Noel Gallagher is the latest artist to pay tribute to David Bowie for the late, great pop and rock icon’s David Bowie Is series, touching on the last time the former Oasis leader conversed with Bowie.
Not to be confused with a museum exhibit that toured the world between 2013 and 2018 (also named David Bowie Is), the series began last month with a seven-minute video showing Dave Grohl, Yungblud and Ricky Gervais reminiscing on their favourite Bowie moments, songs and interactions, and touching on the ways Bowie influenced their own careers. It was followed by a second video from Grohl at the end of January, and then one from Elvis Costello at the start of February.
For the series’ fourth instalment, Gallagher looked back fondly on Bowie’s “forever changing” legacy, likening him to The Beatles and describing him as “fearless and not afraid of ridicule” with “a great, unique voice”. Have a look at the full video below:
Gallagher went on to explain that he first met Bowie after seeing him perform at the Wembley Arena – Bowie did four gigs on that stage in November of 1995, playing to a cumulative 200,000 Londoners in support of his ‘Outside’ album. Gallagher’s last interaction with Bowie was after the 2014 BRIT Awards, where Gallagher and Kate Moss accepted Bowie’s award for Best Male Solo Artist.
“The very next night, I got an email pinged through on my iPad,” Gallagher explained. “It just said, ‘Thanks for the shoutout last night. Keep writing, love David.’ And I was thinking, ‘David? Who’s David? I don’t know anybody called David.’ And then it slowly dawned on me, so I emailed back straight away, ‘Oh, no problem mate…’ And then he emailed back straight away, and I was like, ‘Am I in a conversation with David Bowie?’
“Turns out it was in fact David Bowie, and he was like ‘Oh, keep writing,’ and I was like, ‘Start gigging.’ He was a dude. A bit too tall for my liking, but still, a bit of a dude.”
As for his favourite song from the Bowie catalogue, Gallagher rounded off a few particular tracks from his ‘80s output – specifically ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Modern Love’ and ‘Blue Jean’ – but noted that “the one that [he] always go[es] back to” is ‘Let’s Dance’ because “there’s not enough dancing in the world”.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Bill Nighy was cast as the lead role in a forthcoming TV reboot of Bowie’s The Man Who Fell To Earth. The classic sci-fi movie, based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel of the same name, marked one of Bowie’s most memorable roles, starring as Thomas Jerome Newton – an alien posing as a human in an attempt to save his home planet.
The new Showtime adaptation was first announced in 2019, and is set to premiere later this year. Commenting on the series recently, NME writer Matt Charlton said the makers should “tread carefully around Bowie’s legacy”. A graphic novel adaptation – written by Dan Watters (Cowboy Bebop, Lucifer) and illustrated by Dev Pramanik (Dune: House Atreides) – will also launch in 2022.
Back in January, Gallagher covered Bowie’s 2013 track ‘Valentine’s Day’, performing it as part of a special livestream to celebrate what would have been Bowie’s 75th birthday.