Why Pete Townshend Is ‘Disappointed’ Oasis Is Reuniting

The Who‘s Pete Townshend didn’t snag a ticket for the Oasis reunion either, but it’s not for the reason you think.

Townshend sat down with The Standard after the guitar virtuoso permanently lent his synth collection to the University of West London in Ealing for their newly built Townshend Studio. Amid musings of his thoughts on arts education funding, the 79-year-old was asked about his thoughts on Oasis’ massive 2025 reunion.

“Well, I’m disappointed,” Townshend said. When asked if it’s because he couldn’t get a ticket due to the demand, he replied, “No, because I really like their solo albums.”

Townshend’s opinion differs from The Who bandmate Roger Daltrey, who told Rolling Stone “I wish [Oasis] would just get back together” in 2022.

The Gallagher brothers, Liam, 52, and Noel, 57, split off into solo careers after Oasis’ intense breakup in 2009, and both of them would go on to perform with The Who on separate occasions. Noel supported the band at a benefit gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2017, and Liam supported The Who on tour in 2019.

The Gallaghers regularly made headlines throughout Oasis’ tenure for their disputes both public and private, some of which were physical. The brothers came to blows regularly well into their final days as a band and resorted to traveling separately to avoid conflict. Ahead of their set at Rock en Seine in Paris in 2009, it was abruptly announced that they would not be performing. Shortly after, Noel announced via the band’s website that he’d quit the band.

In a later recollection of the night, Noel said, “[Liam] goes out the dressing room, for whatever reason, he went to his own dressing room, and he came back with a guitar, and he started wielding it like an axe, and I’m not f—ing kidding,” Noel said in a 2015 interview with Esquire. “And I’m making light of it because it’s kind of what I do, but it was a real unnecessary violent act, and he’s swinging this guitar around; he nearly took my face off with it.”

In August, the band announced a 2025 world tour in stadiums across North America and Europe, over a decade since their explosive split.

Speaking of reunions, Townshend was also asked about the future of The Who and provided a hopeful update. “I met with Roger for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We’re in good form. We love each other. We’re both getting a bit creaky, but we will definitely do something next year,” he said. The former bandmates appear to have made significant strides after Townshend told The Daily Beast in August, “Roger and I don’t converse. We don’t talk.”

The tentative plans aren’t shaping up into an album as of now, as Townshend says Daltrey isn’t “keen” on recording new material, “but I would love to do another album and I may try to bully him on that.”