You may or may not have heard that, last week, Oasis were forced to cancel two Chinese gigs that were due to take place in Beijing and Shanghai in April. At the time, the cancellations came without explanation.
Now Oasis have released a statement announcing that the Chinese Authorities pulled their performance license after finding out that Noel Gallagher was part of a Free Tibet campaign in the late 90s. The Chinese Ministry of Culture deemed Oasis unsuitable to play in the People's Republic of China after discovering that Noel played a Free Tibet Benefit Concert in 1997. The cancellation comes after a comment from Bjork about Tibet at her Shanghai concert last year prompted a clampdown on foreign acts considered to be "inappropriate."
The band's statement said that "Oasis are extremely disappointed that they are now being prevented from undertaking their planned tour of mainland China and hope that the powers that be within China will reconsider their decision and allow the band to perform to their Chinese fans at some stage in the future… The rest of the South East Asian leg of the band's tour, including the Hong Kong show, will go ahead as planned."
