Why did Oasis split up?

An Oasis reunion is finally happening. Britpop fans have long held on to hopes that Liam Gallagher and elder brother Noel Gallagher might put aside their differences and reunite for a tour, and now it's confirmed for 2025.

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 Gallagher brothers fell out during a backstage fight at a festival in Paris and ever since fans had been hoping they could forgive each other.

Confirming the Oasis Live 25 tour, they said: "The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised."

If you haven't been following the blow-by-blow saga of the Gallagher brothers' 15-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 that is Oasis.

When did Oasis form?

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.

Why did Oasis split?

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 and got in a taxi.

Opening up about the Paris argument in a 2021 interview, Noel said: "Oasis tours were always about the struggle, anyway. The incident in Paris, that was just the straw that broke the camel's back, really."

What did Liam and Noel do after the split?

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.

Beady Eye split up in 2014 after releasing two albums, prompting Liam to launch a solo career.

But as Noel is the writer of most of Oasis's biggest hits, Liam has to pay for his brother's permission if he wants to sing them live as a solo act.

Noel does not look back fondly on his days with Oasis. He 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 got pretty nasty as Liam compared his big brother to Hitler and even involved his niece Anais in the feud by sending threatening messages to her.

What did Liam and Noel say about Oasis reuniting?

Rumors of a reunion intensified in early 2020 when Liam claimed Noel had turned down an offer of £100m to play with Oasis again.

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.

Before their reunion, the brothers' rift was a big cause of heartache for their mother Peggy Gallagher. She turned 80 in January 2023 and said she just wants her boys to put their differences aside and make up for the sake of their family.

The speculation mounted again in mid-2024 when the band announced a special edition release of Definitely Maybe, their classic debut album, to mark its 30th anniversary.

And there were signs of an apparent thawing thawing in the brothers' feud when Liam toured the UK playing Definitely Maybe in its entirety. During a show in Cardiff, Liam made a point of dedicating Half The World Away to his "little brother", saying he is "still playing hard to get".

The singer later offered some tongue-in-check responses to fans who flooded him with messages asking for confirmation of a reunion. The rocker also tweeted that he "never did like that word FORMER".

Days later, Oasis announced they would perform 14 concerts in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh as part of the Oasis Live 25 tour. There are also plans for dates outside Europe.

A press release issued by the band said "there has been no great revelatory moment that has ignited the reunion, just the gradual realisation that the time is right".