How Lewis Capaldi trolled Noel Gallagher at Glastonbury 2019

26 June 2020, 12:00 | Updated: 26 June 2020, 12:01

Glastonbury 2019 was the flashpoint of the war of banter that featured the former Oasis rocker and the Someone You Loved singer.

2019 was filled with plenty of huge moments in music. From surprise reunions to outrageous Twitter spats, last year had it all.

But nothing was more exhilarating than the (sort of) semi-serious beef between Noel Gallagher and Lewis Capaldi.

It had twists, turns, Instagram Stories, merchandise and on-stage stunts a-plenty!

And just when we thought we'd heard the end of it, the banter kept on coming. It even resulted in a huge donation for a great cause.

Here's how it all happened.

7 June - The Radio X interview

Noel Gallagher played a huge homecoming gig at Manchester's Heaton Park on 7 June last year. However, it was his Radio X interview with Gordon Smart and Matt Morgan that went on to hit the headlines.

In it, Gallagher called new music "fucking wank" and took particular aim at Lewis Capaldi, asking: "Who's this Capaldi fella? Who the fuck's that idiot?"

Lewis Capaldi thanks Glastonbury & Radio X while re-sharing Noel Gallagher video.mp4

Watch our full interview with Noel here, and see him talk about Lewis from 23 minutes and 15 seconds in:

Noel Gallagher on Lewis Capaldi and Expensive Mistakes | Live at Heaton Park | Radio X

16 June 2019 - Lewis Capaldi responds

Unbeknown to Noel, his off-hand comment was set to unleash a chain of events so magnificent we couldn't keep up.

While most people would have felt a bit down after being referred to as "wank," Lewis Capaldi took to his Instagram Story to post just a few videos celebrating the namecheck.

In his series of posts, the Someone You Loved singer played the Radio X clip repeatedly and declared: "What a f**king day," before singing along to songs from Gallagher's back-catalogue.

After wishing Noel a Happy Father's Day, he joked that he was going to get a haircut, began browsing Noel's classic hairstyles and then proceeded to search for a parka jacket, a bucket hat, and dark fruits cider.

Not content with the banter, the Glasgow singer then showed what a good sport he was by promoting Noel Gallagher's Black Star Dancing single, and even shared a link to buy the Manchester legend's Black Star Dancing EP.

See his bonkers set of vids here:

17 June 2019 - Noel hits back

Not long after, Noel Gallagher hit back with his own reaction video, which saw his son mocking the Scottish singer-songwriter by crying along to his song.

He captioned the video on Twitter: "@LewisCapaldi you big daftie. You might wanna try and find some joy in your tunes you're destroying the youth... my 11yr old is in bits."

18 June 2019 - Liam Gallagher weighs in

Just days later, Noel's estranged brother Liam Gallagher even weighed in on the drama.

Always ready to wind up his brother and former bandmate Noel, when asked by a fan if he likes Lewis Capaldi, Liam simply replied: "I do now".

20 June 2019 - Lewis takes to Twitter

After it was revealed his debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent would be finally ending its reign at the top of the UK album chart, Lewis took it as an opportunity to blame the person who called him out for being crap: Noel Gallagher.

Taking to Twitter, he simply wrote: "This is all your fucking fault @NoelGallagher".

29 June 2019 - Lewis pulls off Glastonbury stunt

Things died down for a while, but little did we know that Lewis had something big cooking...

The Scottish singer-songwriter channelled Jay-Z's 2008 headline performance at Glasto estival by responding to the Oasis rocker's criticism ahead of his set.

Capaldi was set to play the Other Stage at Worthy Farm to an impressive crowd at 4pm, and kicked things off by playing our video of Noel Gallagher's criticism.

That was followed by the Naughty by Nature track, Here Comes The Money, the perfect entrance song to hint at his whirlwind success.

Then, much to the crowd's delight, he came on stage wearing a bucket hat, a parka and a t-shirt, which had Noel Gallagher's face on it.

After ripping off his outer wear, Lewis launched into his track Grace.

Watch our clip of the moment here:

Lewis Capaldi hits back at Noel Gallagher at Glasto 2019

Speaking to the audience on the festival's second biggest stage, the singer was over-awed by the turn out, saying: "This is absolutely mental, there are so many people here."

Lewis poses with R KID Liam

Summing up the weekend, Capaldi delivered what looked like finishing blow by sharing a picture of himself during his set and posing with Noel's brother Liam backstage.

