Noel Gallagher Caught In Swine Flu Panic

05/01/09 12:29pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Noel Gallagher quickly became attuned to swine flu panic when he sneezed in an airport in Venezuela.

Oasis were in the country to play a gig at Caracas' Campo De Futbol USB on Tuesday, which was right in the middle of this week's swine flu panic.

"It's all got a bit mad over here," Gallagher wrote in a MySpace blog entry on Wednesday. "The swine flu malarky is freaking people out.

"Landed at Crack'arse airport yesterday. All the ground staff are wearing those little white face masks! ALL OF THEM. It was like something out of another Stephen King novel. I suddenly feel quite naked without one.

"Then if that wasn't bad enough my mam called me at that very moment and tells me to be 'careful' or I WILL die of pig flu. I swear at that point I did a massive sneeze and the entire airport fell silent and started to stare!! I WANT A MASK!!!"

He probably just had allergies or something.

Gallagher described "Crack'arse" as "not the most glamorous of destinations" and arrived at his hotel to discover there was an armed guard stationed outside his hotel room.

"What does that say?" he wrote in the same blog post. "Am I vulnerable to a robbery from room service?

"Anyway, could be worse, at least the sun's out and I have a balcony and it's 86*. Mind you, what about snipers (as [Primal Scream vocalist] Bobby Gillespie once said to me as we were getting pissed in my back garden)??"

Gallagher took time to update Oasis fans on his health on Thursday, and wrote the following in another MySpace blog entry:

"Ain't got that pig flu yet, by the way. Give it time though."

Oasis will play the following shows (unless Noel gets swine flu):

May 3 Buenos Aires, Argentina @ River Plate Stadium
May 5 Santiago, Chile @ Movistar Arena
May 7 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Citibank Hall
May 9 Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Sao Paulo Arena Anhembi
May 10 Curitiba, Brazil @ Expotrade
May 12 Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Porto Alerge Gigantinho
June 4, 6-7 Manchester, England @ Heaton Park
June 10 Sunderland, England @ Stadium Of light
June 12 Cardiff, Wales @ Millennium Stadium
June 14 Vienne, France @ Theatre Antique De Vienne
June 17 Edinburgh, Scotland @ Murrayfield
June 20 Slane, Ireland @ Slane Castle
July 2 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter Festival
July 3 Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
July 7 Coventry, England @ Ricoh Arena
July 9 11-12 London, England @ Wembley Stadium
July 14 Bodelva, England @ Eden Project
July 16 Benicassim, Spain @ Festival Internacional De Benicassim
July 18 Bern, Switzerland @ Guertenfestival
July 19 Grafenhainichen, Germany @ Ferropolis (Melt! Festival)
July 24 Niigata, Japan @ Naeba Ski Resort (Fuji Rock Festival)
Aug. 22 Staffordshire, England @ Weston Park (V Festival)
Aug. 23 Chelmsford, England @ Hylands Park (V Festival)
Aug. 28 Paris, France @ Domaine National De Saint-Cloud (Rock En Seine)
Aug. 29 Konstanz, Germany @ Bodensee-Stadion (Rock Am See Festival)
Aug. 30 Milan, Italy @ I-Days Festival