Original Oasis drummer says he DOES want to reunite with the band – & how he still regrets ‘biggest mistake of his life’
THE original drummer of Oasis has revealed that he wants to reunite with the band as he opened up over the “biggest mistake of his life”.
Tony McCaroll co-founded the now legendary group in 1991 and “always” remained confident they would make a comeback despite a tough breakup in 2009.
Oasis fans were sent into a frenzy by last week’s announcement that the Gallagher brothers would return to the stage together for the first time in 15 years, as revealed exclusively by The Sun.
The band’s two frontmen have had a notoriously difficult relationship over the years, especially after Noel quit the group after a cancelled gig in 2009.
Now, though, they have put aside their differences and will tour Great Britain and Ireland in the summer of 2025 with a bumper schedule across Edinburgh, Cardiff, London, Dublin and their beloved home of Manchester.
However, not all of the original band members will be up there with them as Tony, 53, confirmed he is not booked for the tour.
Oasis 2025 tour dates REVEALED
OASIS brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher have revealed a 17 gig comeback tour next summer - here are the details
The Wonderwall hitmakers will delight crowds as follows:
JULY 2025
4th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium
5th – Cardiff, Principality Stadium
11th – Manchester, Heaton Park
12th – Manchester, Heaton Park
16th – Manchester, Heaton Park
19th – Manchester, Heaton Park
20th – Manchester, Heaton Park
25th – London, Wembley Stadium
26th – London, Wembley Stadium
30th – London, Wembley Stadium
AUGUST 2025
2nd – London, Wembley Stadium
3rd – London, Wembley Stadium
8th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
9th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
12th – Edinburgh, Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium
16th – Dublin, Croke Park
17th – Dublin, Croke Park
Fans are able to increase their chances of getting tickets through a pre-sale ticket ballot.
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Those who answer correctly will receive an email asking for confirmation they want to be entered into the ballot.
Successful ballot entries then received an email with a code by 12pm on Friday, August 30.
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Tickets for the UK dates go on sale from 9am on Saturday, August 31st and will be available from www.ticketmaster.co.uk, www.gigsandtours.com and www.seetickets.com. Dublin tickets will be available from 8am that same day from www.ticketmaster.ie.
He told The Sun: “I’ve always, always, always, always said it, that they would get back together.
“It’s not like they’re two estranged friends, if you like, they’re brothers.
“I reckon Peggy [Gallagher] being the old Irish lady that she is, is banging their heads together.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be asked, if there’s a whole thing going on that I don’t know about.”
While an appearance remains uncertain, he did say that he would “love” to get back on stage with his old bandmates next year.
He dubbed his decision to leave the band in 1995, leading to him being replaced by Alan “Whitey” White, the “biggest mistake of my life”.
In an interview following the unveiling of a blue plaque in his honour outside the venue of his “first pre-Oasis public performance” in County Offaly, Ireland, he recalled what led him to the decision.
Tony said: “There was tension in the band — not only with me.
“The band was a tough place to be sometimes.
“I remember the Paris gig, drinking was involved, I ended up arguing with someone in the room next door to Noel and the next day Noel said, in front of the sound crew and everyone, ‘Don’t ever keep me awake at night or I’ll sack you’.
“I’d had enough. I’d had enough of the poking each other and this, that and the other, so I swept the kit out the way and went up to Noel — right up to his face — and said: ‘Don’t you ever talk to me like that.’
“It was probably the biggest mistake of life.”
Humble beginnings
The percussion maestro also revealed how the Gallagher brothers first came into the fold as the band formed.
He and the two Pauls were previously in a group called The Rain with singer Chris Hutton, but auditioned for a new vocalist as they looked to branch out on a new project.
Tony explained: “It was kind of an impromptu sort of audition in my house.
“It must be the most ridiculous thing ever.
“There was some like four or five-string guitar, I was on the bongos, but instantly being just Liam walking in the room and he appreciated the kind of thing.
“There was some kind of singing, blah, blah, blah. And we were like, yeah, he’s in.
“He’s the man, instantly recognizable.
