The Truth About Zanzibar

On May 3, 2003, Noel Gallagher took to the stage and performed his historic gig at the Zanzibar club in Liverpool. Prior to the gig, he had taken the opportunity in several radio interviews to promote the greatness of the newly written song “Stop the Clocks.” In the middle of his setlist that night, in between performing “Talk Tonight” and “Wonderwall”, and then “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Married With Children”, Noel performed the song he had spoken so much about, and a legend was born. Over the years, an audio recording of the Zanzibar concert never surfaced. Some fans even began to doubt that the concert ever took place, or that the song had been performed that night. The manager of the Zanzibar club once gave me the assurance, in regards to whether or not a recording existed-- “There was no recording of this gig, I personally sought to that.” Much as the only performance of “Just Getting Older” from Cardiff in December of 2002 has been lost in the streams of time, the same appeared to be true for the legendary Zanzibar gig. When nearly five years has passed, it is understandable why most fans would give up nearly all hope. I am here today not to give fans new hope that a recording of the gig might exist, but to announce to everyone that it does exist. Sadly, I am not here to talk about the song “Stop the Clocks” or in any manner share that mysterious track, or song clips of it, with you. Such will have to wait until after the official release of the song as a studio track in the near future. But I would like to give you the full picture of what happened on that night at the Zanzibar. As part of this, I can confirm the existence of the following--

#1- an excellent quality audio recording of the entire show
#2- a camcorder audience video recording of the show

Video Recording

I do not have a copy of the video recording, but have been told that it does exist and was filmed on camcorder by someone attending the show. I will likely be granted a copy of this in the upcoming months and hope to be able to share it with everyone.

The Infamous Intro Clip

Over the years, many of you have listened to the alleged intro clip which was leaked onto the internet a short time after the concert was held. In this clip, a man's voice can be heard introducing Noel to the audience. The man says: "We're going to have a guest now. Someone who is very dear to our hearts. Who needs no introduction from me, but will get one anyway. Mr. Noel Gallagher." The crowd then cheers and a couple notes can be heard on an electric guitar, before the clip ends. I am happy to report that indeed this intro clip is authentic. It was 100% recorded at Zanzibar on the night of Noel's performance. An independent contact from Liverpool who was at the gig comfirmed that the man speaking is Howie Payne of The Stands. However, Noel and Gem did not begin their performance immediately following this special introduction. Instead, Noel took to the stage with his guitar and played one song with The Stands. When they were finished, The Stands departed from the stage and Noel and Gem began preparing to do their set list.

About the Audio

You might be interested to learn that the audio for the Zanzibar recording is excellent quality. In most cases, bootlegs usually do not provide amazing quality or great listening enjoyment for reliving the gig. In the case of Noel's performance at Zanzibar, the opposite is true. I'm not going to specifically say how this recording came about, but trust me, it is excellent to listen to.

My Review of the Concert

The recording of the concert starts with some soft music playing in the background, much like the music played over a PA system while waiting for an artist to take the stage at a concert. Soon, Noel, Gem, and Terry come up to the stage and pick up or stand by their instruments. Then, Noel gives a simple greeting to the small crowd, saying: "Hello." The crowd greets him back and the background music dies down. Noel says: “To all the people in the back, I’ll meet you somewhere.” The first notes can now be heard on the acoustic guitar and Noel says: “This is Gem. And this is little Terry. I call him Andy Deck.” Finally, the concert begins. The first song is 'Talk Tonight', which lets you know that the Zanzibar club is filled with Oasis fans. Much as one of the press reviews stated, many in the audience are singing along from beginning to end. It sounds like Terry is playing bongo drums, which create a different feel to the song as a whole. Gem really shines as he plays the solo and some of the lead guitar parts to the song, during which it sounds like there is a unique reverb effect that hasn’t really been used before when playing live. In the middle of the song, Noel says: “Thank you very much.” I’m not sure why, but perhaps somebody in the crowd shouted something to him or gave him something. When the song is finished, Noel coughs and again says: “Thank you very much.”

