Richard Ashcroft rules out The Verve reunion: “I don’t think it would work”
Richard Ashcroft has ruled out another reunion with The Verve.
The Britpop icons originally split up in 1995 before reuniting two years later to release the seminal Urban Hymns in 1997. However, by 1999, they had split up once again.
A decade on from their first reunion, The Verve got back together for the second time, which saw them headline a number of festivals in 2008, including the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. The Verve also released their fourth album, Forth.
In 2009, Ashcroft confirmed they had split up for the third time, and since then, he has continued with his solo career.
Despite supporting Oasis across the UK and Ireland this summer, Ashcroft has no appetite to reunite The Verve, telling The Sun in a new interview, “We’ve already played that hand.”
“I don’t think it would work,” Ashcroft responded, before adding, “The Verve’s situation was a tougher one than Oasis – it was a different dynamic to Oasis.”
The reasons behind why The Verve split up in 2009 have never been disclosed by Ashcroft, who told Radio X in 2018, “If I’m attempting to make myself the saint in this that would be wrong, but I think what has happened is, because I’ve kind of remained a bit silent on the subject, because I don’t want to burn people out publicly, I don’t want to just say ‘here we go this is what I was dealing with’, I’m not that kind of guy.”
The former Verve frontman released his new album, Lovin’ You, on October 10th. Next year, Ashcroft is set to head out on a headline tour across the UK and Ireland, playing arenas including London’s The O2 and the Co-op Live in Manchester, which are both already sold out following the successful run with Oasis.
Earlier this week, he was confirmed to perform alongside Oasis in South America next month. During an appearance on TalkSPORT, Ashcroft said it was the Gallagher brothers who called for him to earn a spot on the tour.
He shared, “It was lovely that it came from the lads. You know what I mean, it wasn’t some agent or manager. You know, they understood, I think, that I could potentially have been the perfect act to leave it to them to slam dunk.”
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