When Liam and Noel Gallagher agreed to bring the Britpop juggernaut that was Oasis back with a worldwide tour, there were two non-negotiables the brothers agreed on – for once.
The first was that they make as much money as possible from the venture, and the second was that they spend as little time together while convincing fans the guns had, indeed, fallen silent.
And on July 4 when the tour kicked off and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium rocked under the weight of 70,000 drinking in the sight of Liam, 52, with his arm around Noel, 58, after 16 years, it seemed the brothers had achieved their aim.
What that sight didn’t reveal, however, was the sheer amount of effort that has gone into making it happen.
Team Oasis has gone to enormous lengths to maintain an image of warm, fraternal harmony throughout the 41-gig tour by maintaining the ‘magic’ that Noel and Liam have put their past grievances behind them.
Paranoia is rife and so desperate are they not to let the truth come out that, the Mail can reveal, backstage staff including security at every venue are forced to put stickers over their camera phones to prevent filming the brothers’ relationship when they are not public-facing.
But insiders have exclusively spoken to the Mail and shared for the first time that behind the scenes fears are mounting about how long the brothers can keep this charade up.
Noel and Liam Gallagher walk on to the stage as they kick off their reunion tour in Cardiff, seemingly ending their 16-year feud
Liam and Noel in the photo released when they announced their Oasis reunion tour
One source close to the tour said: ‘Liam is spending more time with his dog on this tour than with Noel – they absolutely cannot stand each other still and it’s proving to be a real problem, not to mention a logistical nightmare.’
Indeed Liam is said to be ‘inseparable’ from his pampered pup Buttons, a ridgeback he rescued from the charity Happy Doggo in Thailand in 2023. It’s a relationship that is a far cry from the one with his older brother, whom he’s relentlessly bad-mouthed since their dramatic fall-out in 2009.
No wonder organisers are doing all they can to stop history repeating itself.
After their final London gig at the end of September, the brothers are scheduled to perform in Japan, Australia, Argentina and Chile before rounding off the tour in Brazil in November.
The Mail has learned that plans are in place for the brothers to travel in separate private jets to minimise the time spent in each other’s company because, as the source tells me, ‘Flying for hours together in a metal box thousands of feet in the air is a recipe for disaster.’
Jokingly they added: ‘That truly will be the end of Oasis, one is sure to kill the other up there.’
Liam with his dog Buttons, a ridgeback he rescued in 2023 from the Happy Doggos shelter in Thailand
It comes after I revealed that immediately after they ended the two-hour set on opening night in Cardiff, Liam raced off backstage, was met by a waiting four-by-four car and driven out of the stadium before Noel had even left the stage.
Noel was staying at the four-star Parkgate Hotel with his daughter, Anais, 25, while Liam was staying 20 miles away close to the Celtic Manor Resort. Separate living arrangements are believed to be an essential feature throughout the five month tour.
According to a source close to Noel, it has become a running joke among those who know the quarrelling brothers well that their relationship is so tenuous.
The phrase ‘they won’t even make it to South Korea’ – where they are due to perform in October – is regularly trotted out, among those who are convinced a dramatic falling out is inevitable.
A source close to Noel told me: ‘It’s utter madness they are going on this tour together, it won’t work, it’s just incomprehensible they are going to spend that much time together in the state their relationship is in.
‘Neither is willing to forgive or forget about the past and the fact they are going to be spending the next three months sharing the stage together is just unbelievable; they can’t even be in a room together for more than six minutes.’
The siblings famously fell out for good at the Rock en Seine Festival on August 28, 2009 after an almighty brawl backstage which led to Noel quitting the band and then it breaking up.
Liam performs during the opening night of Oasis’s Live 25′ Tour at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff
According to Noel, Liam was hurling insults around the dressing room before swinging a guitar around ‘like an axe’ and narrowly missing ‘taking his face off’.
That was the point Noel decided enough was enough and he couldn’t work with his brother a moment longer.
‘It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you,’ Noel announced at the time, ‘that I quit Oasis.’
Their last concert had been at V Festival, held at Weston Park, Staffordshire, a few weeks earlier.
Critics have wondered whether the brothers are enjoying the continuing speculation about the state of their relationship and the fears they could prematurely end the tour. Why? Because it drives up last minute ticket prices from £150 to £2,000 for a standing slot, because fans are desperate to see them before it ends.
‘Everyone knows it will be the last time they will appear on stage together so they need that sort of publicity,’ the backstage source claimed. ‘In fact, it’s actually unhelpful because it’s more likely to put fans off that it’s all a money-making scheme and removes the magic.
‘That being said, I don’t think they care as much about the fans as the cash. It is a big money-making scheme. They wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.’
With Noel undergoing a very expensive divorce two years ago from PR executive Sara MacDonald after 12 years and two sons together – said to have cost him £20million – it’s no wonder that the ‘money-making’ speculation is rife.
Noel is mobbed by fans as he leaves his Manchester hotel on the way to their sold-out hometown gig
The tour is set to raise a massive £400million in ticket sales and merchandise deals, but that hasn’t stopped the brothers being thrifty, according to our source. One tells me the Gallaghers’ children – Noel’s three and Liam’s four – have been limited to just one ‘plus one’ each, when they attend the Oasis gigs.
‘They are not wasting a penny on unnecessary tickets’, our source revealed.
Noel’s only daughter (with first wife Meg Matthews) Anais has vowed to attend every show of the worldwide tour and has so far only brought her 26-year-old actor boyfriend Callum Scott Howells and her friend Gabriella Brooks.
At Heaton Park last weekend, Liam’s sons Lennon, 25, and Gene, 24, were spotted with their girlfriends and his only daughter, Molly Moorish, 27, was with the father of her new baby, the West Bromwich Albion player Nat Phillips.
Noel’s sons Donovan, 17, and Sonny, 14, were also among the 350,000 who gathered to watch Oasis in the brothers’ hometown of Manchester earlier this month.
But the same treatment cannot be said for the hard-working crew employed behind the scenes: they are reportedly not being given any free gig tickets for their friends and family – something which is standard across the music industry and is seen as a perk of the job.
Noel and Liam pictured for their Adidas Originals merchandise campaign, for which they were reportedly in the same building for just 14 minutes
Sources close to the tour say the decision has sparked astonishment and anger among the crew, many of whom will spend months away from their loved ones to keep the gigs running smoothly.
One source told the Mail: ‘The crew will be travelling around the country with the band, setting up the venues, and will be on hand throughout the concerts in case they are needed.
‘They’ll be away from their family and are usually given tickets to invite them down to join them at one of the shows.
‘But the Gallagher brothers have banned any free tickets from being given out. The crew is all fuming. Many of them have toured with other big-name artists and have never known anything like it. All Oasis seems to care about is making as much money as they can.’
This was summed up last month when the truth behind their multi-million-pound Adidas campaign emerged.
The photo of Noel and Liam standing together as if they had put the feud behind them sparked such a frenzy, Adidas’s new range of Oasis-branded clothing sold out almost instantly in the run-up to the tour.
But The Mail on Sunday revealed Liam’s photoshoot in east London was at 11.30am and Noel’s an hour later.
They’d spent just 14 minutes in the building at the same time – which must have meant computer wizardry was used to combine the images.
Earlier this year, Liam fought back at claims he is only taking part in the tour for the reported huge pay check he will receive, insisting the financial benefits are ‘way down the list’.
Noel, meanwhile, said in 2014 that it would take ‘half a billion pounds’ for him to reunite with his brother.
As our insider summed up: ‘At the end of the day, when it comes to Liam, Noel and this tour, no matter how messy it gets, money is thicker than bad blood.’