The crowd starts talking to Noel now, there are a lot of different people yelling and requesting certain songs. Noel says: “I beg your pardon.” The band soon launches into a moving rendetion of ‘Wonderwall’. Noel’s singing is very heartfelt, and the version sounds similar to what he played acoustically for a radio show in 2003. (The radio show where he told the DJ that she reminded him of Dannii Minogue.) In parts of the song, he seems to let the vocal notes carry on longer than normal. There is an awesome guitar ending by Gem. It has a very cool tone and melody to it. After the song, Noel says: “Thank you... so anyway.” Then Noel plays a chord on the acoustic guitar and utters the words that the crowd will never forget: "This next song is called 'Stop the Clocks.'" During the song, Gem is playing what sounds like backwards guitar with reverb or an echo effect. It's different than the backwards guitar heard in the song "Who Feels Love", but has the same psychedelic feel, with bongo drums being played by Terry.

After the very spaced-out, but sing-a-longy 'Stop the Clocks' is performed for the first time anywhere, fans start asking him to perform 'It's a Crime'. This catches Noel’s attention and he has to clear something up. He says: “That’s not called ‘It’s a Crime. It’s called ‘Revolution Song’.” (I’m thinking here that Noel was confused, as there were two unreleased songs at this point which each had two names. ‘It’s a Crime’ was actually ‘Let There Be Love’, while ‘Solve My Mystery’ was ‘Revolution Song’. Noel perhaps mixed up the two songs when he heard the incorrect title shouted.) Noel continues: “Anyway, anybody gone to the match today?” In response, Noel is met with booing and whistling, essentially a wild, but playful reaction from the crowd. The reason the crowd wasn’t happy with the match, is that earlier in the day Noel’s beloved Manchester City defeated Liverpool FC, with the scorer being Nicolas Anelka. If I remember right, that loss cost Liverpool FC dearly as they were trying to finish in Fourth Place. Noel continues: “Well, I went, anyway. I would like to sing this song for anybody who went to the match.” In the midst of this, guitars are being tuned up and Noel is laughing along with the crowd. The version of ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ performed was very similar again to the 2003 radio show version. It’s actually one of the most extraordinary versions I’ve ever heard, with the lyrics being sung extremely soulful and heartfelt. There seemed to be more vocal tone changes than usual.

When the song is done, Noel says: “Cheers. We’re going to do one more for you. I would like to thank... Nicolas Anelka.” Immediately, the boos and jeering once again fill the Zanzibar club. Noel corrects himself, before he gets into too much trouble: “What I meant is I’d like to thank The Bandits for asking us to play and everybody in Liverpool for being so nice to us. I’d also like to play this particular song for Digsy-- wherever he is.” (I’m assuming that Noel is talking about Digsy Deary, who is from Liverpool.) Someone in the crowd tells Noel that Digsy has gone home for the night. Noel says: “He’s left. He’s gone. He left as soon as we came on. Anyway, (speaking of the crowd) you’ve been very young, all of you. And we’ll be off. I’m gonna get pissed. Don’t take the (bleep) (bleep) effect off my vocal for the last song, please. The lyrical content of this song I’ll dedicate to Digsy.” The band plays the intro to the song and Noel adds: “Can you guess what it is?” They perform an outstanding version of ‘Married With Children’, again a bit slower than normal. When finished, Noel simply says: “Thank you.”

There are many reasons that is my personal favorite Oasis / Noel gig ever. For one thing, the setting is so intimate, and you can hear quite a bit of interaction between Noel and the audience. As said earlier, his singing was heartfelt and real emotion was put into the words and phrases of the songs. And these versions all sound somewhat different to others that have been recorded... there is a uniqueness to them which you will enjoy listening to for years to come.

THE END

IMPORTANT NOTE: While I personally have been granted a copy of the Zanzibar gig, I do not own the rights to it. It is not my recording. At this time, I may be given permission to share 1 of the 5 songs with the fans. I hope to share more of them with you soon, but it is not up to me.