End of the road for legendary British pop-rock band Oasis?

Oasis songwriter and lead guitarist Noel Gallagher has announced that he has left the band after years of quarreling with his brother Liam, the band’s lead singer. They have cancelled the rest of their current European tour after yet another dispute.

Noel Gallagher announced his decision yesterday in a short statement on the Oasis official website which reads: "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. "Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan." The latest and possibly last spat with his brother happened just before the band was due to go on stage at the Festival de Rock en Seine, in Saint-Cloud, France, says French daily Le Figaro. They did not play their headlining slot in front of the 30,000 fans who had come to see them and were replaced at the last minute by Madness, the British ska-rock band. The Festival’s director, François Missonnier, said that “For reasons we don’t know yet, a fight broke out between the two brothers. Noel left the festival site and no-one was able to persuade him to stay.” Missonnier also mentioned that a guitar had been smashed during the altercation and that the remaining gigs of the Oasis tour, at the Rock Am See Festival in Germany and the I-Day Festival de Milan had been cancelled. The Gallagher brothers are well-known in the music business for the frequent and often violent disputes that have occurred since Oasis formed in 1991 in Manchester England, but they had always managed to patch up their differences.

Photo by jules2view

Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis joins Kasabian live in concert

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The now-cancelled world tour began 13 months ago with the release of their latest album ‘Dig out Your Souls’ and rumours abounded that the atmosphere in the band was bad, even by their standards. The brothers admitted in separate interviews that they rarely spoke to each other. They have often used Twitter to continue their spats in the last few months. Oasis had to officially deny that they had split up last week following the cancellation of a date at an English festival due to what was announced as an attack of laryngitis from which Liam was said to be suffering. Oasis are a legend in Great Britain and, along with Blur, were the leaders of the Brit-pop revival in the 1990’s. They have made seven albums, including the celebrated ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘Morning Glory?.” They have played several full-house major world tours. It is difficult to see how the band could survive as a creative force without Noel Gallagher due to his preponderant role in the band’s songwriting activities.