Cast have been confirmed as one of the support acts on the Oasis tour next year and frontman John Power is – as you’d expect – immensely chuffed about it.
In an interview with NME Power said that he was “blown away,” when he heard the news. “We had the nod and were just waiting for the official announcement. Now we can bask in it. It’s a stamp of approval from our peers, and I appreciate that massively.”
Cast join Richard Ashcroft on the bill for the sold-out gigs next summer. It’s not known yet if any other support acts will be added. Thus far, it’s very much a Britpop pals reunion lineup, though Power chose to couch it in another way: “Us, Richard Ashcroft and Oasis – talk about Northern Soul! That’s some line-up.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Power reminisces about the first time he encountered one of the Gallaghers: “I’d just left The La’s and decided to go see them at this little club in Manchester, to show there were no bad feelings. That’s when I first met Liam. This young lad came up to me and asked me for a ciggy; it was a 16-year-old Liam.”
“Then later, me and Cast were recording some demos. Supersonic was really happening and Oasis were on this little club tour. I blagged my way into this little venue in Liverpool and I was talking to this NME journalist at the bar who recognised me from The La’s. Then Liam comes in, and this was a few days after the band had been on The Word, and tells me about me not giving him a ciggy!”
Not surprisingly, Power has fond memories of the Britpop years. “After Supersonic, it just exploded,” he remembers. “A lot of bands really believed in themselves and it wasn’t just front – they had the songs. I knew we were one of those bands too. It was a fantastic time.”
Cast split up after their fourth album, Beetroot, in 2001, but reformed in 2010 and have since released a further three albums. Last year’s Love Is The Call was the first since the band’s heyday to reach the Top 30.
The guitarist seems firmly focused on the present though rather than past glories: “When you walk on stage, it’s about the here and now – no one’s getting nostalgic,” he said. “It’s not about yesterday, these (Oasis) shows are going to be about 2025 and creating the myth of tomorrow. Hopefully 20 years from now, people will be talking about this tour like they talk about the legend of Knebworth or whatever.”
