15 years of spats, speculation and name-calling – everything Noel and Liam Gallagher said about an Oasis reunion prior to the announcement of Oasis Live ’25
It’s official. Against all odds, and after days of rumours, Oasis are reforming for a string of huge shows across the UK and Ireland in summer 2025.
It looked impossible after their bitter split in 2009 and ever since, and Liam and Noel Gallagher have repeatedly been asked if it would ever happen. However, they’ve generally shot any suggestions down. But as Liam brought his Definitely, Maybe 30th anniversary shows to Reading and Leeds, it seemed like the story was about to change, almost 15 years to the day they originally split up.
READ MORE: What guitars does Noel Gallagher use? The instruments that will power the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour
Is this the unlikeliest reunion ever? Quite possibly, but there’s no denying the insatiable demand for it. But as the dust settles on the news we never thought we’d be writing, we have to ask – how did we get here?
2009: Oasis abruptly call it quits in France
Things had often seemed contentious between Liam and Noel for the bulk of their career, but in 2009, tensions began to escalate. Noel even claimed on social media after a spate of bickering between them that “life would be easier without Oasis”.
A last-minute cancellation of their headline set at V Festival in Chelmsford, Essex already spelled disaster. It was claimed that Liam had laryngitis, but Noel accused him of being hungover, which later led Liam to take legal action. Noel apologised and the case was dropped.
Five days later, Oasis were booked to headline Rock En Seine festival in Paris. Just before they were supposed to go on, the brothers began arguing, with Liam wielding Noel’s guitar around “like an axe”. They never made it on stage. The rest of their tour was cancelled.
“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” Noel said in a statement. “People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
Both brothers would go on to start their own projects. Liam started the now-defunct Beady Eye just a few months later, who he released two albums with, and would later embark on a solo career. Noel, meanwhile, would go on to start Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. More recently, Liam made an album and went on a sold out tour earlier this year with The Stone Roses’ John Squire.
2014: Calls for a reunion begin
Just half a decade after their split, the brothers would start to face questions about the chance of a reunion. The breakup of Beady Eye in October 2014 fuelled rumours they would reunite to play Glastonbury the following year – Noel even told Radio X, “I’m available that weekend – it’s not up to me though, is it?”
Of course, this never materialised. Nonetheless, the rumours persisted into 2016 after suggestions of “a gentleman’s agreement”, with representatives of both brothers denying them.
Liam was characteristically crude about it, writing on X/Twitter: “I see Noel Katie Hopkins Gallagher is talking out of his slack arse again go and polish your saxophone.
I see Noel Katie Hopkins Gallagher is talking out of his slack arse again go and polish your SAXAPHONE Ha ha LGx
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) May 6, 2015
2018: Liam calls on Noel to “get the big O back together”
In summer 2018, Noel played a gig at Edinburgh Castle where there was no alcohol sold. Liam took this as an opportunity to mock him, yet somehow also took this opportunity to suggest they reunite.
“Earth to Noel listen up, I hear you’re doing gigs where people can’t drink alcohol. Now that’s the [bizarrest] thing you’ve done yet. I forgive you, now let’s get the BIG O back together and stop fucking about the drinks are on me,” he said.
Noel didn’t respond, to which he said “I’ll take that as a no then.”
Earth to noel listen up rkid I hear your doing gigs where people can’t drink alcohol now that’s the BeZarist thing you’ve done yet I forgive you now let’s get the BIG O back together and stop fucking about the drinks are on me LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) July 19, 2018
I’ll take that as a NO then as you were LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) July 20, 2018
2021: Noel rumoured to have turned down £100million to reform Oasis
Noel had to dispel rumours that he’d turned down an eye-watering sum to get the band back together. In an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, he said: “There isn’t £100m in the music business between all of us.”
Liam, of course, couldn’t resist chiming in. Commenting on a post from Oasis Mania that shared Noel’s comments, he said: “I’d do it for free.”
2023: Noel shoots the rumours down… sort of?
After Blur reunited for a string of stadium dates and a new album, The Ballad of Darren, some wondered if their Britpop rivals would do the same. If Blur getting back together was possible, surely anything was, right?
Not so much, according to Noel. “Look it’s the done thing now isn’t it? Kind of everybody’s getting back together and Blur are playing Wembley stadium, everyone’s getting back together,” he said on Radio X at the beginning of the year.
“I will say, and I’ve said it a thousand times, if Oasis hadn’t had reached their potential, and there was something left to do, it would be different, but I just don’t see what the point would be. It would be make a load of money, I’ve got a load of money. To do some monumental [venue] I’ve already done them.
“It’s just not something that appeals to me,” he added, before suggesting: “Now that’s not saying in 10 years’ time it won’t appeal to me…”
By contrast, Liam spoke like it was inevitable. Responding to a fan on Twitter who asked if there’s a “small percentage that Oasis get back together,” Liam answered: “It’s happening.”
When a French outlet put the possibility in front of Noel, he said: “He should get his people to call my people to call my people. They know who they are. They know where we are. He’s got my manager’s number. Call us. But you know what? He won’t call.
“Stop talking on the fucking internet and let’s see what you’ve got to say.”
2024: Liam claims Noel turned down an Oasis reunion – and then backtracks
Oasis’s debut album Definitely, Maybe has been celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, but Liam has been off touring it by himself. After it was announced, Liam claimed his team “put an offer on the table” for Noel to be part of the celebrations, but he turned it down.
“It was a big tour, a lot of money,” Liam said. “He turned it down. I get it, he’s got a divorce going down. I’ll do the Definitely Maybe thing and have a nice time without him.”
However, he later claimed he had never mentioned it after Ride frontman and former Oasis bassist Andy Bell said Oasis would “probably” reunite at “some point”. Liam argued that he “should really not be getting people’s hopes up” as “it’s not big and it’s not clever.”
2024: Liam Gallagher’s son backs calls for a reunion
Liam’s son Gene – who also fronts rock band Villanelle – said just three weeks ago that he sensed his father wanted a reunion.
In an interview with The Times he said: “[It’s] nothing to do with me. I mean, will they? I don’t know. I would love it but it’s so beyond my control.
“I get the feeling my dad wants it too. Let’s hope it happens. It’s easier to speak about after a couple of pints.”
In hindsight, perhaps Gene knew something the rest of us didn’t…
2024: It’s happening…
As Liam geared up to play Definitely, Maybe in full at Reading and Leeds, it was announced that something would be coming after the Bank Holiday weekend. This was widely expected to be the long-awaited reunion.
Liam displayed a teaser during his headline set at Reading and also dedicated Oasis’s Half the World Away to Noel. He later took to X/Twitter to write: “I never did like that word FORMER”.
And there you have it – the band is back together.
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