Noel Gallagher has spoken of his pride at performing alongside his brother, Liam, again on Oasis’ comeback tour.
Oasis returned to the stage for the first time in 16 years in July and they have been touring ever since.
The iconic band have already completed 17 shows and they will be taking to the stage 41 times in total, including twice more at Wembley.
It is marking a huge moment for the Gallagher brothers, who have famously had a tough relationship over the years.
They were involved in many public spats, arguments and fights and they have also regularly traded social media blows.
The tension between them was what eventually led to Oasis splitting up in 2009, but they’re now back together.
And Gallagher has spoken exclusively to talkSPORT about what it is like to be alongside his brother again on the stage.
The avid talkSPORT listener and huge Manchester City fan was asked whether he has been feeling emotional on the tour.
“We’re not those kind of guys, it’s great just be back with Bonehead and Liam and doing it again,” he told talkSPORT Drive.
“I guess when it’s all said and done, we’ll sit and reflect on it, but it’s great being back in a band with Liam.
“I forgot how funny he was.”
Gallagher continued: “Liam’s smashing it and I’m proud of him.
“Having been fronting a band for 16 years, I know how difficult that is and I couldn’t do the stadium thing like he does it, it’s not in my nature.
“I’ve got to say, I kind of look at him and go: ‘Good for you, mate’.
“He’s been amazing.”
‘Completely blown away’
Oasis have sold out five nights at Wembley and another five nights at Heaton Park in Manchester on their tour so far.
That, combined with many of their other sold-out venues, has meant almost one million tickets have been bought.
And the sheer size of the tour, as well as the incredible support from fans, has left Gallagher shell-shocked.
“I’m completely blown away, everyone is,” Gallagher said.
“It’s difficult to put it into words, every night is the crowd’s first night, so every one has that same energy to it.
“It’s been truly amazing, I’m not usually short for words, but I can’t really articulate it at the moment.”
“For me personally, I grossly underestimated what I was getting into,” Gallagher admitted when speaking about the opening shows.
“After about five minutes, I was thinking, ‘can we just go back to the dressing room and start this again?’
“This is… I’ve done stadiums before, but my legs turned to jelly about halfway through the second song and I could have done with going back and taking a minute.
“It’s been an amazing thing, it really is an amazing thing.”
Oasis have also seen many famous faces at their gigs, including their beloved Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as well as Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney.
Their next shows will take place in Canada, where they will begin the latest leg of their comeback tour.
The Gallagher brothers then move on to the USA later this month and into September before heading to Mexico.
Oasis then return to the UK and Wembley for another two shows on September 27 and 28.
The comeback tour will finish on November 23 in Brazil after stints in Argentina, Japan, Australia and more.
Gallagher’s favourite stadium
It’s in Argentina that Gallagher is looking forward most to a gig.
Gallagher picked out the venue he’s most excited to play at in the following tour dates, selecting River Plate’s Stadium in Argentina.
He labelled the Estadio Monumental as a ‘special, special place’ and admitted he’s looking forward to performing there later this year.
The musician said: “The River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires in November. It’s the second last show and we’ve played there a couple of times.
“The Argentinians are without doubt in the top five places for us to play in the world and it’s the furthest away from Ireland and Manchester.
“Everybody is looking forward to River Plate because it’s a special, special, special place for us.”
Oasis to perform at Knebworth?
Gallagher was not keen to speak about whether Oasis could be performing at the iconic Knebworth, where they famously performed in 1996, following the end of their tour.
He was asked for his opinion on that happening by talkSPORT host Andy Goldstein, and he abruptly replied: “Right, let’s talk about football.”
Gallagher on the Premier League
That meant that the conversation quickly moved on to the Premier League and Gallagher’s beloved Man City.
He first discussed the top-flight title race in the new campaign, saying: “Yeah, it’s all on Liverpool, really.”
“They’ve spent big because they never spend money, so they’ve spent big on expensive players. It’s not like they’ve bought eight or nine players.
“The lad that came from Germany, whatever his name is [Florian Wirtz]. They’ve spent big money on him, and he looked a bit anonymous to me.”
Thoughts on Man United?
Being a Man City fan, Gallagher isn’t very fond of Manchester United.
However, he believes that his bitter rivals may stand a chance at competing in the Premier League this season after a strong performance despite their opening loss to Arsenal.
“On Sunday, we were watching the game in the dressing room and there are Arsenal and Man United fans, and we were saying the pressure is on Arsenal because they have to win because all of the other teams won,” he said.
“I think it [the title race] could be quite close this season. There could be four in it.”
talkSPORT’s Goldstein then asked: “Who is the fourth? Chelsea?”
To which Gallagher replied: “I don’t know. I think Man United are going to overachieve this season – they looked really good. They deserved a draw.
“I think they’ll overachieve… I think they’ll take points off the big teams, and I think Tottenham will too.”
He added: “Of all the teams I saw over the weekend, the team that has improved the most was Man United, who were laughably appalling last season.
“And actually with Mbeumo and Cunha, they looked pretty good, and they deserved something out of that game.
“It’ll make games against them a bit more spicy this season.”
‘We won the weekend’
Gallagher also discussed how he thinks his City will do this season after making a perfect start by beating Wolves 4-0.
“I think we won the weekend,” he said. “I was pretty amazed at how good and fluid it looked because usually, we start slow.
“But again, it’s one game, and you don’t know what the opponents are going to be like next week.
“It doesn’t really get going until March. You have just got to be there, maybe six points off the top.
“But Tijani Reijnders looked amazing. The keeper [James Trafford] looked solid. [Rayan] Ait Nouri and Cherki looked great.
“It’s great having John Stones back.
“Nobody is talking about Oscar Bobb, who was as big a miss as anybody for us last season – he was brilliant.
“So all the signs are good, but I know we started great last season. We were great until October, November, and the wheels fell off.”
City don’t need Donnarumma
Man City have been heavily linked to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma despite just signing Trafford.
And Gallagher doesn’t think his side should be in the market for another shot-stopper, picking out another position to target.
He said: “I’m not sure City would [spend] £50million on a keeper they can get for now.
“If we’d have gone to Wolves on Saturday and James would have played and we’d have got beaten 3-2 or something, there might be a case for it.
“But actually looking at him, he just looks quite solid and he looked good with his feet. He looked unflappable, came for the crosses, he’s caught everything, made a couple of decent saves.
“Donnarumma is a great goalkeeper, Champions League winner, you can’t have enough of them in your team. He might be great for Trafford to learn off him, but I don’t think there’s an urgency there.
“I think we need a right back more than anything.”