Manchester group Oasis are used to battling authority, but now the band have been banned from performing in China by government officials.
Despite battling football hooligans on a ferry, the Mafia in Germany and one of their own fans onstage in Canada, Oasis have never before been banned from an entire country.
Oasis were due to play two gigs in China recently, but these were pulled without explanation earlier today (March 2nd). Although Chinese officials have refused to comment on the issue a new statement from the Oasis camp claims the group are suffering due to Noel Gallagher playing a ‘Free Tibet’ show.
Amongst the other groups who have played a Free Tibet show are Beastie Boys, Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine and Bjork.
The statement reads:
“Oasis were informed Saturday (February 28) by their Chinese promoters, (Emma Entertainment/Ticketmaster China) that representatives from the Chinese government have revoked the performance licenses already issued for the band and ordered their shows in both Beijing and Shanghai to be immediately cancelled. The government have instructed the ticket agencies to stop selling tickets and to reimburse the thousands of fans who have already purchased tickets for these inaugural Oasis shows in the People’s Republic of China.”
“According to the show’s promoters, officials within the Chinese Ministry of Culture only recently discovered that Noel Gallagher appeared at a Free Tibet Benefit Concert on Randall’s Island in New York in 1997, and have now deemed that the band are consequently unsuitable to perform to their fans in the Chinese Republic on 3rd and 5th of April, during its 60th anniversary year.”
The rest of the band’s South East Asian tour is unaffected.
