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Noel Gallagher on Manchester Bombing: “This Particular Atrocity Will Take Quite a While to Heal”

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - MARCH 13: Noel Gallagher of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds performs live on sage at Autodromo de Interlagos on March 13, 2016 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)

Oasis co-founder Noel Gallagher is naturally upset about Monday night’s concert bombing in his native Manchester, England, and he shared his thoughts in an interview with the U.K.’s Radio X last night. Gallagher says he heard the news Tuesday morning and his initial reaction was “speechless.”

“Having played that arena and all that, and stood in that foyer, and being from Manchester,” he said, “it’s dawning on you that it’s aimed at young music fans. I say that there are no words but there are words. But unfortunately, you can’t broadcast the words. I suppose Manchester Arena will open again and, yeah, you’ve gotta, you’ve got to keep going. I mean, I don’t know what Ariana Grande is gonna do. I couldn’t imagine that… I don’t know what I would feel or how I would react. I’m mean, I’m pretty upset about it now, but if it was your fans….”

Gallagher said his own teen daughter wasn’t at the concert, but she easily could have been. “Bar a couple of friends of friends who were in hospital and two very close shaves, all the people that I know didn’t get involved in it or weren’t caught up in it,” he said. “It’s lucky in that sense but I think this particular atrocity will take quite a while to heal.”

Gallagher joins several other Manchester musicians who’ve spoken out about the tragedy, including the 1975’s Matt Healy and a sympathy-free statement from Morrissey. Earlier today, a crowd in Manchester broke into Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” a song Gallagher wrote, at a public memorial ceremony. Watch the Radio X interview segment below.

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[Stereogum]