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Noel Gallagher plays through pain for Isle of Wight festival set

Written by . Published: June 25 2012

Rocker Noel Gallagher battled through illness on Sunday (24Jun12) to perform at Britain's rain-soaked Isle of Wight festival.


The former Oasis star and his High Flying Birds band were scheduled as the penultimate main stage act at the weekend event, which turned into a mudbath following severe storms and flooding, but left fans worried on Friday (22Jun12) after revealing he was unwell.


In a blog post, he wrote, "This cold is f**king killing me... Horrible, horrible couple of days. I f**king hate being a sick boy. It's at times like this I wish I was still in a band so I could just shuffle onstage and stand at the back. Not good."


But Gallagher took to the stage as planned on Sunday to perform solo tracks like Everybody's On The Run and If I Had A Gun, as well as Oasis tunes Little By Little and Half The World Away.


He finished the set with a rousing rendition of Don't Look Back In Anger, and dedicated the song to "any Italians in the crowd" after his national soccer side was beaten by Italy on penalties, ending England's Euro 2012 tournament dream.


His finale wasn't without incident - one festival goer in the crowd threw a lit flare at the rocker and it landed feet away from Gallagher. Security staff dashed onstage to kick the flaming stick into the pit that divided artists from the audience.


Bemused Gallagher simply ignored the incident and carried on with his set.


His performance was followed by headliner Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. The bad weather didn't dampen the spirits of festival fans and acts, which included headliners Pearl Jam and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

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