Original subtitles

A quarter of a million rock fans are

counting the hours till the Gallagher brothers take the stage.

Did you ever think it's going to get this big?

Two million people tried to get tickets, many

to see the band of the moment, Oasis.

In what's been called the gig of the decade.

Liam would probably say, I thought it was going to be bigger than that.

Oh, I want to be a big pop star.

I want to do loads of people's heads,

because you're going, look at him, look at him.

They were one of the biggest bands of the 1990s.

They deserve all the praise that we get

at the moment, because they write the best songs.

Because we mean it.

We mean it, you know what I mean?

The most defining band of the Britpop revolution.

You can take the Britpop, stick it, just file it back into it.

It's fucking out, you can take it.

But as they became legends, the two brothers'

rivalry threatened to stop the music.

So I was like, you know what?

I'm fucking out of here, you know?

And at that point, the tour manager came in and just went, five minutes?

No, but if I wanted to be eight, I'd be a priest or something.

Ambition, chaos, and a band that has refused to fade away.

Sometimes things ain't going right.

A lot of things are going wrong.

Then you go for a pose where everything's going right and nothing's going wrong.

So you've got to set the roof with this move.

Or you've got to roll with it.

Some idiot want to say.

This is the story of Oasis.

Manchester, England.

It was here in the council estates of

Burnage that two brothers were raised, Liam and his older brother Noel.

The family were working class and their parents,

Peggy and Thomas, were Irish immigrants.

Their childhood was turbulent and Noel would face

beatings from their violent alcoholic father.

In 1982, when Noel was 15 and Liam was 10, Peggy left Thomas to raise her

children as a single mother.

The boys' teenage years were equally chaotic, with

both often getting in trouble at school and with the police.

Noel would receive six months probation at the

age of 14 for robbing a corner shop.

It would be during this probation period that

he first began to play the guitar.

Liam, on the other hand, would not get

into music until he was 18, preferring to spend his time playing football.

What do you remember of them as young men?

Well, they were just ordinary lads, really.

And people always said, did they fight in your shop?

And the answer, of course, is no, because,

I mean, there's six years between them, so

they didn't play together, did they?

You know, so they came in separately and

they were just decent lads, just decent lads.

Although life in their hometown could be tough,

it was also the backdrop of an electric music scene.

The Smiths,

the Stone Roses

and others used the grit of the city to create music with impact.

In 1988, Liam and Noel attended a Stone Roses gig.

Both brothers claimed that the experience spurred them

towards the path of forming a band.

Noel would meet guitarist Graham Lambert of Inspiral

Carpets during a Stone Roses show and would become a roadie for the band.

Liam was invited by school friend Paul Gwigsy

McGuigan to join his band The Rain as

a vocalist alongside guitarist Paul Bonehead-Arthurs.

Noel returned from an American tour with Inspiral

Carpets and attended one of his brother's gigs.

Unimpressed, Noel joined the band.

He would take creative control of the group and become its sole songwriter.

I joined Bonehead, Gwigs, bass player, and Tony.

And like, we were really snide, we weren't

going nowhere, it was really crap.

And then we needed songs, our kid had

songs, but he was working all the time.

And when he come back and he found

out his younger brother had joined a band

doing a bit of singing, I weren't no good.

And like, he just thought, yeah, I can

make him a bit better because I've got proper songs.

We wrote a few songs in the first couple of weeks with, I think Liam was

writing the words, and it just wasn't happening.

So I said, well, I'm going to write all the songs.

We knew that given a bit of time, we're getting the proper kind.

The songs will take it to where we are, and it took it within a year.

Got together with these songs and started getting our own sound.

And then you start thinking, it was like,

yeah, I can do something out of this

because it was sound that was rocking, you know what I mean?

The band would tour as Oasis with a

sound that was straightforward and bold.

Their early career would be inspired by legendary

bands like the Sex Pistols and the Stone Roses.

Most of them were about escaping and just having a good time.

Some of them were about being on your own and not having a good time.

This is coming from wherever they're coming from, I don't know.

Sort of, it's not, it's about, it's just

about, I mean, I don't know, I don't really understand it.

I mean, I wrote them, I don't understand it.

