Much has been said and written about the fact that Noel Gallagher was not in attendance for the One Love Manchester concert on Sunday.
Despite rumours of an Oasis reunion for the concert, which raised money for those affected by the Manchester Arena bombing last month, Noel was out of the country for the event and had released a statement confirming that he wouldn’t be there before he left.
His younger brother Liam was one of those to perform at the event, and chose to attack his brother’s decision not to return home for it in a string of tweets on Monday morning.
Chris Martin, who collaborated with Liam for a performance of Live Forever, has since thanked Noel for allowing them to use his songs for the concert, and reminded people that the 50-year-old had made clear that he wouldn’t be there well in advance.
Despite this, some have somewhat unfairly implied that Noel’s no-show at Old Trafford meant that he didn’t care about helping those injured and bereaved by the terrorist attack on his home city.
The Oasis song Don’t Look Back In Anger, a song written and sung by Noel, has become something of a post-tragedy anthem for the city. Videos of crowds singing it whilst gathered around the floral tributes in St Anne’s Square have been widely circulated in recent days and it was also a song that Coldplay performed prior to Liam’s appearance on Sunday evening.
Now, according to Simon Kelner, it seems Noel has been donating any money raised from sales of that particular song to help those affected.
‘I happen to know that he [Noel] has been donating all profits from sales of the song since the bombing to the We Love Manchester campaign,’ Kelner writes for inews.
‘Criticism of a lack of empathy for his home city’s plight is misguided.’
Perhaps this might make people think again before suggesting Noel ‘doesn’t care’.