After 16 years of “will they or won’t they?” (often heavily skewed toward “won’t they?”) brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have once again reunited under the Oasis banner. And it would be an understatement to say that people are excited, as approximately 50 ticketless fans attempted to jump the fence at the band’s hometown show in Manchester, England. However, not everyone immediately leaped into the Ticketmaster queue when Oasis announced their reunion last year. For English singer-songwriter Paul Weller, it’s a hard pass.
Paul Weller Is Happy For Oasis, But Says This Tour Isn’t For Him
Paul Weller’s refusal to see Oasis live has little to do with any ill will toward the Gallagher brothers. In fact, the ex-Jam frontman insists he’s quite happy for his buddy Noel.
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“You know how it’s going to go for him, it’s going to be mad. I said to him that it’s going to be a cultural moment because the amount of people I speak to just out on the street, not necessarily who you’d think would be an Oasis fan, but they are all going to it, and it’s a big cultural moment, I think that will be remembered forever,” Weller, 67, told BBC Radio 2’s Jo Wiley this week.
The event’s ubiquity is precisely why the “Broken Stones” singer is staying clear. “I’m not a big fan of big gigs,” he explained. “I said to Noel, a few weeks or months ago, ‘Are you going to do any warm-ups?’ Which he wasn’t, but, I’d go and see something like that in a smaller venue, but I just don’t like big gigs. It doesn’t matter who it was, really.”
He continued, “Inevitably, it doesn’t matter too much where you’re sitting unless you’re right in the front row, you just end up watching the screens. It kind of spoils it a bit for me because I want to see whoever is playing or singing, and I want to be able to see them.”
[RELATED: Watch Jason Aldean and His Wife, Brittany, Attend Oasis Concert as Regular Fans]
He Isn’t the Only One
Paul Weller isn’t the only British musician sitting out the Oasis Live 25 tour. Damon Albarn, frontman of Oasis’ longstanding nemesis, Blur, also has no plans to attend.
“No,” Albarn, 57, told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero last month. “I’m literally too busy.”
Still, the Gorillaz co-creator thinks the brother’s apparent reconciliation is “a good thing.”
“Two years ago I was prophetic when I said that they would do it and that the road was level,” Albarn said. “Well, you can’t think that two brothers can’t reconcile, sooner or later.”
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