But people, I mean, they mean whatever they

mean to whoever's listening to them.

The combination of Liam's voice and stage presence

with Noel's songwriting earned them the attention of

Alan Magee of Creation Records.

They would be signed for a six-album

contract as Magee took the tape to Sony America.

Oasis would then set off on a UK tour to promote the release of their first

single, Supersonic.

♪ I need to be myself ♪

♪ I can’t be no one else ♪

♪ I’m feeling supersonic, give me gin and tonic ♪

♪ You can have it all ♪

♪ But how much do you want it ♪

Supersonic was followed by the release of singles

Shaker Maker and Live Forever, with Live Forever

marking Oasis's first entry into the top 10

of the UK singles chart.

♪ I don’t really wanna know ♪

♪ How your garden grows ♪

♪ ‘Cause I just wanna fly ♪

♪ Lately, did you ever feel the pain ♪

♪ In the morning rain ♪

♪ As it soaks you to the bone? ♪

All three singles would appear on their debut

album, Definitely Maybe, which was released in August 1994.

The album was an immediate commercial success, going

to number one in the UK albums chart within a week of its release.

It became the fastest-selling debut album in

British music history at the time.

We've been in this band for three and a half years now, so I think, you

know, we've had three and a half years

of scumming it around, doing whatever we've been

doing and being on the dole and trying to keep the band together.

We deserve all the praise that we get

at the moment because we write the best songs, because we mean it.

We mean it, you know what I mean?

The first year was hedonistic and messy.

You know, I mean, as soon as people

realise that the majority of people in this

country take drugs, then, I mean, the better off we'll all be.

Oh, I want to be a big pop star.

I want to do loads of people's heads

because they're going, look at him, look at

him, how long, you know what I mean?

But I want it and I don't, I'm not embarrassed about it, you know what I mean?

A lot of people get embarrassed about all

this success that they get, they go, oh,

I didn't really want it, you know what I mean?

Of course you wanted it, you know what I mean?

Because that's what you go out for, you do it.

It doesn't matter whether you're in a band or you're anything, whatever.

I want to be in space, man.

See, the rock and roll lifestyle was invented

in the 70s by groups like Led Zeppelin and stuff like that.

Probably come off that stage and have a good time.

Keep busy, do whatever you do.

Liam especially became a tabloid interest for his drug use.

And his supposed loutish behaviour in public.

He was cocky and self-assured.

With their relentless tour schedule, cracks had started to show.

Things got to a breaking point at a show in West Hollywood.

A crystal meth fuelled Liam insulted audience members

and threw his tambourine in an incoherent mess of a show.

The incident caused Noel to temporarily quit the band.

And although he would eventually rejoin, the tone

had been set for the tempestuous relationship that

would be a defining feature of Oasis.

The episode would later inspire the track Talk

Tonight, which reflected a more vulnerable side to Noel's songwriting.

The song's stripped-back, acoustic-led sound would

be built upon for their next album and

become a feature of some of the band's most enduring music.

As they began recording for their second studio

album, the British press started to report on

a rivalry between Oasis and another band, Blur.

It would become known as the Battle of Britpop.

Britpop was a cultural and musical revolution.

A name given to the new wave of British bands emerging in the early to mid

1990s.

The phenomena blended music, fashion, music, and national pride.

Britpop-associated acts included Pulp, Suede, Blur, and of course, Oasis.

However, Oasis would ultimately reject the label.

What do you think about all the talk about the Britpop thing?

It's flame of the year.

Britpop.

We're not Britpop.

The Universal lot, that's what they are, we're not Britpop.

Because of their distinct backgrounds and styles, Blur

and Oasis had started to be pitted against each other.

It's a battle of the press, yeah, it's all a press thing again.

We didn't start this band to get into competition with some other band.

We started this band to be Oasis, to be what we wanted to be.

The press are going to paint a picture, aren’t they?

You know what I mean? You're going to be either that or that.

And we're that, we're like the bad boys, aren’t we?

You know what I mean?

It went beyond their music and instead became

a clash of class, regional identity, and artistic vision.

