The war of words between the two Gallagher brothers—the founders and icons of the ’90s Manchester band Oasis—went into overdrive this weekend as former frontman Liam Gallagher launched an astonishing online tirade at his older brother Noel, accusing him of faking on-stage tears at a benefit concert for victims of this spring’s Manchester Arena terrorist bombing.
The poisonous feud between the brothers bubbled over in dramatic style after Noel performed at the “We Are Manchester” benefit gig for survivors of the bombing, which killed 22 people in May.
Noel was seen to be visibly tearing up during his performance of the Oasis hit “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” which became an anthem for the city after the attack.
Noel, 50, told the 14,000-strong crowd: “Every time you sing, we win. So sing like you’ve never sang before.”
While the performance was almost universally greeted with love and affection, there was one very vocal critic of Noel: his brother Liam.
Liam and Noel have been at loggerheads ever since oasis split in 2009.
Liam blasted his brother’s performance as “fake” and nothing more than a “PR stunt.”
In an extraordinary ill-tempered tweet storm, Liam even attacked Noel’s second wife, Sara MacDonald, accusing her of being a “shit” version of his first wife, party planner Meg Matthews, and warned her not to “come after him.”
Liam’s comments appeared to be a continuation of his tirade against Noel for not joining him at an earlier fundraiser this year.
Responding to a follower who wrote: “Btw your brother smashed the Manchester Concert tonight,” Liam replied, “Course he did about a 6 months too late.”
Liam took to the stage alone at the gig for victims of the Arianna Grande bombing earlier this summer and called his brother a “sad fuck” for not joining him.
Liam performed “Don’t Look Back in Anger” with Chris Martin of Coldplay instead of Noel.
Noel’s camp told reporters that he was not asked to attend, but Liam said: “He could have got up and done ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ and never even had to see me.
“Are you telling me that if Noel Gallagher rocked up with his guitar and knocked on the door they would say, ‘You’re not invited, mate?’ So he can fuck off on that one.
“I don’t care if he was in the Amalfi Coast or wherever, it lacked sympathy on his behalf. We have family and friends in Manchester and me mam’s still there, and it would have been nice to do it for his people. End of.”
Noel’s camp hit back at Liam with stories in the press that accused Liam of demanding a private jet to fly him to the gig and using the event—and the controversy—to promote his rather unexciting new solo single, “Wall of Glass.”
The belief that Sara McDonald, who works in PR, was linked to the negative press stories could be behind Liam’s attacks on Noel’s wife.
Liam has been apparently using the long-simmering feud with his brother to generate publicity for his new work, calling his brother a “cunt” in a recent interview.
“Noel’s out of the fucking country, weren’t we all love, get on a fucking plane and play your tunes for the kids you sad fuck,” wrote Liam in one angry message directed at his brother at the time of the bombing.
In an apparent effort to quietly rebut Liam’s hate-filled messages, Noel simply retweeted a story that said he was donating all new royalties from “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.
In a recent interview, when asked if he regrets any of his abrasive comments about his brother in the past, Liam replied: “No. Not at fucking all. I think he’s had it easy off me. It’s only sticks and stones, they won’t break his bones. Wait till I bump into the cunt. Everything I say is the fucking truth. I’ve not even dug that deep yet.
“I don’t know what world he lives in, and I wouldn’t want to live in it, believe you me, because it seems very bland, naff, and contrived and just... ‘What? He’s like the new Robbie Williams or something.’ It’s fucking weird.”
However, Liam has also hinted at future reconciliation.
Speaking to BBC Radio One, he said: “Everyone knows I love our kid. He doesn’t speak to me, we don’t speak to each other.
“I’ll speak to him someday. It’s all very sad, but we’ll get over it… I guess it mustn’t be nice for my mum… If Oasis ever got back together… if they do, they do. If they don’t, they don’t.”