Published Thursday, 16 August 2012
The Spice Girls, The Who and One Direction were among the stars who showcased the best of British music at the sporting extravaganza finale show in London, but Gallagher turned down an offer to appear.
Speaking on UK radio station Xfm, he says: "I asked who else is playing and they said: 'I can't tell you. You've got to sign a confidentiality agreement'. It's like it's the Iran nuclear program or something.
"They wanted me to do it acoustically and wanted me to mime. I'm all for miming in TV shows, I love that... But if you're in a stadium with 80,000 people and you're pretending... I said I could play live and one of the organisers said: 'It's a big gig' and I was like, 'Really? I do this for a living'.
"I'd only had a few days off and they wanted me to re-record the song. In the end I was like I'd rather watch in on the telly..."
The rocker's brother Liam and his new band Beady Eye accepted an invite to appear at the show, performing Oasis classic Wonderwall, but Noel, who wrote the track, gave organisers a further headache by leaving it to the last minute to give his permission for the song to be used.
He adds: "Liam's lot stepped in and did it and there you go. They had to re-record and send it to me and I did play a bit of cat and mouse with them. I took it to Friday night at 10pm before I said yes."
Noel subsequently appeared to take aim at his brother's group's performance, branding them an Oasis "tribute band" during his own gig in the UK capital on Tuesday night.