The Verve star joined Oasis on their reunion tour this summer and was amazed by how hard Liam Gallagher worked to make sure he doesn’t go “off-track”
Richard Ashcroft, lead singer of The Verve, has said he was amazed by close pal Liam Gallagher’s “discipline” during the Oasis reunion tour this summer.
Richard, who joined the iconic Britpop band as a support act this year, has long been friends with Liam and his formerly estranged brother Noel Gallagher, as back in the 1990s, Oasis were a opener for The Verve. Having known the brother’s for so long, Richard revealed that Liam had to work hard to avoid situations that would have derailed the band’s reunion.
He said: “The beautiful thing about it is, Liam’s discipline is amazing. I don’t think he’s allowing himself to be in any situations where he can go off track or whatnot.”
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He added that “Noel seems to be in a really good space” too, as well as the entire band, who he said were “blown away” by the success of their reunion tour after a bitter fall out between the brothers led to a fraught and lengthy hiatus. “In life, stories don’t generally [have] this incredible coda,” Richard continued.
Oasis broke up in 2009 after a huge rift between the Gallagher brothers meant they refused to work together or even speak to each other for over a decade.
During all 17 of Oasis’ UK and Ireland shows this summer, Richard Ashcroft was one of two support acts, alongside Liverpool band Cast. At the time, Richard revealed in an interview with Chris Moyles that he felt he had a “very important” part in the tour. ““I see it as I’ve got a very important part to play in this,” he said. “You know, back in the day Oasis supported The Verve and then it flipped around and we supported Oasis at Earls Court, then I as a solo artist have played with Oasis.”
He added that he told Noel he was the “only person” for the slot: “I said to Noel, ‘You know, I think I’m the only person who could go in this slot. Especially for a huge outdoor show, because everyone wants you lot. And unless you’re coming with something, unless you’ve got something to offer, I don’t know what’s gonna happen’.”
Richard is more entwined in Oasis’ history than simply having performed with them though. He also served as the inspiration for their song Cast No Shadow. In the song, Oasis sing about a man who is “bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say”.
Noel told Select Magazine that Richard seemed to “not be very happy” and that he “always tried to say the right things, but they came out wrong”. As such, Noel, who also felt he couldn’t get the right words out, felt inspired by their shared plight.
He continued in a 1997 radio interview: “I don’t write songs about many people – I’ve written songs about him [Liam], I’ve written songs about me mam, I’ve written songs about my wife, I’ve written songs about Richard Ashcroft.
“That man is a genius and I tell you what, man, he ain’t doing it for himself, he’s doing it for me. He has got to be a better songwriter than me and in return, I’ve got to write better songs than him. That’s what it’s about.
“People are going to build up this thing about The Verve and Oasis, but we go back SO far, from Manchester and Wigan, that they will never be able to touch the bond and the friendship that we have.”
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