It’s well known that Liam and Noel of Oasis don’t get along at all.
But you may be wondering why, and why they can’t settle their differences like adults. So here’s a brief history of their altercations and fall-outs.
During Oasis’s first American tour in 1994, Liam frequently changed the words of Noel’s songs so that they were offensive to both Americans and Noel. A confrontation after one show led to a chair being thrown and a brawl; Noel subsequently left the tour. During the 1995 recording sessions for the second Oasis album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, the brothers had a violent fight involving a cricket bat when Liam invited everyone from a local pub back to the studio while Noel was trying to work.
In August 1996, after a record-breaking two-night stand at Knebworth, tension mounted between the Gallaghers when Liam backed out of Oasis’s MTV Unplugged set minutes before it was due to start. Noel was forced to fill in at the last minute. Liam said that he had been struck down with a “sore throat” and that he does not like performing acoustically, though Noel has claimed he was hungover. Noel was further angered when Liam proceeded to heckle him from the balcony while the band performed. Four days later, Noel was again forced to fill in for Liam on the first show of their American tour when Liam refused to travel to America with the rest of the band, claiming he needed time to buy a house. He was back on stage with Oasis for their next show three days later, in Detroit, but tension between Noel and the rest of the band mounted and Noel left the tour, causing several media outlets to question the future of the band.
While on tour in Barcelona in May 2000, Oasis were forced to cancel a show when drummer Alan White’s arm seized up; the band spent the night drinking instead. During the night Liam made a derogatory comment about Noel’s then-wife, Meg Mathews (apparently questioning the legitimacy of Noel’s baby daughter Anais), leading to a fight. Following this, a press release was put out declaring that Noel had decided to quit overseas touring with Oasis. The rest of the band, with guitarist Matt Deighton replacing Noel, played the remaining dates. Noel eventually returned for the British and Irish legs of the tour; at the first of these shows the brothers shook hands after the song “Acquiesce”.
In 2009, prior to the group’s break up, Noel characterised Liam as “rude, arrogant, intimidating and lazy. He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.” The final straw for the band came at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris when an altercation between the brothers (subsequently described by Noel as “no physical violence but there was a lot of World Wrestling Federation stuff”) prior to their performance resulted in the destruction of one of Noel’s guitars and saw him announce his departure from the group.
Liam has stated he does not speak much with his brother and that they “don’t really have a relationship”. During the final tour, the only time that they ever spoke directly was when onstage.
Despite their constant fighting, the Gallagher brothers did show affection for each other both before and after Oasis’ split, with Liam calling Noel the best songwriter in the world, and Noel calling Liam the best singer in the world, “cooler” than him, and frequently referring to his good looks. Noel has said that Oasis came down to the relationship between him and Liam (Supersonic, October 2016). They often said they loved each other with Liam stating he loves and misses Noel increasingly in interviews during the promotion cycle of both of their albums in late 2017, leading up to their December 2017 “truce”. Weeks prior to this, Noel said his younger brother was “obsessed with him”, leading to Liam alleging the same thing about Noel.
In May 2017, Liam criticised Noel for his collaboration with former rival Damon Albarn on the Gorillaz song “We Got the Power”. He also strongly criticised his brother for not appearing at the One Love Manchester benefit concert, calling him a “sad f*ck”.
In November 2017, during an interview, Liam said that he misses being in a band with Noel and that he hates performing without him on stage, stating: “I’m not a guitar player or a prolific songwriter. I can write a few songs every now and again but I miss being in a band. I miss my brother the way he was back then. I miss singing those great songs that we all made great.”
One month later, in December 2017, Gallagher suggested that he and Noel were “all good”, tweeting that Noel had “reached out” to him. He added in an interview that despite having no plans to reform Oasis, he was going to “try to see Noel at Christmas”.
In January 2018, the truce seemingly came to an end when Liam took offence to Noel criticising him and several other singers, among them Richard Ashcroft (who is a friend of Liam) and Ed Sheeran, for collaborating with multiple co-songwriters. However in February 2018, Liam said that the truce did not actually happen and that it was “in his head” after having a couple of drinks.
On 19 July 2018, Gallagher published a Twitter post that stated: “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”. There is no statement from Noel Gallagher on the matter. Liam Gallagher later tweeted: “I’ll take that as a NO then as you were LG x”. This was not the first time Gallagher has tried to reach out to his brother through Twitter. In a March 2018 tweet, Liam accused Noel’s wife, Sara MacDonald, of sabotaging a scheduled reunion tour in the US, claiming she stole Gallagher’s passport and “fucked with his head”.
As of 2019, they don’t seem to have settled their differences, with very few comments from Noel despite Liam’s attempts at contacting him via twitter.
Scotty ✅
Tom
