“Oasis are finished,” said Liam Gallagher in 2019 to Rolling Stone. “If you missed it, it was a bad luck.” Five years later, it seems that luck has returned to the fans’ side as Noel and Liam have announced a reunion tour. This news is surprising given how often the brothers have said it won’t happen.
While we try to answer some of the questions the reunion raises, here's a quick timeline of all the times Neol and Liam said Oasis would never, ever get back together. Okay, not ALL the times because that list would exhaust the capacity of the internet's servers.
August 2011: The mere thought makes you nauseous
“Liam said the thought of it makes him sick and that it will never happen, I don't need to say anything else,” Noel told Rolling Stone. «I don't need money, but it's a shame that pieces like Champagne Supernova, Rock'n'Roll Star, The Importance of Being Idle And The Shock of the Lightning they are no longer played in a stadium. This makes me sad. The economic side is irrelevant.”
October 2011: Noel must first fail as a solo artist
“He's the one who keeps talking about it,” Liam tells Rolling. “I would like to put him out of his misery, but I think he needs to go his own way first and realize that he's not that good without his little brother. He needs to figure it out on his own. I'm ready, but I'm not desperate. I don't care if it doesn't happen.”
December 2011: Better to eat your own shit than have a reunion
“I'd rather eat my own shit than be in a band with him again,” Liam tells LA Weekly. “He’s a miserable little shit, if you know what I mean.”
November 2013: It's your fault if you haven't seen Oasis
In an interview given to RollingNoel is categorical: no reunion is planned. «I don't think there are any unfinished business, I don't think we left anything unsaid, you know what I mean? If you've seen Oasis, good for you. If you haven't, that's your problem. For example, I've never seen the Beatles».
January 2015: Noel would do it, but only for the money
“If I did it, it would only be for the money,” Noel Gallagher tells Q. “It’s not like I’m making an announcement, is it? For charity? I don’t think so. We’re not the type. Glastonbury? I don’t think the organiser Michael Eavis can afford Oasis. Get back together for a day? As long as we’re all alive and kicking, there’s a chance. But only for money.” And what if they come back and it turns out they’re not as good as they used to be? “The idea that the glory days are behind us is part of the English mentality. Led Zeppelin! The Smiths! The Jam! They should all reform! But why? For middle-aged people who go to see them at the O2 and think, ‘They’re not as good as they used to be.’ It would be the same with Oasis.”
May 2015: Noel says Liam is giving fans false hope
“It's false with the fans,” Noel says of his brother speaking with Rolling«in the sense that it raises their hopes. There was a rumor last week that we had reached an agreement, but it's a rumor that comes from his staff. They attribute it to a source close to him. You want to know how close? He probably wakes up with him every morning». In the same month Paul McCartney gives the brothers some advice: «Get back together and make good music». It doesn't work.
September 2016: Noel changes his mind, he wouldn't do it even for money
“Let's be honest,” Noel says to Rolling Stone«I don't need money». And if in ten years they offered him 50 million? «Fuck, I would do it».
February 2020: Noel denies turning down £100m
“To anyone who is interested: I am not aware of any offer of money from anyone to reform legendary Mancunian rock 'n' roll group Oasis,” Noel tweeted. “I am fully aware, however, that someone has a single to promote so perhaps that is where the confusion comes from.”
February 2020: Liam wouldn't even make it to the first chorus of 'Rock'n'Roll Star'
“Getting back together for money and doing a tour… we have to be friends again first, you know?” Liam tells Rolling Stone. «If we did this without being friends again, it would be a fucking waste of time. I don't think we'd get to the first chorus of Rock'n'Roll Star. I think I would end up putting my hands on him.”
May 2021: Noel doesn't like it, okay?
“I get asked that all the time and I can only say I don't feel like it,” Noel tells The Project. “In any band you have to compromise and I don't think I could pitch an idea to four other people only for them to reject it after six weeks because someone's cat has a cough. I want to do things my way. I'm afraid Oasis is finished.”