Scroll through the pics below to see Lewis and Liam looking cosy at the festival:

View this post on Instagram

R KID @glastofest

A post shared by Lewis Calamari (@lewiscapaldi) on Jun 29, 2019 at 1:02pm PDT

Anaïs Gallagher shows her support

If there weren't already enough family members on Lewis' side, Noel Gallagher's own daughter Anaïs gave the stunt her seal of approval, writing on Twitter: "I want to be @LewisCapaldi when I grow up".

3 July - Sam Fender praises Lewis

Sam Fender appeared on Radio X and gave his take on the banter between Noel and Lewis.

Watch our video here:

The Play God singer was quizzed about what he thought of the former Oasis rocker's back and forth with the Scottish singer-songwriter and told Gordon Smart: "He kind of didn’t slag us off, he kind of did."

He added: "I saw what he said about Lewis, that was funny, and really funny what Lewis did after that... And then going out on stage and making that… That was quality. That was funny.” 

4 July 2019 - Lewis leads Don't Look Back In Anger singalong at Barn On The Farm Festival

All had seemed to go quiet for a while, but Lewis didn't miss a chance to pay homage to his musical hero.

After performing at Barn on the Farm festival, where he was on the bill with the likes of Jade Bird, Maggie Rogers and Maverick Sabre, he treated fans to a little impromptu singalong while walking through the campsite.

Watch our clip of the moment, which was taken by festival-goer James Paterson:

Lewis Capaldi performs an improptu Oasis song

Recalling the unforgettable experience, Patterson - who is a singer-songwriter from London - told Radio X: "We were sat around our tents near the main walkway of Barn On The Farm playing my little travel guitar.

"Then one of our friends jumped up as they saw Lewis walking by. We had a nice chat with him and I asked him if he would sign my guitar and play us a song? So he did!

"Everyone gathered round and it drew a big crowd!"

11 July 2019 - Noel calls Lewis Chewbacca

Things seemed to settle down somewhat, until Noel gave a scathing interview in which he referred to Lewis as "Chewbacca" and said some not-so-nice things about Scotland.

Speaking to Variety, the Ballad of the Mighty I singer said: "Fucking Chewbacca should enjoy his 15 minutes. The greatest day of his life that I slagged him off or called him an idiot. It’s the greatest day of his fucking life so far? He’s just thinking, 'Wow!'

"Well, I know you’re Scottish and all that, but fucking hell! It is like a third world country, but for fuck‘s sake, man, you must have had a better day than this? Surely!"

Noel also reacted to his daughter's declaration on Twitter that she wants to be Lewis when she grows up, joking: "When she grows up? Well, she better be better looking than that cunt! Let’s hope she doesn’t have his looks. Or his girth. I’m not going to allow that. She’s gonna have a bad day soon if she wants to be Lewis Capaldi when she grows up."

Capaldi responds with Chewy Twitter profile pic

Completely undeterred, the singer took to Twitter and changed his profile picture to an image of himself merged with the famous Star Wars character.

If that wasn't enough banter for one day, the Tough singer also changed his name to Chewis Capaldi, which had his fans applauding him for his genius and ability to laugh at himself.

Lewis and Anaïs watch Noel at Mad Cool Festival

Unbeknown to most of us, that very same day, Capaldi was watching Noel Gallagher's set at Spain's Mad Cool Festival, with none other than his daughter.

Watch them both shout "Dad!" at him during his set in Madrid:

Was this the moment the "spat" was truly over? Probably. However, it didn't stop what was still to come...

14 July 2019 - Lewis dons Chewbacca mask at TRNSMT Festival

Lewis made his homecoming set at TRNSMT Festival 2019 extra special by taking to the stage in a Chewbacca mask.

Not content to get one up on Noel with his choice of attire, Lewis also sang a rendition of Don't Look Back In Anger, which he changed to Don't Chewbac In Anger and dedicated it to his "dear father".

Watch him in action:

16 July 2019 - The signed Chewbacca mask goes up for auction

A TRNSMT festival worker listed Capaldi's mask on eBay in aid of mental health charity, Tiny Changes, which was set up after after Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison sadly lost his life to suicide.

The seller wrote: "For sale....THE actual latex Chewbacca mask worn by Lewis Capaldi at TRNSMT festival on 14/07/19.