These are two groups, Oasis and Blur, who

actually formed on the indie circuit, who have

grown more and more popular through just playing

lots and lots of gigs around the country,

and who have now crossed right over to

the public at large, and they're duking it out to see who is the biggest.

Oasis represented the working-class northern spirit, while

Blur was a product of the more middle

class art school culture of London and the South-East.

The personalities of the band's members also fuelled

the rivalry, as Liam and Noel took aim at Blur in interviews.

He's said a lot of things about my group behind our backs, you know what I

mean, that we've heard about.

And they were insulting things.

And that's fine, that's fair enough.

If he's not got the bottle to say it to our faces, then, you know, see you

later.

The rivalry would really come to a head

in 1995, when they released singles on the same day.

Blur's Country House and Oasis's Roll With It.

♪ You gotta roll with it ♪

♪ You gotta take your time ♪

♪ You gotta say what you say ♪

♪ Don’t let anybody get in your way ♪

♪ ‘Cause it’s all too much for me to take ♪

The media coined it the Battle of Britpop,

a chance for the bands to fight for supremacy in the genre.

The rivalry between Oasis and Blur is bitter,

not just commercially, but also personally.

Both groups actively dislike each other.

I'm a little nervous about the whole thing,

obviously, because I think both bands have really

upped the stakes, and someone's going to come

out on top, and someone's going to come

out second, and, you know, by the very

nature of being in a band, you're always quite competitive.

And you want to come on top, really.

I've got nothing to say to them and all, but,

apart from get your head together.

Stop letting your ego getting the better of you.

In spite of their success at this year's

Brit Awards, Blur have never had a number

one single, even though their album Parklife hit the top slot.

Oasis have gone one better with a top

single, some might say, and a number one album entitled Definitely Maybe.

At record stores today, the Oasis-Blur battle gathered pace.

Fans saw the battle as a way to show their loyalty to one of the bands

or regions of Manchester or London.

Coming from London, that's why I support them, really.

But I'm going to buy Oasis' new single as well.

I'm going to buy both the Blur singles.

Are you going to go for Oasis at all next week?

Why is that?

Because I'm a big Blur fan, I want them to get to number one.

I think Oasis, definitely.

I think Oasis, because they're a Manchester band,

and they're the best.

Blur would ultimately win the battle, outselling Oasis'

single by about 50,000 copies.

There's only five people who don't really think

about it too much, and that's the five people in the band.

We just record music and put it out.

If people can buy it, they buy it.

If they don't, that's their prerogative.

We're not bothered about selling more records than anybody else.

We couldn't care less about that.

We know we're the best band in the country, and it's as simple as that.

The rivalry is remembered as one of the

most memorable periods of British music history, and

propelled both bands to international stardom.

Even though the battle of Britpop was over

in the charts, the personal spats between the bands continued.

The release of What's The Story, Morning Glory was a huge success.

Songs like Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger became instant classics.

♪ Like to say to you ♪

♪ But I don’t know how ♪

♪ Because maybe ♪

♪ You’re gonna be the one that saves me ♪

♪ And after all ♪

♪ You’re my wonderwall ♪

The album is often cited as their magnum opus.

Is this album you've made much better than your first album?

It's about five times as better as the

last one, but there's no point in asking

him here, I'm not going to say it's shit, I'm not going to buy it.

It makes you think, makes you happy, makes you cry, makes you...

it's just real, innit?

In the UK, the album spent 10 weeks

at number one and became the second best-selling British album ever,

behind Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Critics praised its mix of confidence and emotion.

It solidified Oasis as a symbol of working

class ambition, which resonated with their army of fans.

Oasis played huge shows back-to-back at Earls Court in London.

♪ So, Sally can wait ♪

♪ She knows it’s too late as I’m walking on by ♪

Scene one, a band rehearses in smoky rooms in King's Cross,

but this band has a string section, because

this band is Oasis, minus singer Liam Gallagher.

Oasis albums have gone double platinum, but they're

a band that have appeared out of nowhere.

Years ago, we were playing at a pub called The Water Rats in King's Cross.

And just over a year ago, we were playing in the Undra Club.

Scene two, Earls Court, empty of seats, is

filled with the sound of preparations for a huge pop concert.

