Broken ribs and cancelled gigs. Hurled footwear and bickering bandmates.
Oasis performed in Toronto a dozen times between 1994 and 2008, often leaving stories of tumult and occasional chaos in their wake. It’s a wild history, but that’s par for the course when it comes to the infamously acrimonious British group led by Liam and Noel Gallagher.
Since forming in the early 1990s, Oasis have generated endless stories of onstage tantrums and offstage antics, most of it stemming from the bitter (though often hilarious) rivalry between the Brothers Gallagher. In 2009, after nearly two decades of simmering tension, Liam and Noel erupted into a backstage fight following a gig in Paris, resulting in the band’s breakup.
Sixteen years later, Oasis is reunited and back on the road. On Aug. 24, they’ll return to Toronto for their first of two sold-out gigs at Rogers Stadium, where they will be greeted by 50,000 enthusiastic (and very thirsty) fans.
To mark the occasion, we dug into the archives to revisit the five most interesting and dramatic moments from the history of Oasis in Toronto.
The first visit to Toronto
The first time Oasis came to Toronto was Oct. 19, 1994 — just a couple of months after the band released their debut, “Definitely Maybe.” Arriving at the tail end of the grunge explosion, the album was an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic (it went nine times platinum in the U.K. and sold 15 million copies worldwide), ushering in a new era of Britpop and turning the Gallagher brothers into overnight rock stars.
The band’s first stop in Toronto was Sunrise Records, a retail record shop that was on Yonge Street at the time, where Liam and Noel performed acoustic renditions of “Shakermaker,” “Live Forever” and “Married With Children.”
Next, Noel and guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs sat down for an interview on the Canadian show “The New Music” at an unnamed café. Already, the band’s signature moodiness — and wit — was on display.
“Why do you think that ‘Definitely Maybe’ is the fastest selling indie release in U.K. history?” the interviewer asks Noel.
“Because it’s good,” he responds curtly.
That evening, Oasis played a sold-out show at Lee’s Palace, a small club on Bloor Street West with a capacity of about 600 people. A ticket for the gig cost just $11.75.
“I stood alone, in awe, watching Liam Gallagher stand on the tiny stage, hunched over the mic, with his big rock ’n’ roll voice filling the small space,” recalls former Star editor Jodi Isenberg. “I remember it was loud, and my heart pounded through the whole show. I knew I was witnessing the start of something big.”
Peter Howell, the Star’s pop critic at the time, was less enthusiastic. “Never mind breaking into a sweat — this band didn’t even want to show us that it had a pulse,” he wrote in a negative review. “Oasis performed devoid of personality and with a soulless jukebox efficiency that slowly but surely sucked the life out of the show.”
A classic interview at MuchMusic
Oasis was back in Toronto for a second time for a gig at the Phoenix Concert Theatre (capacity 1,350). But before the show, Noel and Bonehead stopped by MuchMusic for an intimate performance and an interview with VJ Sook-Yin Lee (the first of several appearances the band would make at Much over the years).
Most interviews with Noel are equal parts hilarious and awkward, but this one definitely stands out as one for the history books.
“How come it’s just the two of you guys,” Lee asks after Noel performs a version “Live Forever.”
“I’m better looking,” Noel quips. “I don’t know where (Liam) is, I think (he) went out shopping and never came back. I think he’s still trying to get down from the CN Tower.”
Later, Noel shared a bit about his songwriting process: “Records should make you feel good about yourself. They should take you away from the surroundings you’re in just for that three minutes, and maybe put a smile on your face or give you a buzz.”
He continued: “Bands that are too inward looking, and too miserable and whining, they should all be shot, I think.”
Oasis (barely) pulls things together ahead of massive show with Neil Young
It was (almost) too good to be true. In the summer of 1996, 30,000 fans travelled to Molson Park in Barrie, Ont., for what has to be one of the greatest rock lineups in Canadian history: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, with support from Oasis, Spiritualized, Screaming Trees, Gin Blossoms and Jewel.
The price? $41.
It was a concert that nearly didn’t happen. That summer, tensions between the Gallagher brothers were at a peak and rumours swirled that Liam might skip the Barrie gig. Just days before the show, he reportedly refused to board a flight from London, saying he had “nowhere to live” after selling his house. Days later, he changed his excuse to “acute laryngitis” — the band’s label even provided a doctor’s note.
In the end, Liam did show up for what sounded like a pretty rowdy show. ”(Liam) was in a sour mood, made worse by mosh pit idiots who kept throwing plastic bottles and footwear at him,” Howell wrote of the show in the Star. “Never one to back away from a pointless fight, Liam cranked it up further by taunting the crowd for being (sic) the worst aim ‘in the whole of the Western hemisphere.’ That just got the Blue Jay wannabes going, and Liam took two direct hits across the strike zone during the encore of the Beatles’ ‘I Am the Walrus.’”
One last dance at Maple Leaf Gardens
Maple Leaf Gardens holds a storied place in Toronto history: Built in 1931, the arena was home to the Maple Leafs for nearly 70 years, and hosted a long list of international stars, from Elvis Presley to the Beatles to Nirvana.
On Jan. 15, 1998, Oasis returned to the city for what would be the last ever musical performance at the legendary space (tickets to the show were a still-reasonable $39.75).
This time, the show went off without a hitch. After a 13-song set, Oasis returned for an encore, in which they played Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter,” and the opening track from “Definitely Maybe,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star.”
Chaos at Virgin Festival
The last time Oasis played in Toronto, all hell broke loose.
It was Sept. 8, 2008, and Oasis was in town for a headlining performance at Virgin Festival at Toronto Island Park (Foo Fighters were the other headliners that year). Midway through the set, as the band played “Morning Glory” in front of an audience of 25,0000, a drunken fan snuck onto the stage and viciously shoved Noel from behind, sending him crashing into his monitors.
The fan then made his way toward Liam, but security intervened. The lights came on and the band left stage for an extended period of time while Noel was examined by medics. “There was a lot of gasping and yelling,” one fan told the Star after the show.
Eventually, Noel returned to lead the group through another song, before Liam emerged to sing their popular hit “Wonderwall.” The band played a few more songs before ending the concert abruptly around 10 p.m.
It was later revealed that Noel broke three ribs, forcing the band to cancel five gigs.
Daniel Sullivan, a 48-year-old from Pickering, eventually pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. He admitted that he was drunk, and doesn’t remember how he got onstage.
