On June 2 at 5:10 p.m. PT/8:10 p.m. ET, Yahoo Live will live stream Noel Gallagher's concert from the House of Blues in Cleveland. Tune in HERE to watch!

Noel Gallagher has made some of the best music of his career (with his new collective, High Flying Birds) since his acrimonious split with brother/Oasis bandmate Liam Gallagher in 2009. And despite the title of his latest album, Chasing Yesterday, he's looking straight ahead, with seemingly little desire to revisit his Britpop past. He's not looking back, in anger or otherwise. But that doesn't stop Oasis fans, even famous ones like Sir Paul McCartney, from speculating and hoping that one day, an Oasis reunion will finally happen.



Yahoo Music recently caught up with Noel during some reflective downtime in his dressing room before his sold-out show at Los Angeles's Orpheum Theatre, during which he chatted about band reunions, his past vs. present, and if McCartney's comment swayed him at all. As Noel marks his 48th birthday today (May 29), we know no better way to celebrate than with this epic interview. Let it rip!

YAHOO MUSIC: So I know you have a new solo album, but I have to ask this. One of your heroes, Paul McCartney, recently said in an interview that he thinks Oasis should get back together…

NOEL GALLAGHER: I did read that, yeah.

So, what did you think of that? That's some pretty major encouragement right there.

Yeah, well, tell him if he writes our comeback single, it's on. Tell him to write an Oasis track and then we'll talk. I'll just put that out there.

How do you feel about this near-constant clamoring for an Oasis reunion, even after all these years?

It's flattering. It's funny, in the sense that it really does sum up the British psyche, that when we were together the press couldn't wait for it to f---ing implode, and then when it did implode, they can't wait for it to be back together again. I think from a fan's point of view it's flattering that people still want it, and then if I'm taking a real overview of it all, I think it's sad that it's needed. Because there are no other bands out there for anyone to focus their attention on every week. If we go back to '94, when we broke, nobody mentioned anybody reuniting — because we were the big s---, and that was it. We didn't need anybody else, didn't need the Beatles anymore from the '60s or the Pistols or any of that, you know? Our generation had its own thing. This generation doesn't have it, so they harken back to the last one. It's nice that they're talking about my group, my songs, but…

Why do you think this is the case?

It's all because of the Internet, because you can Google nostalgia quite easily… Enough generations grow up looking back, so nobody's looking forward, you know? My fear would be, is it gonna take for all of us to die, for the next generation of youth to get something for themselves? Is it gonna take the fact that [the legends have] all gone, they're all dead? But I believe someone must be around the corner, because there's not a great band to come along for a long, long time now.



Do you really believe that? No one?

There are good bands and some of them write good tunes, but when I mean great, I'm not a barometer of greatness and I don't define greatness, but we all know that thing. It's not in the records, because records are subjective. It's just a thing, and there's not been a band with the thing for a long time. People make great music, people write great tunes and do great gigs and all that, but really who's got the f---ing thing? The magic? I don't see it.