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Noel Gallagher tells brilliant story about extremely heavy sesh with Bono

Noel couldn't even keep up

Noel Gallagher tells brilliant story about extremely heavy sesh with Bono
26 September 2017

Everyone knows the Gallagher brothers are partial to the odd big one - I mean, their best song (it’s true, dont @ me) is literally called ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’.

Noel and Liam are famous for their rock star antics while part of Oasis, but Bono? Bono of ultimate dad-rock band U2? That Bono? I never saw him as much of a boozer.

I always thought Bono was far more interested in saving the world than ruining his liver, but then why should the two be mutually exclusive? Why can’t you knock back 15 pints of Stella and then make an important speech on the future of the planet?

That’s what Noel discovered on a recent night out with the 57-year-old Irishman, who is still very much going strong.

Bono giving a speech in Paris, probably having just necked about nine pints of pure ethanol

In an interview with Absolute Radio, Noel lifted the lid on their  big session, saying that he struggled to keep up with Bono so much that at one point he even tried to escape.

Noel has been supporting U2 on their recent The Joshua Tree tour, and the night in question came after the Dublin gig (of course).

Noel crashed at Bono’s guest house, and was awoken by a phone call from the big man himself.

Here’s how Noel describes it:

So he says, “Oh you’re alive anyway, come on, everybody’s here waiting for you,” and I was kind of going, “What for?” He said, “For the lunch I’m throwing in your honor, there’s 75 guests have arrived.” I said, “I’ve only just got out of bed,” He said, “Look, the President of Ireland’s just arrived and you’re sitting next to him, so hurry up.” So I had to get showered, get up there, ‘whey, ey’ and all that. The lunch started at three. Do you know what time it finished? Ten past four in the morning.

He was going, “Where you going?” I was like, “Well, I was gonna go to Paris for this gig.” He said, “No, stay here, come on a private jet.” So we get on the jet, more boozing. This is the part of the story that kills me. More boozing, we land in Paris. He says, “Look, when the jet lands, I’ve got to go off and do this thing, so I’ll see you at the hotel.” I’m like ‘great’, thinking once he’s out of sight I’m going straight to rehab - this is too much for me.

So he goes off, I get to the hotel, it takes me 20 minutes to find the remote control for the telly, another 10 minutes to order a club sandwich, with some guy who’s clearly neither French nor English on the other end of the phone. And as I was kind of sitting down I put on the telly and I’m flicking through, and there’s Bono doing a live press conference with the Prime Minister of France about Africa. And I know what we’ve been up to the previous three days and I’m going, “He’s not real man”.

And the next night we do the gig in Paris. I’m sweating pure lager, and he gets up and sings like a 24-year-old. And I’m like, “I’ve had enough”.

Noel Gallagher performing with his High Flying Birds

So yeah, Noel wasn’t even a patch on Bono. I wonder if Liam could even keep up? 

I’m sure the younger Gallagher would claim he can drink anyone under the table, but he says a lot of things, doesn’t he.

(Images: Rex)