Following the bands set Oasis, The Verve and Primal Scream got drunk at the hotel bar and caused a reported £1,000 of worth of damage.
About the authors
Kyle Dale is a proud Mancunian, one of the world's most renowned Oasis collectors and the founder of Bittersweet Home, an artist management and music events company focused on charitable fundraising and fan experiences. He is a respected voice on Manchester music, an exhibition curator and a leading event host and artist manager. Featured on the BBC, NME, Radio X, the Manchester Evening News, the Daily Mirror, FourFourTwo and numerous other media outlets, Kyle was born in Manchester and now lives in Scotland. He is a dedicated father of three and a two-time cancer survivor. His extensive collection, events and major exhibitions have been seen by tens of thousands of people, while he has helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for causes close to his heart. He manages founding Oasis member Tony McCarroll and has worked closely with a wide range of musicians throughout his career, including past and present members of Oasis.
Co-author Danny Hall is a lifelong Oasis fan, memorabilia collector and writer. A football journalist by trade, Danny covers the up-and-down fortunes of Sheffield United for The Star in his home city and is also the owner of independent publisher Vertical Editions. He still curses himself for selling his ticket to see Oasis at Wembley in 2009, believing there would always be another chance. He learnt painfully that life doesn't always work that way; just a few weeks later, the band split up. This is History is his eighth book, and his first outside of the world of football.
Watch footage from the first night below.
More than 4% of the population applied for tickets to see Oasis at Knebworth, the largest demand in British history. A whopping 250,000 people got to see the band over two nights another record but incredibly, Oasis could have sold out another 18 Knebworth shows.
Bonehead on playing at Knebworth on August 10th 1996.
"I remember thinking 'I'll just have a quick hour in bed before we go on', and the Prodigy came on. If you've ever tried to sleep 20ft from the stage when the Prodigy were on live? Forget that."
When Oasis played at Knebworth the band had the following singles in the UK Official Singles Chart.
Whatever, Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Some Might Say, Live Forever & Supersonic. Long before the days of streaming etc these were from sales only.
If the audience for either of the gigs lay down, they would stretch from the Gallagher's childhood home in Burnage to Knebworth.
Rick Pope speaking to Sound On Sound about when Oasis played Knebworth
"Liam wanted his vocal blisteringly loud." It meant the microphones were so powerful that "someone would get within 10 feet of a microphone and you could hear their breath".
VIP guests at Oasis' Knebworth concerts were given their own fold-out Oasis-branded binoculars.
They were also given a special stick of rock that measured around 8" long and featured the bands logo and dates of the now legendary gigs on the label.
Liam Gallagher “I’m very proud of it, I am. What do I remember? Not a lot, really. Nothing. I remember forgetting that we were doing a second night – I thought we were only doing just one, so I got really drunk after the first night. But I can’t remember anything else.”
Noel Gallagher "I remember us flying over and just being sort of normal. We were worried about other stuff: ‘Have you got the beers backstage?’, ‘Are they cold?’, ‘And have you got Sky?’, ‘Is it Sky Plus?’ Stuff like that".
The Daily Mail headline the following day described the incident as ‘An Orgy Of Violence’.
It's being reported that Bonehead, Guigsy, Tony, Alan, Gem and Andy will likely be joined by Liam and Noel Gallagher at Oasis' induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame later this year.I only nipped to Tesco!
— Tony McCarroll (@TonyMcCarrolls) August 6, 2026
Apparently NG knocked on!?!? 😉
Listen to She's Electric from the gig below.
The Scottish town saw its population of 5,000 increase 17-fold to 80,000.
Listen to a bootleg of the second night below.
