Friday, November 22, 2024

The Gallaghers’ explosive history and what led to 15-year feud

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“This is it, this is happening” – these were the words of Liam and Noel Gallagher as they confirmed their long-awaited Oasis reunion with a series of UK and Ireland stadium dates.

A statement from the band announced “the great wait is over”. It followed days of frenzied speculation that this time, the rumours might just be true.

For the fans, the great wait was a long 15 years marked by sibling feuding after one of the most hostile break-ups in rock ‘n’ roll history.

But the Gallagher brothers have been prone to violent bust-ups ever since they shared a bedroom growing up in a council house in Burnage, south Manchester.

When have the Gallagher brothers clashed?

After Definitely, Maybe became the fastest-selling album in UK history, the band headed out on their first US tour in 1994.

Noel became frustrated by the level of excess the others were enjoying, and a gig in LA ended in acrimony with Liam hitting him on the head with a tambourine and walking offstage.

Noel briefly quit before agreeing to come back.

In 1995, audio of an interview with NME magazine surfaced which revealed the pair squabbling in an increasingly abusive conversation.

After Noel called his brother a “football hooligan”, Liam responded: “You can stick your thousand pounds right up your f**kin’ arse till it comes out your f**king big toe.”

In 1996, Liam walked out of a performance on 90s TV show MTV Unplugged minutes before the group were due on.

Noel decided to go ahead with the show alone, but his brother sat in the audience and heckled him throughout.

In 2000, a story emerged that the brothers had come to blows during a drunken night out in Barcelona.

Noel apparently saw red when Liam went beyond the usual mickey-taking and questioned the paternity of his brother’s daughter Anaïs.

Noel left the tour but not the band and later said he’d “never forgiven” Liam because he hadn’t apologised.

How did Oasis split?

In 2009, the cracks finally widened beyond repair.

Noel issued a statement saying he had quit the band hours before they were due on stage at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris. “It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” he wrote.

“People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”

The pair have continued to trade insults for years since. Liam once called his brother a “sad little dwarf” and a “miserable little f**k” adding: “I’d rather eat my own shit than be in a band with him again.”

Did the Gallaghers fight over an Oasis reunion?

The arrival of Twitter, now X, gave Liam a new platform to frequently abuse his brother to an audience, mixed in with the occasional offer to reform Oasis.

Asked about one such offer in 2011, Noel said: “That doesn’t mean shit to me. Because he’s on f**king Twitter right now, saying the exact opposite. If he’s in here, on camera, playing to the gallery, fine, good.

“Actually, when it f**king matters, when he’s abusing my wife and my kids, it’s like no no no no no, you don’t get to f**king do both, do you know what I mean? Either be a c**t and own it, right, or don’t be a c**t.”

When and where are the 2025 Oasis reunion gigs?

Tickets for 14 dates will go on sale online this Saturday, 31 August at 8am in Ireland and 9am in the UK.

July

4th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium

5th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium

11th – Manchester, Heaton Park

12th – Manchester, Heaton Park

19th – Manchester, Heaton Park

20th – Manchester, Heaton Park

25th – London, Wembley Stadium

26th – London, Wembley Stadium

August

2nd – London, Wembley Stadium

3rd – London, Wembley Stadium

8th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium

9th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium

16th – Dublin, Croke Park

17th – Dublin, Croke Park

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