In little more than 24 hours, this vast,

echoing, cavernous space at Earls Court will be

filled with 13,500 Oasis fans, 6,500

more will be up on the balconies for

the biggest ever indoor concert in this country.

40,000 tickets for the weekend gigs were sold out in two days.

The atmosphere will definitely sort of soak up

through the building and everybody should have a splendid concert.

And everyone's coming to the splendid concert.

Who isn't coming, basically?

Tony Blair.

Tony Blair's coming, Madonna, Alec Siggins, Georgie Best,

Oliver Reed.

Yeah, us two, even.

Famed for the Mancunian design of soft southerners,

they actually have one, working with drummer Alan White from Blackheath.

And they're training him.

You're bad. - Yeah.

Yeah. - I'm getting there.

We're trying to get him off the whelks

and the Jelly Deals or onto some bloody fire mash.

And when you're as big as Oasis, pre-gig nerves just don't figure, do they?

I'm more worried about this spot that's developing on my chin here, man.

I'm more worried about that.

You wouldn't be human if you weren't nervous.

I mean, of course I'd be nervous.

We'll be sort of sat on the side of the stage about two minutes before we

go on and we'll be going...

Songs like Champagne Supernova were well-received by

fans and critics alike.

♪ Where were you while we were gettin’ high? ♪

♪ Someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide ♪

♪ In a champagne supernova in the sky ♪

♪ Someday you will find me caught beneath ♪

They were playing bigger and bigger crowds and toured across the US.

♪ Each other ♪

♪ We believe in one another ♪

♪ And I know we’re going to uncover ♪

♪ What’s sleepin’ in our soul ♪

♪ Because we need each other ♪

♪ We believe in one another ♪

♪ And I know we’re going to uncover ♪

♪ What’s sleepin’ in our soul ♪

♪ What’s sleepin’ in our soul ♪

I didn't know where I was today when I got up.

No, I didn't have a clue where I was or where I was yesterday.

I was doing an interview this morning with

someone and he said, where are you?

And I said, I haven't got the faintest idea, mate.

I mean, you just look out the window and it's like...

I mean, they all just look the same to me.

Michigan, Detroit, innit?

But, yeah, I know it's bloody cold, I'll tell you that.

Well, it is.

♪ What’s sleepin’ in our soul ♪

♪ What’s sleepin’ in our soul ♪

♪ I don’t know what it is that makes me feel alive ♪

♪ I don’t know how to wake the things that sleep inside ♪

An Oasis live show was a loud and raw, no-nonsense affair.

Their live performance style, paired with the rowdy

crowd they attracted, made for a series of unforgettable concerts.

♪ Go and tell it to the man who cannot shine ♪

♪ Some might say that we should never ponder ♪

In the summer of 1996, their rapid rise to fame culminated in two iconic

shows at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.

They performed to a record-breaking 125,000

people.

With nearly 5% of the UK population

applying for tickets to the sold-out gigs.

Final preparations are being made for the arrival

of a quarter of a million rock fans

at Knebworth in Hertfordshire for one of the

biggest ever open-air concerts in Britain.

Two million people tried to get tickets, many

to see the band of the moment, Oasis.

And John Draper is there.

Oasis star Noel Gallagher, here inspecting the stage,

says he can barely take in the idea of playing in front of a quarter of

a million people.

But such is the scale of the success

of the Manchester band that two million applied for tickets.

Gallagher and his brother Liam have become the rock phenomenon of the 90s.

♪ Slip inside the eye of your mind ♪

♪ Don’t you know you might find ♪

♪ A better place to play? ♪

♪ You said that you’d never been ♪

♪ But all the things that you’ve seen ♪

♪ Gonna fade away ♪

We just stood on the stage, so we

don't have to comprehend what that amount of people is going to look like.

As has been spoken about, I mean, it's

like after this gig, what are we going to do next?

We can't do anything but do the biggest

gigs, so we can't play anywhere bigger than this.

I mean, the only other thing would be to come back in like, do a residency

at Elbeth or something, play every night of

the week from 8 till 11 or something like that, but we're not going to do

that.

Did you ever think it was going to get this big?

I'd be a liar if I said, yeah.

Liam would probably say, I thought it was going to get bigger than that.

