The Oasis reunion is shaping up to be a cultural phenomenon — with the 19 dates announced so far expected to expand to include a world tour that will keep the band together from summer 2025 until the end of the year.
However, well-placed sources say that the relationship between Liam Gallagher and brother Noel is still far from straightforward.
The siblings spent 15 years in open warfare, but they agreed eight weeks ago to a comeback tour after some ‘late-night conversations’ prompted by their respective managers, including Liam’s partner and manager Debbie.
Despite the good behaviour at the reunion photoshoot, and a further in-person meeting planned for next week, their handlers fear hostilities may break out at any moment.
I’m told: ‘They are being called Mick and Keith (after Rolling Stones Mick Jagger and Keith Richards) because it seems they still have moments when they dislike each other in the way Mick and Keith do.
‘The plan is to have separate travel arrangements, distanced dressing rooms and possibly even different hotels for themselves and their entourages and family.’
Liam (left) and Noel Gallagher (right) will come together for the long-awaited Oasis reunion tour
The warring brothers spent 15 years in disagreement, but they agreed eight weeks ago to a comeback tour after some ‘late-night conversations’ prompted by their respective managers, including Liam’s partner and manager Debbie
Care will be taken during the rehearsal period not to make the pair spend too much time together in case Liam, reliably obnoxious, sets off his prickly older brother.
A source says: ‘They don’t want it all going off again. Liam can’t help but wind Noel up.’ A spokesman for the band declined to comment.
The warring brothers will net £70 million between them for the 19 announced dates. It’s never-work-again money, and a friend says of the motivation: ‘I’m sure that the idea of legacy and having their kids see them together matters. But the plain fact is that they need the cash.’
Both have been divorced. Twice. Liam was married to actress Patsy Kensit then singer Nicole Appleton, but that ended after it emerged he had fathered a child with New York journalist Liza Ghorbani.
Noel was married to Meg Mathews and Sara MacDonald, from whom he split last year. There was no love lost between PR woman MacDonald and Liam, 51, and the reunion is only possible now that she is out of the picture.
Their families have been hoping for years that the pair could patch things up. Noel’s daughter Anais, 24, is close to Liam’s sons Lennon, 24, and Gene, 23, and last month the cousins discussed their parents reforming Oasis.
Gene said: ‘We have jokes about it. Anais knows what her dad is like and I know what my dad is like. Hey, we’re a big happy family, everyone!’
Noel’s daughter Anais Gallagher attends the Moco Museum London Inaugural Gala on September 10, 2024
Noel’s daughter is close to Liam’s sons Gene (left) and Lennon (right). Last month the cousins discussed their parents reforming Oasis
Baby Reindeer launches charm offensive
Netflix’s formidable publicity machine is operating at full throttle for Baby Reindeer ahead of the Emmys this Sunday.
The show is nominated for 11 awards including potential gongs for all the key cast: Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning, Nava Mau and Tom Goodman-Hill.
It has released a host of material including casting tapes, interviews with the editor and casting directors, footage of the nominees responding to fan reactions and long interviews with the stars.
Jessica Gunning (left) and Richard Gadd (right) starred in Baby Reindeer which has been nominated for 11 awards at the Emmys this Sunday
No mention is made of the looming legal fight between Fiona Harvey, who says she inspired the stalker character Martha (played by Gunning), and Netflix, who she claims fabricated a biased account of what went on. (In the show, she was depicted as a convicted criminal who went to prison for stalking.)
We’ll see if the controversy has hobbled its awards prospects.
Mitchell’s sleuth has all the clues
David Mitchell is stepping into Inspector Morse territory with a new BBC comedy drama called Ludwig.
The six-part show features Mitchell playing twin brothers. One, a policeman, disappears and his twin, a nerdy crossword setter, is persuaded by his sister-in-law (Anna Maxwell Martin) to impersonate him.
Mitchell is brilliantly funny as a fish out of water in the role. He says that he’s always loved whodunnits on television and – despite his image as a brainbox – is happy to wait for the denouement.
‘When I watch an Agatha Christie I don’t try to work out who done it, because I am confident that I will be told. And if I have worked it out, then that bit will be less enjoyable than it ought to be.’
David Mitchell stars in a new BBC comedy drama called Ludwig
Stars including Felicity Kendal and Derek Jacobi appear in the series, which goes out on Sept 25. It is set in Cambridge.
Tilda’s daughter is a perfect Princess Bea
Tilda Swinton’s actress daughter Honor is one of the stars of the forthcoming Prime Video series about the Prince Andrew/Emily Maitlis interview, A Very Royal Scandal.
Honor Swinton Byrne, whose father is the late playwright and artist John Byrne, shows some wicked comic timing in her role as hapless Princess Beatrice.
She has a brilliantly plummy accent and, thanks to a ginger rinse and padded velvet headband, looks the part, too.
