Noel Gallagher recently chatted with BBC’s Zoe Ball and recalled how he met David Bowie for the first time, the singer’s final advice, and how dear he held the late rock icon.
Gallagher met Bowie when Oasis was sweeping the charts, releasing numerous hits and scoring a prominent place for themselves in the industry. So, when the young guitarist went to see the rocker at his Wembley Arena show in 1995, it was apparent that the singer had heard all about him, so it wasn’t much later that someone from David’s team came up to Noel and invited him backstage.
After getting over the initial shock of being invited over backstage, Gallagher met his rock hero in a dressing room as Bowie was getting his stage makeup done. It was a pleasant encounter all around, and soon after the pair met, a picture of them surfaced on tabloids, showing David hysterically laughing at something Noel was saying.
The guitarist continued by recalling how his brother, Liam, then seemed to envy the pair’s meet-up a bit, even suspiciously asking Noel about the picture, questioning what he was saying to Bowie that got the older rocker laughing. Noel explained he decided to mess with his brother a bit, joking and saying he was picking on him with David.
He also discussed how Bowie stayed in touch with him even years after that encounter, sending several emails over the years, with his last one dating to a year before his death. Gallagher recalled what the email was about, disclosing David advised him to keep writing lyrics and carry on making music, and for Noel, it was such an important piece of advice coming from one of his rock heroes.
The former Oasis icon on meeting David and the rocker’s final advice:
“I went to see him one night at Wembley Arena, and Morrissey was supporting him. Just as Morrissey finished, a guy came down to the seats and said, ‘Would you like to go and meet David?’ And I was like [confused], ‘David?’ And he went, ‘David.’ And I was like; I didn’t register for a minute; I was like, ‘Oh, David!’
So, we go to this dressing room, and he’s putting on makeup with a mirror. And to this day, I can’t remember what was said, but a picture then surfaced of me saying something to him, and he was laughing hysterically. And I remember, Our kid [Liam Gallagher] going, ‘What were you saying to Bowie there?’ And I was like, ‘[I] was slagging you off.’
But he was such a dude; he actually emailed me a couple of times, a year before his death, and he was just saying, ‘keep writing’ and, you know, great advice from one of the greatest. ‘Keep writing’ and ‘you got to keep going,’ and all that kind of thing, it was amazing. But yeah, he’s one of the greatest. He’s up there with [John] Lennon for me.”
Well, meeting Bowie seemed a total surprise for Noel, as he was at the concert only to see him perform without planning to visit the rock icon backstage. However, it was apparent that David liked Oasis, so he invited him to his dressing room to meet the guitarist, and then the pair formed a friendship that lasted for years.