But I didn't think it was going to get this big.

I didn't even, I didn't, nobody thought that

one day we'd, you know, we'd have sold

10 million albums and we'd be playing to 250,000 people over two days.

Anyone that said that, they did believe that

to lie, because we didn't, we thought we'd

be, we thought we might play to like,

you know, I mean, we thought, you know,

when we done Earl's Court, which is 20

,000, it was like, you know, and they

were the biggest indoor gigs ever in Europe,

so it was like, you know, we thought,

well, it's probably as big as it's going to get.

And we did Main Road, which is 40

,000.

It was like, well, you know, and then we'd, you know, it's 125,000.

It's just, I don't know where it's going to go from here.

I'd probably play iPart next to something.

It seemed like nothing could stop Oasis.

They had never been bigger or more successful.

But within the band, rivalries, arguments and controversies

threatened to stop the party.

The relationship between Noel and Liam was becoming

more rocky, with creative disagreements and arguments about

personal issues.

These arguments played out in the British media

and often during Oasis live shows.

There were rumours of an Oasis split when

Liam dropped out of their 1996 US tour last minute.

You know the story, it's in the papers.

That's what's going on.

You've got to move on, all right?

Nothing to say, that's what's going on.

Have you spoken to your brother, Liam?

How do you feel about not being able to go to America?

Did you hear it?

No stories.

Oasis fans besiege the North London home where

Liam Gallagher's hiding out for a second day.

They got his autograph, but only a glimpse

of the reclusive star who bought in the heavies to stop unwanted callers.

When he broke cover with an unusual wave

to the crowd, it was a fleeting moment that left a small army of fans and

photographers even more puzzled about laryngitis, house hunting,

psychotherapy, theories all advanced in today's press.

Liam would end up joining the band three days later.

Hey Liam, what do you want to say to your fans in America?

Love ya.

But the tour was cancelled after two weeks.

People close to the brothers would admit there

was a rift between them, but denied any chance of the band breaking up.

They always have arguments, you know what I mean?

So I wouldn't like, I mean, I wouldn't look into it too much.

They had an argument in Los Angeles about

two years ago where Noel went on a bit of a bender.

I think it split up then.

Their behaviour at the moment is no different

to that which it was a year ago when I was with them.

The difference is that the media are now

looking and are therefore in a position to see.

By all accounts, they had a pretty violent

disagreement to cause this latest rift.

Are these based on jealousy or what?

I mean, is it a sort of a creative tension or do they genuinely loathe each

other?

It's a standard sibling relationship and as Liam

has said in the past, if they were

greengrocers, then they'd be arguing about where the pears go.

The problem is that they are now in a bubble, a goldfish bowl, and also the

boredom of touring for a rock and roll

band is what exacerbates the problem.

If you live in a bus with your brother for 24 hours or a thousand mile

journey, you know, something's going to go wrong.

Is there also a sense in which they're

conscious of being very dependent on each other?

One of them's got the creativity, the other's

got the sex appeal, if you like.

I should think that Noel probably dislikes the

fact that he is tied to Liam in any way whatsoever.

I think Liam is probably less concerned about that.

After the stratospheric success of their second album,

the pressure to surpass it also added to tensions within the band.

Their third album, Be Here Now, was released in 1997.

Preceded by the UK number one single, Do

You Know What I Mean?, the album was

their most anticipated to date and became the

subject of considerable media attention.

♪ All my people right here, right now ♪

♪ D’You Know What I Mean? ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

♪ All my people right here, right now ♪

♪ D’You Know What I Mean? ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

♪ All my people right here ♪

Many critics labelled the project as overindulgent, mirroring

the excess of the band's rock and roll lifestyle at the time.

Despite the mixed reviews, Be Here Now was

the biggest selling album in the UK in

1997 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in the US.

Following the tour of the album, the group

kept a low profile as they were subjected to much media criticism.

The release of Be Here Now is often seen as the beginning of the end for

Oasis.

Noel has since spoken in interviews about his

dislike of the album, blaming their heavy drug

use at the time alongside the immense pressure

following their previous successes.

As the new millennium neared, Oasis returned to

the studio to record their fourth album, Standing

on the Shoulders of Giants.