Honor, 26, previously had a very small role in The Crown as one of Prince William’s early girlfriends and was in the film The Souvenir, alongside her mother.
Honor Swinton Byrne attends The Cartier Queen’s Cup Polo on June 16, 2024
Bryne (right) plays Princess Beatrice in the forthcoming Prime Video series about the Prince Andrew/Emily Maitlis interview, A Very Royal Scandal
Her next role is in the heist caper film Fuze with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James and Sam Worthington.
The casting of a so-called nepo baby is just another point of similarity between A Very Royal Scandal and the Netflix film about the interview, Scoop, which came out earlier this year and featured Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia as a housemaid.
Life’s about to get spicy for Brooklyn
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is getting ready to launch his very own ‘Brand Beckham’.
His plans for the Cloud 23 range of food and drinks were first revealed by this column in January — and now he’s taken to wearing a T-shirt with the name on it and a cherubic logo (which looks like it was copied from the design for one of his first tattoos).
Beckham junior confirmed plans to launch a product ‘in the food space’ in an interview in June, saying it would launch in September in Whole Foods. There has been a delay, after the death of Nala, the chihuahua belonging to Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz Beckham, in July. But the big day is imminent.
So what will the first product be? Well, I can also reveal that Peltz Beckham LLC, which is his company, now has an offshoot called Buster Hot Sauce Inc — which feels like a heavy hint.
Brooklyn told InStyle magazine in June of the as-yet-unconfirmed foodstuff: ‘It’s nice, because it’s so broad. You can use it in spicy margaritas, you can use it on chicken, you can use it on sushi.’
Hot sauce? On sushi? Yikes.
Brooklyn Beckham (pictured) has set up an offshoot company called Buster Hot Sauce Inc
16-year-old Brooklyn poses with his godfather Sir Elton John – who nicknamed him Buster
He added: ‘I can’t say what, exactly, it is, but it’s in the food space. It’s been a passion project of mine for the last two-and-a-half years, something I’ve literally put everything into. I’ve never worked so hard on anything in my life.’
He put his own funds into the project, too. ‘I had to find a distributor… finding a CEO is very difficult, especially for a start-up. The first year was just me — I put a lot of money in to start it on my own — and then maybe under a year ago, I got investors.’
Buster is the nickname bestowed on Brooklyn by his godfather Sir Elton John and is what all his family still call him.
Depp’s New York exhibition
Johnny Depp’s pivot into art — revealed by this column in early summer — continues.
It has just been announced that he has created an immersive exhibition titled ‘A Bunch Of Stuff’ which will open in New York in October.
Robert Downey Jr is a hit on Broadway
Robert Downey Jr’s Broadway debut — first revealed here in April a month before it was announced — is a huge success. The movie star is headlining in McNeal at the Lincoln Center.
Its first four performances were packed out and have brought in nearly $750,000, with an average ticket price of $170. That puts it in the league of big-money musicals.
Robert Downey Jr’s Broadway debut — first revealed here in April a month before it was announced — is a huge success
The movie star is headlining in McNeal at the Lincoln Center
Downey Jr plays an author who becomes fascinated by artificial intelligence in the show, directed by Bartlett Sher, which is now previewing and opens on September 30.
Will the actor, who won an Oscar for his performance in Oppenheimer in March, add a Tony to his haul?
Bob Geldof ruins a sleepover
Bob Geldof has a reputation for being shouty and sweary – and it seems it may be well deserved.
Years ago, schoolfriends of his daughter Pixie were enjoying a sleepover – and giggling and chatting late into the night, as is normal – only for Sir Bob to burst in and yell: ‘Will you shut the f*** up, girls! I’ve got a Live Aid press conference in the morning.’
Comedian Kate Cheka was one of those on the receiving end, and now recounts the 2004 run-in on stage.
A Cole-powered train
Ipcress File star Joe Cole has the perfect face – on the cusp between hero and villain – according to the writer of his new show, Nightsleeper.
Cole plays a passenger on a Glasgow to London train ‘hackjacked’ by technology in the thriller dreamed up by Nick Leather. It will be on BBC One on Sunday and Monday nights for three weeks, starting this weekend.
‘He treads the line really well, that’s why I like him as an actor,’ Leather said. ‘I specifically wanted Joe after seeing him in a Black Mirror episode.’
Joe Cole plays a passenger on a train from Glasgow to London which has been ‘hackjacked’
He added that Nightsleeper is like a mash-up of Speed, 24 and Murder On The Orient Express and it unfolds almost in ‘real time’, as the story of the six-hour train journey is told over six hours of drama.
Leather continued: ‘I wanted this to be big and buzzy with lots of stunts, but actually it only works if you care about the people on the train.’
The train itself was built in a warehouse in Glasgow, with screens called ‘LED volume walls’ creating the illusion of the countryside flashing by.