April 2022: Liam Will Do It, But Not Right Away
“Oasis will get back together, but not this week,” Liam says Esquire. He also claims that he has not seen his brother in the last ten years. “Anything is possible. I wouldn't be surprised if aliens arrived tomorrow or if they were already among us. I wouldn't be surprised if God had come down to Earth. Nothing surprises me.”
October 2022: A Reunion Would Be a Circus
“It's weird, but Oasis sell as many records now as they did when we were together,” Noel says in the podcast Pub Talk. “We're as popular today as we were then. And I'm fine with that. If we were to get back together, it would be a circus, it would be pointless.”
April 2023: No 'Definitely Maybe' Tour for Noel
Speaking with the Evening CourierNoel explains that it will be a 30th anniversary reissue of Definitely Maybebut no tour. “We won't be playing together again.”
May 2023: Noel says Liam should call, not the other way around
Talking to Talk SportsNoel explains that Liam has to make the first call, not the other way around. “But he won’t. I mean, he should because all he does is talk about it. At this point you’d think he had a plan, but he won’t call me because he’s a coward. He’ll get one of his people, like his agent, to call one of mine and explain what plans they have. Then we’ll talk about it. Until then, he’s being a bit fake.”
June 2023: Noel Says Liam Is Puss In Boots From 'Shrek'
In the podcast Rolling Stone Music NowNoel debunks the idea that Liam wants the reunion. “I've accepted that this is never going to end. I said if Liam really wants to do it, he should call me, but he hasn't called me, so I assume he doesn't want it either. In fact, I know for a fact that he doesn't want it, but he likes to project this image of himself, you know, the shitty little boy sitting with his nice suitcase by the door, you know, like Puss in Boots in Shrek with his big fucking eyes full of tears. “I do it for you fans, I love you.” So call me, damn it. But he hasn’t called me. And until he does, we’re not going anywhere.”
June 2023: No one has made a reunion offer
NME asks Noel if anyone has made an offer for a big Brit pop tour with Oasis, Blur and Pulp. He replies that “there’s never been any serious offer for a Big O reunion.” Unlike Blur and Pulp, “who never split up and went on doing their own thing, which is a grown-up thing, Oasis didn’t handle it like adults. They crashed.”
August 2023: Depends on how much hair is left in the stump
Noel is asked about the reunion in a live broadcast. “We're all of a certain age now. Hair counts. You have to see how much hair we have left on our heads.”
February 2024: It depends on a box of chocolates
“He knows I won't call him,” Liam tells the Sunday Times. «He's the one who broke up the band and so he's the one who should call. No phone call, no reunion. But to tell the truth, I think it will happen. Things are different on the private life front, I can see him looking back not in anger and he thinks, “You know what? I’ve been mean to my little brother, it’s time I sent him a box of chocolates.”
February 2024: Liam swears he called Noel
“I called him,” Liam says to Mojo. «I mean, my team called his team. We put an offer on the table that involves Oasis, an offer that was made to us, and he said no. We're talking about a big tour, a lot of money. And he said no. I understand, he's in the middle of a divorce. I'll do my tour of Definitely Maybe and it will be beautiful even without him.”
April 2024: Liam says he never talked about a reunion
Liam responds to a tweet from Andy Bell of Ride (and bassist of Oasis from 1999 to 2009) about the «probable» reunion. A fan says that Bell did nothing more than say what Liam has been repeating for 15 years, the singer denies everything: «Never said anything about an Oasis reunion. It's over. Let's move on for our mental health».
June 2024: What if Oasis toured with the equivalent of Adam Lambert?
Liam denies on X that a reunion is in the air. “Nobody's told me about it. Maybe they'll do it with another singer, like the guy who performs with Queen.”
August 2024: For Noel it's yes or maybe no
Noel responds to a fan asking about the reunion during a High Flying Birds concert. “When will we see each other again? In 2025 or 2026? The answer is: neither. I take your boos as a fucking compliment.”
From Rolling Stone US.
