Noel Gallagher surprises Oasis photographer Jill Furmanovsky with icon prize at Abbey Road Music Photography Awards
Noel Gallagher made a surprise appearance at the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards yesterday (October 3) to honour Oasis photographer Jill Furmanovsky.
Furmanovsky has shot some of music’s biggest names, including Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry, Joy Division, Amy Winehouse and more.
Her work with the Gallagher brothers over the years culminated in the release of both Oasis – Was There Then: A Photographic Journey (1997) and Oasis at Knebworth (2021).
Yesterday (October 3), Noel Gallagher honoured her 53-year career by presenting her with the ICON award. “She’s a very, very dear friend of mine,” he said at the event, which also saw Nile Rodgers, Debbie Harry, David Gilmour, Siouxsie Sioux and Sting send in video tributes.
“It’s been an honour to have been associated with her for 30 years. I can only say that she is as lovely as she seems, she’s one of my best friends, and I adore her.” He went on to call her the “best photographer ever”.
In 2009, Furmanovsky shared exclusive behind-the-scene pictures of the band with NME, and said “the air was crackling with tension” when she shot them in Paris in 1995. “Liam had been in the hotel bar all night and was still drunk in the morning,” she recalled. “Noel became furious with him as he lurched about shouting obscenities at French people on bicycles and then returned to pose.”
With all tensions now assuaged ahead of their shock reunion OASIS LIVE 25 world tour, Furmanovsky joked about the ticket controversies that have recently dominated headlines, after fans who made it through the multi-hour-long queues were disappointed to find that they were listed for hugely inflated prices due to “dynamic” pricing.
While Oasis have said they “at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used”, the ensuing backlash brought the practice into the political sphere, with Keir Starmer saying the issue was “depressing” at Prime Minister’s Questions, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy calling for a review into dynamic pricing and secondary ticket sites.
“I couldn’t get tickets,” Furmanovsky told Sky News. “I tried to… they’ll let me in, though. They’re going to let me otherwise I’m going to go to [the Gallaghers’ mum] Peggy.” She said she would “absolutely” be there to capture the historic reunion shows, quipping: “I’ve got to do it, haven’t I?”
Earlier this week, Liam and Noel Gallagher announced the first run of international dates for their Oasis reunion tour which includes shows across North America and Mexico. They then went on to share that due to “phenomenal demand”, four new dates were added to the tour.
The general sale for tickets will go live today (October 4) at 10am local time. Visit here to buy tickets and find more details here.
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Poppy Burton
NME
