Liam Gallagher publicly lambasted his brother, Noel, earlier this week, calling him a “sad fuck” after the Oasis songwriter was unable to make it on Sunday to the One Love Manchester benefit concert, where Liam made a surprise appearance.
But it appears that Noel has been quietly doing what he can to help the families of the Manchester victims.
Gordon Smart, a host on the British station Radio X, said Tuesday that Noel started donating recent royalties from the Oasis classic “Don’t Look Back in Anger” to families of the victims soon after video surfaced showing a large crowd near Manchester Arena singing the song together after the May 22 attack.
“I’ve seen some unpleasant headlines about Noel and why he never played the gig in Manchester at the weekend,” Smart said.
“It’s only right to point out, and I don’t think this is public knowledge because I’m sure he would never mentioned it, but I found out today that as soon as ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ started to appear spontaneously at the vigils, he made sure all the royalties went to the families. That was before any gig was mentioned.”
He continued, “It seems wrong to me that Noel’s getting a hard time for a reunion he was never part of. It’s a shame any attention at all has been taken away from a really special occasion at Old Trafford. But there you go, true fact. He gave his blessing for the songs without any drama at all.”
A representative for Noel confirmed to the music website Pitchfork that the musician had been donating the royalties to the victims’ families.
Soon after Liam criticized his brother for not attending the concert, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who sang “Don’t Look Back in Anger” at the event, defended Noel in a series of tweets. Martin said it was known beforehand that Noel would not be able to perform.
Noel reportedly couldn’t attend because of a “longstanding family trip” that had been planned well before the benefit concert was organized. A representative for Noel had said that he had wished “everyone huge success on the day.”