While the album included moderately successful singles like

Go Let It Out and Who Feels Love,

this was not the same Oasis that had

packed out Knebworth just a few years earlier.

During production, founding members Bonehead and Gwigsy left

the group, which led to a significant shift

in the band's sound and dynamics.

Jem Arch had joined to take over Bonehead's

role and Andy Bell from the band Ride stepped in for Gwigsy.

Despite these new additions, Standing on the Shoulders

of Giants struggled to capture the essence that fans had come to love.

However, the album still managed to reach the

top of the UK album charts and the band pressed on, determined to continue.

In the 2000s, the Gallagher brothers were still

known for their wild lifestyle, which included heavy

drinking, drug use and headline-grabbing antics.

Their heavy drug use had started to put

more and more strain on the band's dynamic

and created a reputation for unpredictability.

Throughout the 2000s, despite the turbulent inter-band

relations, Oasis continued to release music to varying levels of success.

2002 saw them release Heathen Chemistry, which produced

hits like Stop Crying Your Heart Out.

Stop Crying Your Heart Out received mostly positive

reviews, with some critics comparing it favourably to

Don't Look Back in Anger.

Notably, the album also included Songbird, penned by

Liam, marking the first single not written by Noel.

It put them on steadier ground than their

previous album, but internal tensions continued to simmer.

Noel, 120,000 tickets sold in four hours.

Even you must have been surprised by that.

Yeah, I was surprised, not shocked.

I think, you know, I didn't think it would go that quick, but I knew we'd

sell them, but I didn't think we'd do it in under four and a half hours.

Why do you think there is still that interest in Oasis?

The best thing to do is to ask the fans, because we really don't know, you know.

We're too busy wrapping up the music, really.

I can answer the guess and say that, you know, I see people at the gigs

who are 16, 17, 18, and we've been

going ten years, so we must soundtrack their lives, you know what I mean?

So, I don't know what it is.

I suppose it's because we're honest and because

we always try, we always try to be true to ourselves and we don't fake it,

you know what I mean?

You also seem to be going through a

fairly creative phase at the minute, and the

band seems to be very cohesive.

We don't read the stories in the press any more than we used to.

Is that helping you creatively?

The reason why I don't read the stories

in the press is because, for want of

a better word, the entourage that we used

to be involved with are now no more, and people used to pass on stories to

the press about us for their own games, but all that's gone now and we run

a very little tight ship.

And you were saying earlier that Liam's firing

on all cylinders, he's on four.

Yeah.

If anybody's coming here who's seen him before,

I'll tell you right now, you're going to

see the best you've ever seen him ever.

He's just, his singing is just amazing, it's blowing people away.

I mean, we're twice the band when he's on the case anyway, you know.

Hello?

Don't Believe The Truth came next in 2005,

emerging as one of the band's most successful albums of the decade.

Critics praised Don't Believe The Truth as Oasis's

best album since What's The Story Morning Glory.

The supporting tour covered 26 countries, 113 shows,

and drew over 3.2 million fans.

It was the band's smoothest and most successful tour in a decade.

After the success of Don't Believe The Truth

and its record-breaking tour, the Gallagher brothers'

past relationships continued to shape their public personas.

Liam's turbulent marriage to Patsy Kensett had ended

years earlier, followed by a rocky relationship with Nicole Appleton.

Meanwhile, Noel's first marriage to Meg Matthews had

also dissolved in 2001, though he later found

stability with Sarah MacDonald.

Their romantic relationships were often just as chaotic

as their sibling rivalry and remain a key part of the Oasis story.

Their final studio album was released in 2008.

Dig Out Your Soul saw backstage tensions between

Liam and Noel at an all-time high.

Our old relationship was never as bad as people made out, you know.

But it wasn't like, you know, we weren't

like Milli Vanilli, do you know what I mean?

Whatever that means, I don't know, but...

I assume they got on.

It kind of all started to unravel, if

I'm being honest, when he started his clothing label.

And...

He...

demanded that in the Oasis tour programme that

he be allowed to advertise it, which I

was against because I didn't think that it

was right for him to be flogging his gear to our fans.

And there was a massive row about that.

