I'll be the first person to admit I can lay on the hyperbole with the best of them. That said, this is the. single. greatest. version. I've ever heard of "Slide Away," a song I repeatedly said as far back as 1996 that The Chief would never better. I'm not sure he ever has. I get goose bumps every time I listen to this version. Yes I am a dork. Thanks for asking. Seriously, do yourself a favor and give this thing a listen or twelve.

Gambling update from Vegas: Drunk by 6 p.m. local time. In bed by 10. However, I walked away $1 ahead from about 90 minutes at the roulette table last night (I don't do card games). I'll take it. Oh, and I'm up at 4 a.m. again.

Wow.

Check out this setlist that Noel played for an acoustic charity gig:

'(It's Good) To Be Free'
'Talk Tonight'
'Fade Away'
'Cast No Shadow'
'The Importance Of Being Idle'
'Come On/Let's Go' (with Paul Weller)
'Thick As Thieves' (with Paul Weller)
'Wonderwall'
'Half The World Away'
'Slide Away'
'Strawberry Fields Forever'
'Don't Look Back In Anger'
'Married With Children'
'Listen Up'

In addition to playing six of my favorite ten or so Oasis songs, The Chief just dropped five Oasis b-sides plus two Paul Weller songs. In. The. Same. Set. Holy fucking hell. I need the MP3's of this NOW. I have treats for anyone that can hook me up. Lots and lots of treats.

Noel Gallagher on Aol's The Interface. What. A. Great. Interview.

He also does killer acoustic versions of "Slide Away," "It's Good To Be Free," and "Whatever." Go check it out right now!

Here's the photogallery.

Noel and Gem will be performing a special invitation only acoustic show to celebrate the release of Oasis Stop the Clocks best of album in Los Angeles on Thursday November 9th. The performance will be preceded by an advance screening of the Oasis road movie Lord Dont Slow Me Down.

We have 50 pairs of tickets for this unique invitation only night to give away to lucky oasisinet friends. For your chance to receive a pair of tickets please email your name and address including ZIP code to competitions@oasisinet.com before midnight Sunday October 29 PCT putting "Oasis Oasisinet LA" as subject of the email. Lucky recipients will be notified by email within 48 hours.

Important: recipients MUST collect their tickets in person by presenting valid ID at the El Rey Theater box office, 5515 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA. Box office hours are between 10.00am and 6.00pm Monday October 30th thru to Saturday November 4th . Failure to pick up tickets by 6.00pm Saturday the 4th November will result in loss of entitlement.

Doors open 7.00 pm, due to special nature of the event strictly no admission after 7.45 pm

As you might guess, I have a bad case of Oasis on the brain. Between the near constant emails from their website in anticipation of the release of Stop The Clocks, the new song in the preview for their tourfilm Lord, Don't Slow Me Down, and the (scary) realization that I've been following my favorite band's triumphs and tribulations for TWELVE Effing YEARS, well I hope you'll bear with me as I try and take this all in. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was riding around Greenville, North Cackalacka listening to the brand new Cigarettes & Alcohol single on endless repeat.

Last night I was rustling through the last three unpacked boxes in my apartment and I opened my box of bootleg CD's and shuffled through them. I have a ton of Oasis stuff and I started listening to a few of my many Oasis gigs. I think my favorite era was in 1995-1996, when they were releasing a new single every few months, Noel was at the heights of his songwriting powers and they still had Mark Coyle behind the mixing board doing their sound. Back then Noel used to do a short acoustic set during the tail end of the gig and that always my favorite part of the show. I am an unabashed Liam fan and he makes the band for me, but sometimes it's nice to dial it down a bit and hear the songs as Noel wrote them. So, for your downloading pleasure, I present the three songs that Noel did acoustically from what I'm guessing was the October 14th gig at the Orpheum in Boston (my copy doesn't have the exact date). I saw them four days earlier in Baltimore.

[MP3] Noel Gallagher | Wonderwall

[MP3] Noel Gallagher | Morning Glory

[MP3] Noel Gallagher | Cast No Shadow

The above pic was from August 25th, 2000 when I travelled to England to see Oasis perform at the Reading Festival. Oasis played the first night of the festival and I spent most of the day stalking Noel around the backstage area and taking photos of him. I met up with the Super Furry Animals the next day to see them play and then went on the tour bus with them that night to see them play Leeds the next day. It was a hell of a weekend. I have more photos that I'll post next week along with some more MP3's.