"I work for DF concerts and events and donated my mask to Lewis Capaldi for his performance. He signed it as well shortly after coming off Stage. So I thought the best thing to do with it would be sell it on eBay with the profits going to the charity “Tiny changes” which was set up in memory of Scott Hutchison (Frightened Rabbit.)

"Tiny Changes helps Raise awareness about children and young people’s mental health issues."

18 July 2019: Lewis finally meets Noel

Just a few days later, Lewis Capaldi revealed he'd actually met Noel Gallagher after his set at Mad Cool festival, and they even shared a hug.

“I met him. I actually met him at Mad Cool Festival," Capaldi told BBC Scotland. “I gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear ‘It’s gonna be OK’.

"He was wriggling, but I pinned him and said ‘Noel!, I’m here and it’s gonna be fine'”.

28 July 2019 - Capaldi plants kiss on Anaïs' cheek

If it wasn't clear enough the pair had become friends, The daughter of Noel and his ex wife Meg Matthews shared an image of herself with the singer.

See Anaïs' snap below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anaïs Gallagher (@gallagher_anais) on Sep 24, 2019 at 9:12am PDT

Look away now Noel!

29 July 2019 - Paolo Nutini buys Chewbacca mask after highest bidder pulls out

In yet another twist, Paolo Nutini stepped in to lend his support and bought the now famous headwear.

Bids for the the signed mask quickly rose to in excess of £5k, but after the top bid fell through, the Jenny Don't Be Hasty singer generously saved the day by paying £10k for the item, which went to the Tiny Changes charity.

If that wasn't enough of a good deed, the fellow Scot then set up a ‘text to enter’ competition in order to give the Chewbacca mask away, while raising even more money for the charity.

Nutini said of his gesture: "I really wanted to find a way to help out the Tiny Changes Charity. Not only am I a big fan of Frightened Rabbit but I was lucky enough to share the stage with them on various occasions - most memorably for me on Hogmanay in Edinburgh 2017.

“Scott was such a great and honest songwriter who was not afraid to convey what he was going through in such a beautiful and honest way. People could hear and read their troubles in his lyrics and be reminded that they were not alone in how they were feeling. That really is the power of music.

“When I found out what happened regarding the money raised for the kind donation from the team at DF Concerts and Lewis Capaldi, I felt like I could help. The idea is now to give people another chance to take it home and contribute to this very important cause. Big Love”.

A message from Scott’s Hutchison's family read: "Once again we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who has gone above and beyond to make this happen. We’d like to thank DF concerts, Paolo Nutini and his team and of course Lewis Capaldi and his face. We hope you can all be a part of this wonderfully weird little story and get your name in the pot to win this mask. Many tiny changes can start the movement for massive changes."

1 August 2019 - Lewis Capaldi declares of Noel: "He loves me now!"

Lewis shared more details about his "lovers tiff" with Noel and what it was like to meet him.

Speaking on Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, he revealed: "I wouldn’t call it a feud, I’d call it a lovers’ tiff."

Referring to his Glastonbury stunt, in which he came he came out wearing a Noel Gallagher t-shirt, the singer added: "I don’t know who wants to see beef between me and Noel Gallagher but, yeah, he said some unfavourable things, did Noel, and I responded by getting my hair cut like his brother and dressing up like his brother and wearing a shirt with his face on it with a love heart on it.

"It was a whole thing. I tell you something: the beef was raw, it was some raw beef."

3 August 2019 - Lewis Capaldi pleads to Noel and Liam Gallagher for an Oasis reunion

After meeting Liam Gallagher at Glastonbury, and finally patching things up with Noel at Mad Cool Festival, who better than to bring the warring brothers together than Lewis himself?

Lewis visited Radio X, where he could finally tell us about the long-running banter and attempt to do the impossible by lending a hand at getting Oasis back together.

Watch his video here:

Lewis Capaldi makes plea for Oasis reunion

Asked if he had any words of wisdom for the Manchester legends, Capaldi joked: "Both of you probably don't like my music and wouldn't you love to not see me be in the charts?"

"If you guys got back together and do an Oasis album repackage," he continued addressing the warring siblings. "You'll knock me out of the charts for sure."

The singer concluded: "I mean Noel for one, you don't like the tunes, my man... and Liam you probably don't like them either...

"So if you guys want to eradicate me from popular music, what you're gonna have to do is get together and reform and I'll see you there!"

Legend.