Oasis should run a mile from this Irish rebel band

Liam Gallagher, it is fair to say, is not renowned for thoughtfulness or tact, particularly on the platform formerly known as Twitter. Still, many fans will have been appalled to learn that the singer apparently wants the Irish republican band, the Wolfe Tones, to perform at Oasis’s shows in Dublin next year. In response to a suggestion that the ‘rebel’ group should be added to the bill at Croke Park, Liam tweeted, ‘I’m up for it, let’s do it!’

The Wolfe Tones are best known for their song Celtic Symphony, which features the refrain, ‘Ooh, ahh, up the ‘Ra,’ in celebration of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It was the PIRA that launched several bomb attacks on the Gallagher brothers’ home city of Manchester during the Troubles, injuring almost 300 people and causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage.

Liam and Noel might not have the clearest memories of the nineties, but they will at least recall the explosion near the Arndale shopping centre in 1996, that was timed to coincide with that year’s Euro football tournament.