.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, he said: “Thank God Glastonbury is back. It s**** all over New Year and it’s way more important than Christmas.”
He quipped: “After I’ve sat on Macca’s knee for a bit I’ll swing by the little Mancunian enclave up in some far-off never never land and say all right to Bez [from Happy Mondays] and the box of toys and take it from there.
“I’m very much looking forward to seeing The Punishers — top psychedelic firm from Manchester, although I think they might clash with The Pink Monkeys so I’ll have to decide which ones I’m gonna do — actually I might do both.
“Other than that, no one really.
“I don’t go for the music. I’ll just wander around bumping into amazing people getting into adventures and seeing wonderful things.”
Glasto-goers will no doubt be hoping for a few Oasis classics from the Britpop legend, and they are likely to hear a few.
Noel has been playing a lot more of their hits at his recent gigs.
His recent setlist has featured seven Oasis tunes – ‘Little by Little’, ‘The Importance of Being Idle’, ‘Whatever’, ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Half the World Away’, ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’.
Oasis split in 2009 following a backstage bust-up between estranged siblings Noel and Liam Gallagher, the group’s ex-frontman, but much to the dismay of fans, they haven’t grown any closer to reuniting amid their continued riff.
Liam, 49, has performed at Glastonbury both with Beady Eye – the group he formed following the demise of Oasis – in 2013, and as a solo artist in 2017 and 2019.