Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher
Oasis, the Britpop band known for timeless hits like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” is reuniting for a tour of the British Isles next summer, ending a 15-year hiatus and, presumably, the long-held feud between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.
The guitar band will play 14 dates in Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland next July and August, Oasis said yesterday. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“This is it. This is happening,” the band said.
Oasis split in 2009 after many years of infighting, with Noel Gallagher officially leaving the band just before a performance at a festival near Paris. Even before the dissolution, the brothers had long had an antagonistic relationship and reportedly did not speak to each other for years after the breakup.
“People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer,” Noel Gallagher, the band’s guitarist and songwriter, wrote in a statement at the time.
While the Gallagher brothers haven’t performed together since, both regularly perform Oasis songs at their solo gigs. They’ve also each fired off criticisms of the other in the press.
Noel Gallagher accused his younger brother of having a hangover that forced them to cancel a 2009 concert. The frontman disputed the accusation and sued, later dropping the lawsuit.
But now the brothers are preparing to reunite, with the band saying fans would experience “the spark and intensity” that occurs only when they appear on stage together.
The tour will begin July 4 and 5 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Oasis will also perform at Heaton Park in Manchester, England, on July 11, 12, 19 and 20; Wembley Stadium in London on July 25 and 26 and Aug. 2 and 3; Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Aug. 8 and 9; and Croke Park in Dublin on Aug. 16 and 17.
The band alluded to past tensions in the tour announcement.
“The guns have fallen silent,” Oasis said. “The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
In 2011, Noel Gallagher told The Associated Press in an interview that he left the band after an incident where Liam Gallagher started wielding a guitar “like an axe … and he’s swinging this guitar around and he kind of you know, he took my face off with it, you know?”
In 2019, Liam Gallagher told the AP he was ready to reconcile.
“The most important thing is about me and him being brothers,” he said. “He thinks I’m desperate to get the band back together for money. But I didn’t join the band to make money. I joined the band to have fun and to see the world.”
“I don’t know what his problem is,” he continued. “I think he just wanted to go away and do his solo career, get all the coin and be surrounded by all the yes men you can fire and hire whenever he wants. You can’t do that with me.”
With the announcement, the Britpop progenitors ended a few days of fan speculation. DANICA KIRKA, LONDON, MDT/AP
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