Pete Townshend on why he’s “disappointed” that Oasis have reunited
Pete Townshend has shared his thoughts on the huge Oasis reunion – and he isn’t too impressed.
The guitarist for The Who was asked what he thought about the Britpop band reforming for a huge comeback tour in 2025 during a recent interview with The Standard.
“Well, I’m disappointed,” Townshend responded, before being pressed on whether he had failed to secure a ticket.
“No, because I really like their solo albums,” he replied.
Liam Gallagher has released three solo records with ‘As You Were’ (2017), ‘Why Me? Why Not.’ (2019) and ‘C’mon You Know’ (2022). Noel has made four records with his High Flying Birds, the latest being last year’s ‘Council Skies’.
LG opened for The Who on tour in 2019. Noel supported the band at their gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2017.
Speaking to Radio X in late 2019, Townshend said the Gallagher brothers were “both doing very, very different things” with their respective solo projects. “Noel’s doing soundscape-y stuff – it’s really kind of rich and almost psychedelic,” he explained.
“And [Liam’s] trying to write songs. He’s learning still to write songs – it’s a craft he’s developing. He was thrown into it, he didn’t want to have to do it. But it just goes to show, I think anybody can write songs if they’ve got the patience.”
In 2022, Townshend’s bandmate Roger Daltrey expressed his “wish” for Oasis to “just get back together”.
“Liam, though, has really carved out a niche for himself now, and I love him,” he continued. “I think he’s fabulous. He’s totally honest. He’s not frightened of saying how he feels.”
Daltrey and Noel were among the musicians to perform at a Paul Weller-curated charity gig in London in 2022.
Oasis’ Live ’25 reunion tour will kick off next summer with a run of UK and Ireland stadium shows – which includes seven nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and five gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park. Support on this leg will come from Richard Ashcroft and Cast.
The band have revealed that their 2025 UK and Ireland dates will be the only European stops on their world tour. They later told fans that plans were “underway” for further performances around the globe.
Oasis have since confirmed live dates in the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia. A third and final gig in Melbourne was added to the latter schedule recently due to “phenomenal demand”.
NME exclusively revealed that Oasis would be playing in Sydney and Melbourne in a report last month. The article also listed upcoming appearances in other international territories such as South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Chile and Argentina – none of which have been announced yet.
Elsewhere, Oasis have ruled out a headline performance at Glastonbury 2025 and said they would not be appearing at any other festivals next year. Liam and Noel have shot down reports of a return to Knebworth in 2026 too.
In other news, Liam has said that he and Noel have no plans to do any joint interviews around their comeback. “We’re scared of the media asking us intrusive questions and trying to pick holes in our relationship,” he reasoned.
Meanwhile, Oasis look set to cancel thousands of tickets for their UK tour that have been sold via resale websites.
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Tom Skinner
NME
