Gallaghers Unite At Fuji Rock – Not Quite

The headlining act for Saturday night at this year’s Fuji Rock Festival July 27-29 has finally been announced.

It will be Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, a choice that should both thrill and perplex Japan’s huge contingent of Oasis fans, as Beady Eye, the band fronted by Gallagher’s estranged brother and former Oasis frontman Liam, is also playing at the festival, albeit on Friday night.

It would be interesting to read the riders on this one (“…vehicles carrying Liam/Noel must not be allowed to come within 1,000 meters of vehicles carrying Noel/Liam…”), but it seems pretty certain that there will be no reunion.

Nevertheless, the value of Noel as a headliner on Saturday, an important consideration as it often determines whether some fans decide whether to make a weekend out of it, is questionable because he’s already toured Japan twice this year.

In fact, he was just here at the end of May and was mobbed everywhere he went.

On his blog, Gallagher said he was “manhandled at the station by an increasingly hysterical crowd of well wishers. It can be quite an experience, like a medium level bad trip.”

Nevertheless, he says he had a great time, especially in Osaka, where he announced his return in July to the Green Stage at Fuji.

“The gig was great,” he wrote. “The best one of the tour I reckon.”