Singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher’s group, High Flying Birds, headlined the main stage at the Y Not Festival in Derbyshire last Sunday – but fans were dismayed to hear about his frustrations.
He revealed that he was “sick of the sight” of his bandmates and planned to take a break from touring with them for the foreseeable future. What’s more, Noel has no intentions of reuniting with estranged Oasis bandmate and brother Liam anytime soon.
He set the record straight about the long-awaited reunion as he spoke onstage. “When are we going to see you? In 2025 or 2026? The answer is neither,” he stated in no uncertain terms.
The disappointed crowd erupted into boos, but without skipping a beat, the 57-year-old Mancunian shot back: “I’ll take the fact that you’re booing as a compliment!” He also addressed his future with High Flying Birds, causing more than a few gulps as he admitted he was unsure whether or not they’d be touring again.
“Well, this is the last night of our tour tonight… we’ve been on tour for over a year, so we’re sick of the sight of each other,” he frankly told a crowd of up to 40,000 revellers. “We need to get away from it for a while.”
“I don’t know if we’re gonna tour again, I’ve got no idea… we’ve got to make a record first. We’ve gotta write one,” he exclaimed.
“We’ve gotta go spend some money. I have no idea, I dunno but you’ll be the first to know.”
Then he name-checked his former band by announcing: “Right, we’re all Oasis fans, right? Buckle up”, before launching into the 1997 track ‘Going Nowhere’.
It’s been 15 years since Oasis last appeared onstage together for a show in Paris – and little did fans know at the time that it would be the last time the 1990s Britpop icons teamed up.
At first, it was assumed that the feud would fizzle out and the brothers would reunite, but as time passed, a happy ending seemed less and less likely for the estranged pair.
The Sunday Mirror caused excitement this summer by reporting that Noel and Liam had secretly booked three dates at Wembley Stadium for Oasis reunion shows.
However, Liam insisted that he knew nothing about it, taking to Twitter to contradict the report.
“Nobody’s told me, maybe [they’re] getting a new singer like the dude out of Queen [Adam Lambert],” he joked.