Britpop legends Oasis played their first gig 30 years ago today, with Noel Gallagher as frontman of the band at The Boardwalk in Manchester.
The gig was the British rock band’s second – after Noel watched his brother play their first in August 1991 and considered using the group as an outlet for his own music, agreeing to join on the condition that he was to be the band’s leader and sole contributor.
In an interview with Q magazine four years later in 1995, Noel recalled: “I can remember we asked loads of our mates to come who didn’t want to pay when they got there, so there was a big scene at the door with people saying: ‘I’m not f****g paying three quid to see you lot.’
“Of course, these are all the people now who say they supported us in the beginning.”
On October 19, 1991 (Noel: “I can remember the date, I’m a sad b*****d.”), Oasis began their journey to stardom in a humble fashion by playing four songs to a crowd of around 20 people in the Manchester music venue.
The setlist included debut performances of songs ‘Take Me’, ‘Colombia’ and ‘Acoustic Song’ – which Noel described as “a cover of a house tune that I can’t remember the name of and went on for about 20 minutes” – as well as one other unnamed song.
Oasis rose to prominence in 1994, with the release of their debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’ entering the UK chart at number one and becoming the fastest-selling debut album in British history at that time.
They became famed for their simplistic songwriting style and Beatles-esque use of melodies.
Superhits such as ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ followed, sparking what became known as ‘Oasismania’ over the next decade.
However, the band’s success was to be marred by a notorious feud between brothers Liam and Noel, with the two refusing to do joint interviews as a result of bickering alongside reports of items being thrown at each other onstage.
This eventually resulted in Noel leaving the band for good in 2009, stating on the band’s website that: “I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
Featured image credit: Wikipedia
