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Manchester vs Cancer











31 Mar 07 - The cream of Manchester's musicians and more were on stage last night at the MEN Arena for the Manchester Versus Cancer gig.

As well as sets from Freebase, Echo and the Bunnymen and Noel Gallagher there were plenty of one-off collaborations, making it a unique event.

For the finale, former Stone Roses Mani and Ian Brown performed I Am The Resurrection, with some help from ex-Smith Andy Rourke and New Order's Peter Hook.

Paul Weller collaborated with Noel Gallagher on The Jam's The Butterfly Collector, and he joined The Charlatans on stage for a rendition of Town Called Malice. And McAlmont and Butler played with Rourke on the Smiths classics Still Ill and Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.

Noel told 6 Music that Weller is never hard to persuade to get involved:

"The thing about Paul is that if you don't ask him, he'll say 'why didn't you ask me?' , and if you do ask him, he's like 'well go on then.'

"You know, I kind of get on and play with Paul - we enjoy each other's company."

Noel also explained what the whole event was in aid of: "It's for Christies hospital, which is where the cancer victims in Manchester are - and it's to raise money for that."

Charlatans keyboardist Tony Rodgers has recovered from cancer himself, and he told us that's one of the reasons they were involved:

"It's a subject very close to us as a band and me personally, and I think it's kind of our duty as well to raise awareness, to help, and to offer our services in any way we can."

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/6music

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