Will Oasis ever reform? Why Noel and Liam Gallagher fell out and where they stand on a reunion
The Britpop band split when the Gallagher brothers fell out but here's what they've said about reuniting.
Are Oasis reuniting? Oasis fans have had hopes of a reunion sparked yet again after Noel Gallagher has said he is open to discussing reforming the band with brother Liam Gallagher.
Formed in 1991, the Manchester band responsible for hits such as Wonderwall, Supersonic, and Some Might Say, are one of the most influential and beloved UK groups of all time.
They split in 2009 when the warring brothers fell out during a backstage fight at a festival in Paris and ever since fans have been hoping they will put their differences behind them.
Could an Oasis reunion really happen?
What have Liam and Noel said about Oasis reuniting?
Noel, 55, has responded to rumours that agents for his younger brother Liam, 50, have proposed plans for the band to perform a series of reunion concerts at Knebworth in 2025.
The High Flying Bird told talkSPORT the Beady Eye frontman was being "disingenuous" as he hadn't even "got his people to call my people."
Noel said: "He won't speak to me, coward... The thing with Liam is, you read these things every day he's saying, 'it's happening, it's happening,' but he gets peoples' hopes up, all over the world. Then I get asked about it, and I have to look like I'm dropping a big foot on it."
Read more here: Noel Gallagher hits out at 'coward' Liam amid latest Oasis reunion speculation (HuffPost UK, 3 min read)
Liam hit back furiously on Twitter: "I don’t wish AIDS on people I turn up and play the MUSIC for the people of MANCHESTER who have just had a terror attack while you sit on your dingy sipping champagne and you got the audacity to call me a COWARD sit down you [bell] end."
I don’t wish AIDS on people I turn up and play the MUSIC for the people of MANCHESTER who have just had a terror attack while you sit on your dingy sipping champagne and you got the audacity to call me a COWARD sit down you 🛎 end
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) May 24, 2023
Lead singer Liam keeps fanning the flames Little By Little by promising a reunion is on the cards in messages to fans through his Twitter account.
In March older brother Noel, 55, told French radio station France Inter: "He should get his people to call my people. They know who they are, they know where we are, stop talking on the f***ing internet, let's see what you've gotta say."
Read more here: Oasis fans think reunion may be on cards after Noel's latest comments (Sky News, 2 min read)
Liam hit back on Twitter saying: "Here’s how I see it the little fella aka potato has done a lot of damage to Oasis as a band / brand he’s got a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans the people that put us where we are today as you were LG x"
Here’s how I see it the little fella aka potato has done a lot of damage to Oasis as a band / brand he’s got a lot of making up to do not just to me but to you the fans the people that put us where we are tday as you were LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) March 22, 2023
In an interview with Talk Sport on 31 March, 2023, Noel returned the jibe saying he's waiting for the call from his brother.
He said Liam "should do it. I'm still waiting for the phone to ring."
"He should stop yakking on the internet."
However, just as the back-and-forth was reaching fever pitch, Noel appeared to squash all rumours of a reunion during an interview with an Italian outlet while confirming that a 30th anniversary reissue of Definitely Maybe with unheard session recordings is on the way.
"In the Sony archives we've found tapes dating to those sessions,” he told Italy’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper. “We thought they were lost, but they were mislabelled. They are wonderful versions of those songs, some acoustic versions.'
He added: "There won't be a tour, we won't come back to play them together."
It feels like both brothers are waiting for the other to say sorry. But will it ever happen?
Now read the history of the Gallagher brothers' beef...
If you haven't been following the blow-by-blow saga of the Gallagher brothers 14 year feud then here is how it all went down, and just what they have both said about the chart-topping multi-award-winning era-defining band thats is Oasis.
Sibling rivalry
Even when they were still together, the Gallagher brothers always had something of a love-hate relationship.
Liam was originally the only Gallagher brother in Oasis, but after coming to watch him perform in 1991 brother Noel approached the band about joining, on the condition that he would be the band's only songwriter.
