An infamous rant by Noel Gallagher about how rubbish Christmas is has resurfaced online and just in time for the holidays.
Right on cue, just like that advert with Santa driving the big lorry full of Coca-Cola.
In case you’ve never heard him rip festive fanatics a new one before, the legendary Manc musician pretty much loathes everything about the holiday season – or at least he once did, not that he’s one to dwell on beefs and grievances of any kind…
Speaking in a typically sarcastic Christmas message courtesy of visual arts and electronic outlets 180 Fact, the Oasis songwriter and lead guitarist starts nice and softly by simply stating: “The entire f***ing period is a stain on society – I f***ing hate it with a passion.”
A festive Gallagher grouch, through and through.
As you can see in the full short but not-so-sweet clip above, in which Noel manages to cram in countless gripes against everything from Christmas jingles, jumpers and songs, to even TV adverts, presenters and even the amount of food (what?…), the 57-year-old really isn’t very keen on it at all.
ADVERTISEMENT
He even took issue with charity singles like the 1985 ‘We Are the World’ song because god forbid any well-meaning soul embrace the spirit of giving come December.
Every year it rears its end, we particularly enjoy his bizarre tangent about a kid asking for an exotic spider or tree frog. Hyperbole and absurdity, we know, but still cracks us up.
The older Gallagher brother reels off pretty much every negative adjective you can think of for Christmas: “rubbish”, “boring”, “dogsh**” and so on. He even says he has turned his daughter Anais against the holiday and will continue to work on the other family members in the coming years.
Having said that, we’re not too sure how well all that is going or if Noel is still as vehement in his hatred of Christmas as he once was, especially given recent events. This you, mate, yeah?…
ADVERTISEMENT
Noel Gallagher hosted a star-studded Christmas party in London on Wednesday night.
The 57-year-old got into the festive spirit by inviting a load of his famous pals to celebrity hangout Chiltern Firehouse, which is frequented by the likes of Kate Moss, Rita Ora and even Tom… pic.twitter.com/0E8EnnXgTg
In all seriousness, we sincerely hope that now Oasis are officially back that Noel and all the other Gallagher family relations will be reunited once again this festive period and that everything will be absolutely hunky dory.
That being said, we’ve already had one early Christmas miracle with the two kissing and making up so we’re not going to push our luck too much because, let’s be honest, if it’s anything like anyone else’s Christmas, they’ll be at each other’s throats before you know it.
Please just stay friends until after the tour’s over, lads, we beg you.
What about you lot? Are you Christmas fans or, like Noel Gallagher, do you think it’s overrated tripe?
Take That announce Etihad Stadium gig as they bring back legendary The Circus tour
Daisy Jackson
Take That are back – and they’re rolling back the years to reignite their record-breaking The Circus Live tour from 2009.
The much-loved trio will be performing at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester as part of a run of 11 stadium gigs across the UK.
The Circus Live is one of their most iconic live shows, originally staged in 2009 and breaking records as the fastest-selling tour in history, attracting one million fans.
And now the remaining members of Take That – Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald – are hitting the road once again, more than 17 years after that iconic tour.
It’ll give fans who were there the first time around a chance to relive the magic, while new fans can see one of the most groundbreaking live productions in pop history for the first time – this time even bigger than before.
In 2009, the tour featured fire-breathers, stilt-walkers, clowns, acrobats, tap dancers, and a huge 30-foot-tall mechanical elephant, which carried the band through the audience.
Take That have been teasing the tour all week with videos hinting at clown paint and unicycles, sending fans into a frenzy.
They’ll be performing the original 2009 setlist, with a few surprises thrown in.
Take That will be back with The Circus Live for summer 2026, with two gigs at Etihad Stadium in Manchester
Take That said upon announcing their Etihad Stadium shows: “TThe Circus tour was one of our favourite experiences as a band and, in the years since, we’ve talked many times about how much we’d love to do it again one day. Well, that time has come!
“We’re so excited to welcome audiences old and new across the UK and Ireland to the spectacle of The Circus Live next summer. See you out there!”
Take That have so far announced two nights at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester (though we’re willing to bet they’ll add more), on 19 and 20 June 2026.
Take That will be supported by The Script (who supported on the original Circus Live Tour) and Belinda Carlisle.
Tickets for Take That at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester will go on sale from 9.30am on Friday 26 September, or you can pre-order their upcoming tenth studio album for first access.
Tickets go on sale on Friday 26th September at 9.30am from www.ticketmaster.co.uk / www.gigsandtours.com / www.takethat.com
Take That – The Circus Live – Summer 2026 Full Tour Dates
Friday 29 May – Southampton St Mary’s Stadium
Friday 05 June – Coventry Building Society Arena
Saturday 06 June – Coventry Building Society Arena
Influential indie veterans The Wedding Present to embark on 40th anniversary tour
Danny Jones
Influential indie band The Wedding Present are about to begin a big live tour across the UK for their 40th anniversary, and one stop is right here in Manchester.
As boundary-pushing veterans of the genre for the best part of four decades, The Wedding Present have always been one of the most pioneering auteurs of the Northern music scene, and nothing has changed even after all this time.
The Leeds-formed icons are a favourite not only of ours but even more so among our friends over at The Hoot, and with an artistic legacy as strong as Yorkshire’s, that’s saying something.
David Lewis Gedge’s long-standing project rather quietly announced its major retrospective series of live shows back in June – so quiet, in fact, that we missed it until now – but as they gear up for a handful of very special dates, we’d urge Manc gig-goers to give themselves a Wedding Present.
Gedge and co. will be coming to the O2 Ritz in Manchester for just the second show of merely half a dozen confirmed for The Wedding Present 40th Anniversary Tour, having played the venue many times.
In fact, even after visits featuring live configurations over the years, the current lineup played the Ritz as recently as May 2023; the show was met with strong reviews pretty much across the board, and it seemed to signal somewhat of a falling back in love with the crowds of the North.
For anyone unaware of the self-styled ‘semi-legendary band’ (their PR’s words, not ours), The Wedding Present are probably in similar territory to fellow underdogs and Manc natives, James, when it comes to the amount of music they’ve put out over the years, inspiring generations of those who came after.
You might assume we’d name one of their most famous tracks, ‘George Best’, as our favourite, for rather obvious reasons – but you’d be wrong: it doesn’t get much better than ‘Dreamworld’, if you ask us.
Their rich back catalogue encompasses not only so many different eras but also sounds, styles and various other eccentricities; so much so that their multi-genre-spanning music has even produced its own musical.
But before we dive any deeper down into the rabbit hole, let’s get back on track.
Set to play Manchester on Friday, 10 October, The Wedding Present will be kicking off the tour in Bristol at the start of next month.
There are other dates in the likes of Sheffield, Liverpool, Chester, Holmfirth, Buxton, Newcastle and more, but only a few are officially part of the anniversary tour.
Tickets are live as we speak, so if you fancy going along to see them, you can grab yours HERE.
Danny Jones -
16th December 2024 