“He walks like a rockstar.”
It would be a couple of months later that Liam’s older brother Noel would join as songwriter and lead singer, launching Oasis on a 28-year run of record-breaking success.
It comes after tickets for the reunion tour sold out in minutes as 14 million fans tried to snap them up.
However, the sale was blighted by complaints of unreasonable price increases and huge queues as ticket sites struggled to cope with demand.
Oasis - The Gallagher Feud Timeline
Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher have a long history of ongoing fights - both physical and verbal - here's the full history of the band and what they've said to each other.
1991 – Liam Gallagher forms Oasis with Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll, later asking Noel to join.
1993 – The band sign to Creation Records and start work on their debut album.
August 1994 – Oasis shoot to fame with their debut album, Definitely Maybe, with tracks including Rock n Roll Star, Live Forever and Supersonic. It’s one of the fastest selling debuts ever for a British band.
September 1994 – Noel temporarily leaves the band’s tour after Liam smacks him in the face with a tambourine on stage in Los Angeles.
1995 – The band release their second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? which features Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back in Anger, and Champagne Supernova.
1996 – Liam is forced to sit out a leg of tour shows due to laryngitis, but causes chaos when he was filmed heckling his brother from a balcony while a taping of MTV Unplugged.
2000 – Noel quits the band temporarily for a second time when, while partying in Barcelona, Liam riles Noel by questioning if his daughter, Anais, is actually his. The pair get into a fist fight.
2005 – Noel tells Q Magazine that he’s ‘never forgiven’ Liam for his comments about Anais and he’s ‘never apologised. He tells the mag: “He’s my brother. I hope he’s reading this and realises that. He’s my brother but he’s at arm’s length until he apologises for what he’s done.”
2009 – Noel admits in an interview with Q that he ‘doesn’t like Liam’, branding him “rude, arrogant, intimidating, and lazy”. “He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet,” he added. “He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.”
Liam later retaliates and tells NME: “It takes more than blood to be my brother. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him.”
August 23, 2009 – Oasis pull out of a headline slot at V Festival in the UK due to Liam having laryngitis.
August 28, 2009 – Ahead of the Rock en Seine festival, Noel and Liam get into another fight, during which time Liam breaks one of Noel’s guitars after “waving it like an axe” according to Noel.
August 28, 2009 – Noel quits the band for the third and final time, saying in a statement: “It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
2010 – Oasis win ‘best album of the last 30 years’ at the Brit Awards for (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. Liam picks up the gong, and thanks everyone except Noel. He later says this was misinterpreted as a dig.
2011 – Liam tries to sue Noel after he claims in the interview they cancelled their V Festival performance due to Liam being hungover. Liam disputed it said the comment “questioned my professionalism”. He later apologised and the lawsuit was dropped.
2011 – Noel admits regrets at quitting before the Paris gig, telling Absolute Radio and admits if he did “we may never have split up.”
2011 – 2014 – Liam and the other bandmates continue under new name, Beady Eye, while Noel forms new band, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
2015 – After years of jabs online, especially through media and Twitter, Liam teases he’s buried the hatchet with Noel by sharing an All Areas pass from a High Flying Birds gig. However, the fight would recommence two months later after Noel publicly dismissed suggestion Oasis would reunite for Glastonbury 2016.
2017 – Liam performs at Manchester’s One Love concert after the bombing at Ariana Grande’s show, with Don’t Look Back In Anger becoming a unifying anthem for the incident. He then slams Noel for not attending. Noel later tells Sunday Times: “Young music fan were slaughtered, and he, twice, takes it somewhere to be about him. He needs to see somebody.”
2018 – Liam suggests a reunion for the 2018 World Cup on Twitter, writing: “let’s get the big O back together and stop f***ing about the drinks are on me”. When it fell on deaf ears, he added: “I’ll take that as a NO then.”
2019 – Noel speaks out after Liam sends ‘threatening messages’ to Anais after a comment made about then wife Sara McDonald. Liam later apologises publicly to Anais.
2020 – Liam urges Noel to reunite for a one-off charity gig.