And it kind of went back and forward for a bit, as I remember it, and

in the end I said, all right, well,

if you want to advertise in the programme, how much?

And he couldn't get his head around that.

It slowly went downhill from there.

However, the band would assure fans that Oasis were going nowhere.

So, there's been a lot of rumours.

Bookie's saying that this might be the last Oasis.

It's not.

Where does that come from?

I don't know.

People make comments all the time about any stock in any of it.

So you can nail that rumour on London tonight?

Yeah, we're never going to spoil.

You're going to end up like the Rolling Stones?

Hopefully, yeah.

What's it like, Neil Young on the stage, pushing 70 at Glastonbury?

You know, as long as people want to see it, we'll do it.

Do you know what I mean?

And I think I speak for the rest of the band.

We all really enjoy being in the studio and making music.

In 2009, Oasis were due to appear at

V Festival in Chelmsford, but dropped out last

minute due to Liam contracting laryngitis.

You know, he didn't turn up for the

V Festival gig because he had an hangover.

You know, he claimed he had laryngitis, but whatever, you know.

And there was a lot of bad press around that.

I think that was the problem.

All of a sudden, Noel sort of just

went, Whoa, whoa, what's going on here, man?

You mean he's still drinking and smoking and staying up?

He pulled out this billbook of like, No, no, we've got to behave now.

Nah, that doesn't work.

Behaving and being in Oasis is, you know, doesn't work.

I would not behave.

I'd get the gigs done, but I'd certainly be having a crack.

That's what rock and roll is about, isn't it?

Having a laugh.

Who wants to see people walk on stage and behave?

That's not what it's about.

If I wanted to behave, I'd be a priest or something.

Their tour had many more scheduled dates, but Oasis wouldn't appear again.

They were due to play a show in

Paris a week after, but a backstage altercation spelt the end for the band.

And it was quite violent.

At that point, there hadn't been any physical

violence, but it was kind of, you know,

it's a bit like WWE wrestling, and he

was like the macho man Randy Savage, do you know what I mean?

There was a lot of, ooh, yeah, and all that gear going on, and it's like,

fucking hell, you know?

And he kind of storms out of the dressing room, but on the way out, and

I'm glad it never ended like this, but on the way out, he picked up a

plum, and he threw it across the dressing

room, and it smashed against the wall.

Now, part of me wishes it kind of

did end like that, because that would have

been a fucking great headline, you know?

Plum throws plum and finishes fucking Oasis, do you know what I mean?

And so then he kind of leaves.

He goes out the dressing room, and for

whatever reason, he went to his own dressing

room, and he came back wielding it like

an axe, and I'm not fucking kidding.

And I make light of it, because it's kind of, you know, it's kind of what

I do, but it was just a real

unnecessary violent act, and he's swinging this guitar

around, and he kind of...

You know, he nearly took my face off with it, you know?

It sounds by all accounts like maybe it

wasn't as explosive an event back there in

that dressing room as the reality.

No, no.

It wasn't.

Not in my books it wasn't.

It wasn't.

But it obviously wasn't.

I just think he wanted out, man, you know what I mean?

To be quite honest, I think he's probably

got a batch of songs that he doesn't

want his brother singing or whatever, and he

wants to go down another road, but that's cool, you know what I mean?

It was Noel who finally decided to end the group.

I mean, there was people in the band

not saying anything, kind of looking the other way.

It wasn't even a big dressing room, do you know what I mean?

We were all involved in it, and nobody was saying anything.

So I was like, you know what?

I'm fucking out of here, you know?

And at that point, the tour manager came in and just went, five minutes.

I kind of got in the car, and I sat there for five minutes, and I

just said, fuck it, that's it.

I can't do it anymore, you know?

And there you go.

And it's a shame because I was comfortable in that band.

I'd perfected that role of that guy who

just stood on the right and played the

lead guitar and done backing vocals and sang the acoustic.

I fucking mastered that.

It took me 18 years.

It took me to fucking get that right, and I was brilliant at it.

And if anybody came to the last tour,

you'll know, I mean, I was fucking great.

But at the end of the day, he's obviously not, he doesn't like me, but he

doesn't like me in a violent way.

