As Oasis announce a much-anticipated comeback, we’ve looked back at the band’s record-breaking performances in Aberdeen.
Both Liam and Noel Gallagher put fans into a frenzy by teasing a potential reunion over the last couple of days.
The band’s website and social media channels had been sporting a photo of today’s date with no explanation, leading to intense speculation the band will announce a tour next year.
Today, the band has announced a 14-date UK and Ireland tour.
But having performed Aberdeen in the past, sadly the ’90s legends aren’t poised to return to the Granite City 16 years after their last gig here.
Oasis’ Aberdeen 1997 gig was their only Scottish date of UK tour
Oasis’ first gig in Aberdeen was in 1997, probably at the peak of their popularity after the release of their third record.
Performing solo in Aberdeen in 2016, Noel Gallagher reminisced about Oasis’ 1997 Granite City debut, describing it as a “great” gig.
But many fans missed out as the phone lines got clogged when desperate fans made half a million calls in two hours to try to get tickets.
City residents faced delays getting an outside line and BT had to use a back-up system to cope.
While thousands of fans camped overnight at the AECC in the hope of securing their tickets.
Others paid touts several times the face value of £17.50, although it sounded like it was worth it.
Aberdeen ‘witnessed world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band’
The Evening Express said “they came, they saw, they conquered” describing how fans “witnessed the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band at their breathtaking best”.
With a reputation for hit or miss performances, Aberdeen caught the Gallagher brothers on a good night.
It was “thrilling theatre” from start to finish; the band were ushered onto the stage by a ringmaster through a red telephone box.
The drumkit was sitting on top of a white Rolls Royce and a massive clock ticked backwards throughout the set.
The crowd exploded, as Liam stole the show, he swigged, he spat and swore his way through the two-hour set.
Noel was happy to take a back seat and concentrated on playing the songs, but joined in on a Pittodrie-esque chant of “Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Aberdeen”.
In an unusual moment, Liam dedicated Live Forever to the late Princess Diana, explaining: “I definitely ain’t no royalist. No way. But this song is dedicated to someone’s mother.”
Fans queued for 15 hours overnight outside Music Hall to buy tickets in 2002
It would be another five years, however, before Oasis were back in the Granite City.
In July 2002, armed with stereos, sleeping bags and sandwiches, devoted Oasis fans camped outside the Music Hall overnight for tickets.
The gigs had been announced in the wake of the band storming to number 1 with their new album Heathen Chemistry.
Those first in line had been waiting for 15 hours to clinch their tickets.
The queue snaked all the way round the corner and through Golden Square.
When the box office doors opened the following morning, 16,000 tickets sold out within 45 minutes – a new record for the AECC.
First in line was 16-year-old Torry Academy pupil Laura McGee and her sister, who had been queuing since 6pm the night before.
She wanted to see Oasis in Glasgow the previous year, but was too young, so jumped at the chance to see her music heroes on stage in Aberdeen.
Laura said: “It was definitely worth the wait.”
Meanwhile, true friend Emma Lawson sat in a deckchair in the sun while the queue filed past her.
Emma had turned up to keep her friends company as they raced to buy their tickets.
She explained: “We came up with food for them about midnight. They’re getting their tickets and I’m getting the sun.”
Aberdeen game rescheduled to avoid clash with Oasis concert in 2002
When the concert date arrived that September, the decision was made to reschedule an Aberdeen game at Pittodrie.
Oasis and Aberdeen were both set to play in Aberdeen on September 10, but in a career-first for then Dundee United manager, Alex Smith, the match day was changed.
He said: “It’s the first time in my long career that I have had to consider moving a game because of a pop concert.”
It was thought traffic chaos would ensue on King Street if the two events clashed.
While it’s unlikely Pittodrie saw a sell-out crowd, Oasis’ back-to-back gigs at the AECC saw two capacity crowds of 8,000 people turn out.
Oasis delivered but lacked theatrics of 1997 debut
It was the band’s first concert in Aberdeen since their 1997 debut and the hype had reached fever pitch.
Fellow Manchester musicians Proud Mary opened, but the biggest cheer was reserved for the Gallagher brothers as they swaggered onto stage.
Performing hits old and new, crowd pleasers included Cigarettes and Alcohol, She’s Electric and Live Forever, and new hit song Little by Little.
The set finished with an anthemic cover of The Who’s My Generation.
While the rock giants dished out the hits, they had little in the way of conversation compared to their 1997 debut.
Evening Express reviewer Steven Henry quipped: “They rarely spoke to the crowd who had coughed up almost £30 of their hard-earned cash.”
Scramble for Oasis tickets broke records in Aberdeen in 2005
But that didn’t stop fans parting with their cash again when the band came back to Aberdeen in 2005.
Playing just the one night, Oasis broke a ticket sales record in Aberdeen when 6,500 tickets were sold in 30 minutes over the phone and internet.
A further 2,000 tickets were available to in-person customers, with fans arriving at 3pm the day before tickets went on sale to camp overnight.
The December gig was described by a P&J critic as “honest, workaday rock ‘n’ roll, the stuff football chants are made of”.
But he felt Oasis had lost some of their grit, describing tracks like Songbird as “passionless homages to a lost cause”.
Evening Express reviewer Sean Wallace said: “The Gallagher brothers have found a blueprint and stuck to it.”
He added: “Dressed in jeans and a black suit jacket Liam was more Man at C&A than the epitome of rock chic.”
But despite “trading on past glories”, the fans offered a rapturous response and drowned out the Gallaghers during Live Forever and Wonderwall.
Oasis were back with a bang in 2008
And the band were back with a bang for their fourth and final return to Aberdeen in November 2008.
The tour coincided with the release of their seventh studio album Dig Out Your Soul.
By now they were also onto their fourth drummer.
With a track record of sell-out shows in Aberdeen, fans once again queued up outside the AECC to get their hands on one of 17,000 tickets available.
The scramble for tickets began at 9am on August 20 with only 1,000 available to buy in person – the rest had to be purchased by phone.
Brian Horsburgh, then acting director at the AECC said: “Oasis still hold the record for selling tickets faster than any other concert in Aberdeen, which was as fast as physically possible at the time.”
‘Brash, bold and full of ballsy guitar riffs’
True to form, the Gallagher brothers were described as “brash, bold and full of ballsy guitar riffs” as they tore up the AECC.
They opened with Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, the first track from their debut 1994 album Definitely Maybe.
And 14 years after its release, they could definitely claim to be rock and roll stars.
While Liam was described as “less menacing”, Noel had lost none of his impertinence.
Early on he turned to a fan at the front asking: “Are you alright? You better say yes, because it’s all going to kick off,” before launching into Cigarettes and Alcohol.
Famously influenced by The Beatles, the last ever song Oasis played in Aberdeen was a cover of I Am the Walrus.
That is until next year, maybe…
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