Slane's In The Bag But Oasis Jury Is Still Out On O2 As The Boys Aren't Mad For It

It's going to be called the O2? Oh dear," exclaimed Noel Gallagher when asked if Oasis will be playing the new Dublin venue when it opens.

The O2 in London is atrocious so if it's as bad that, then probably not!"

Speaking at the announcement of their headline performance at Slane next year, the Oasis songwriter proved that he's still fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, given that his estranged father Tommy hails from Duleek and his mum Peggy's from Mayo.

"We used to spend six weeks of our school holidays here until I was 15 so it was a massive part of my childhood," he said.

And although the Wonderwall stars will be performing to some 80,000 people when they play Slane Castle on June 20, it seems the boys biggest fan is their Irish mum Peggy.

When quizzed if she was going to attend next summer's concert, he said she "wouldn't miss it for the world."

"She'll be like the Queen of Sheba, I expect. " he explained. Noel went on to say how Irish audiences always held a special place in his heart

"About 90pc of stars going to any city will say it's the best audience they've encountered but there's something about the Celtic crowd, places like Ireland and Scotland that seems to be different. I just think people get more drunk," he laughed.

He also dismissed questions about throwing a ring of steel around the front of the stage area to avoid any repeats of what happened during their Toronto performance.

The musician was left with a suspected fractured rib after a spectator rushed onto the stage and attacked him, pushing him to the ground.

"It was a freak occurrence that has happened once in 20 years and you can't legislate for things like that," he said.

Asked what Irish fans could expect from the concert, he said: "Oasis concerts are all about the crowd. We're not like U2 who put on the greatest show on earth. I wouldn't waste my time with a load of scientists designing lighting rigs.

We'll have no fireworks or big inflatable things on stage -- except for maybe Liam!"

However, he insisted that their show would be "well worth the money", even in these global meltdown credit crunch times.

Source: www.herald.ie