I don't get on with him, you know what I mean?

But he kind of takes it to a level that's, for me, there's no point in

being in a band with people you fight with.

What's the point?

Just go on and do bigger tours and

make more fucking money and just always be arguing about shit.

It's just nonsense.

So I kind of did everybody a favour.

See him at the football every now and again.

And that's it. Don't see him on the streets, you know what I mean?

I don't really got... He doesn't move in the circles that I move in.

I see my mum when I see her, regardless of him.

If he's there, he's there, but he's not there when I see her or when she

comes down to me.

I don't want the band to get back together.

We shouldn't have split up, you know what I mean?

There was no big deal, you know what I mean?

He's making out as if I've stabbed one of his cats or slapped one of his

kids or, dare I say it, tried it on with his missus, you know what I mean?

It's like, leave it out, mate.

It's like we had a little argument, you

know what I mean, about things, you know what I mean?

It wasn't just... We've always argued, you know what I mean?

So I just think he wanted out, you know what I mean?

And he wanted to make me the scapegoat, you know what I mean?

He obviously wasn't getting enough attention.

He just wanted it all for himself, you know what I mean?

Although it appeared Oasis was finished, their musical

legacy continued to influence the scene.

Bands like The Killers and Coldplay have often

cited Oasis as a key inspiration.

Following the dissolution of Oasis, both brothers pursued

solo ventures, though neither arguably reached the heights

of success achieved by the band.

Well, it's me and it's Gem and it's Andy.

We've got a new bass player who's mega.

We've got the old drummer, Chris Sharrock.

We've got the old keyboard player.

We're sort of going through the mill about getting new names.

Nothing's sticking.

So we've sort of drawn the line on the names at the moment.

Obviously, people are always going to go, yeah,

we're still Oasis, but it's not Oasis anymore.

Life's too short to be...

about with what people think.

We'll see what happens, you know what I mean?

When the record's done, we're concentrating on the music at the moment.

Liam continued with the other band members in a group called BDI.

The group released two albums before disbanding in 2014.

Liam would then launch a solo career.

People are asking me about what I'm doing.

I'm telling them how it is.

And I'm telling them, people are asking me

about, no, I'm not going to not shut up and go, you can't speak about your brother.

He's my brother, you know what I mean?

And people forget that he's been speaking about

me in recent things, and they just think

that I'm the one who's blabbing it, you know what I mean?

But he's doing his thing.

We're doing our thing.

I wish them all the best.

Don't release it the same day as us, because we'll have you.

And I'm feeling really confident about that, you know what I mean?

But I don't wish it on him.

He's my brother, you know what I mean?

I love him to death.

Noel would form the band Noel Gallagher's High

Flying Birds in 2010, which would act as his solo project.

For the next 15 years, Liam and Noel had virtually no relationship.

In January 2024, Liam revealed he hadn't even

spoken to his brother since the 2009 confrontation.

This revelation made what would happen next even more surprising.

Me and him are like telepathic, you know what I mean?

I know my brother better than anybody else.

When both come together, love, greatness.

Liam and Noel shocked fans in late August

of 2024 when they announced an Oasis 2025

stadium tour.

I kind of teach my kids, like, this

is a massive, massive thing, Oasis getting back together after 15 years.

I think it's pretty overwhelming for people, actually.

I think they're a bit shocked.

Oh, I'm buzzing.

Yeah, can't wait.

And suddenly, the Oasis cultural phenomena last seen in the 90s was back.

Words can't explain how I'm feeling.

Feeling a feeling of dread that I won't

get a ticket, feeling of excitement if I

do get a ticket, a feeling of anticipation,

thinking, oh my goodness.

Demand for the tickets was astronomical.

Spent my whole life, like, listening to my

dad telling stories of Oasis and Oasis gigs

and thinking, oh my God, what I'd do

to live through that and this happening.

It's just, like, I found out and I was in tears.

I've cried about five times already about it.

The announcement of the Oasis reunion has brought

together generations young and old, proving that after

all the chaos, the music was always worth the wait.

It's a great ongoing soap opera, isn't it?

It's a nice conclusion to a great story, isn't it?

One of the great British rock and roll stories.