French military rocker gets reward for Oasis song rendition

In this photograph taken on June 13, 2017, Jean-Michel Mekil (C), a gendarme of the Republican Guard, sings and plays guitar on the song of British group Oasis “Don’t Look Back in Anger ” – in tribute to victims of recent terror attacks in Manchester and London – ahead of the friendly international football match between France and England at The Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, north of Paris on June 13, 2017.

The French military band leader who performed a moving rendition of a hit by Manchester rock band Oasis before a England-France football game this week has been invited to a concert by songwriter Noel Gallagher, the promoters said Thursday.


Before the match at the Stade de France on Tuesday, Jean-Michel Mekil played “Don’t Look Back in Anger” in memory of the victims of the suicide bombing in Manchester on May 22 that killed 22 people, including children.


The song, written by Gallagher for his former group Oasis, has become an anthem for victims of the bombing after his brother Liam performed it at a Manchester concert days after the attack.

The bespectacled Mekil’s rendition on electric guitar and in full military uniform has gone viral in France.


He has now been invited him to one of the two concerts in July at the Stade de France when Noel Gallagher’s current group High Flying Birds will support Irish superstars U2.


Promoters Live Nation say they currently have no plans for Mekil to play or sing with Gallagher at the concert.


“It’s amazing. It will be fantastic to be in the audience to hear those songs,” Mekil told AFP, who was playing in less starry surroundings on Thursday.


“Today I’m in Montlucon (in central France) for a ceremony with a police school, it’s 35 degrees, and I was thinking it’s not going to be so much fun today. But that is great news!”