And so they became Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars together. Liam was the frontman and the heartthrob, standing in the spotlight singing lead vocals with his distinctive vocals and getting all the girls. Noel was the musical genius, writing the hits and fading into the background playing bass guitar and singing back-up.
Oasis — whose hits included Wonderwall, Supersonic and Champagne Supernova — have won six Brit Awards, two Ivor Novello awards and numerous other accolades and had 17 Top Three singles, including eight Number Ones.
During the band's heyday (and even before) they shared a brotherly rivalry and exchanged insults. Perhaps they were both a bit jealous of each other's strengths and felt trapped by the success of their partnership. Other band members came and went but Oasis was always about the Gallagher brothers.
Opening up about the their argument backstage in Paris in 2009, Noel has called it "the straw that broke the camel's back."
Read more here: Noel Gallagher reflects on night of Oasis split (Independent, 3 min read)
So what kicked off in Paris in 2009?
It was Friday night, 29 August and Oasis were getting ready to go on stage to headline the Rock En Seine festival. They had been on the road with their Dig Out Your Soul Tour for a year and they only had two gigs left to play before they could all take a well earned break from performing — and each other.
Tension had been building and just a week earlier they had pulled out of their slot at V Festival Chelmsford at the 11th hour, disappointing thousands of fans. They had played V Festival Staffordshire on Saturday, 22 August and then cancelled Sunday's performance with Liam complaining he had viral laryngitis and his voice had "disappeared".
Noel dismissed his brother's illness as a hangover and rumours quickly began rumbling that the band were on the verge of breaking up.
Then backstage in Paris the brothers had a row about Liam promoting his Pretty Green clothing label to Oasis fans. After the disagreement led to a physical fight, with Liam threatening to hit him with a guitar, Noel walked out, got in a taxi and he and Liam have apparently never spoken since.
Read more here: Noel Gallagher reveals origin of feud with Liam that led to Oasis split (Independent, 1 min read)
Looking Back In Anger
Following the split Liam formed his own band Beady Eye, with guitarists Gem Archer and Andy Bell and drummer Chris Sharrock, all former members of Oasis. Noel started a new band, High Flying Birds.
But as the writer of most of Oasis's biggest hits — Noel is the one who can now perform the songs and Liam has to pay for his brother's permission if he wants to sing them live.
Noel does not look back fondly on his days with Oasis. He has admitted he is not very proud of some of the songs he wrote for the band, including Wonderwall.
He has also been quite rude about Oasis fans — referring to them as parka monkeys, and Liam as their King.
And the war between the brothers is not just about being music rivals, things have got pretty nasty.
Liam has compared his big brother to Hitler and even involved his niece Anais in the feud by sending her threatening messages to her.
Read more: Liam Gallagher hasn't seen Noel in 'about 10 years' (BANG Showbiz, 2 min read)
Stand By Me
The brother's rift has been a big cause of heartache for their mother Peggy Gallagher. She turned 80 in January 2023 and she just wants her boys to put their differences aside and make up for the sake of their family.
And if Liam and Noel were able to repair their relationship, then the likelihood of the long rumoured Oasis reunion might seem a lot more likely.
Fans cling to any glimmers of hope that the long-rumoured comeback might be happening, and Some Might Say Liam seems more keen than any of them.
It all began back in early 2020 when Liam claimed Noel had turned down an offer of £100m to play with Oasis again.
Read more here: Liam Gallagher: Noel turned down £100m for Oasis reunion (PA, 2 min read)
Then during the coronavirus pandemic Liam announced a concert in aid of the NHS, billing it as an Oasis reunion and vowing to go ahead "with or without" his brother.
And it seemed like Noel was starting to get nostalgic as he dug out some unreleased Oasis tracks while he was stuck at home in lockdown.
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
But it appears that getting the band back together is just another thing the brothers can't agree on. Because every time Liam reaches out to his big brother, Noel gives him the cold shoulder.
But he also refuses to rule it out.
Watch: Noel Gallagher will 'never say never' to an Oasis reunion
So the answer is to the all important question: Are Oasis ever going to get back together?
Definitely Maybe.