Oasis celebrates 20th anniversary today

Twenty years ago today, Oasis played the first of two concerts at Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England, BBC News reports.

They were the biggest gigs of their era. The crowning glory of Britpop. Incredibly, one in 20 Britons applied for tickets.

A quarter of a million eventually got to see Liam, Noel, Bonehead, Guigsy and Whitey as they confirmed their status as the most popular British band since The Beatles. (A status that was swiftly rescinded when the band released their overblown, coke-addled third album Be Here Now 12 months later.)

But, in that moment, it was hard to argue with Noel when he strode on stage and declared: "You're making history, you lot."

"I'll never forget the sheer scale of it," says Bonehead, AKA guitarist Paul Arthurs.

"We flew in from London by helicopter and sort of circled the site. It landed behind the stage but we were like: 'Let's just do a once round and take it all in.' I'll never forget it."

Not that conditions were completely idyllic. According to one report, singer Liam Gallagher was not too enamoured with the catering, screaming about the state of the sausages and flinging a handful of corn on the cob to the floor.

BBC 6 Music will broadcast one of the Knebworth gigs on Steve Lamacq's show on Wednesday, 10 August.

 
Bonehead also found it difficult to prepare, thanks to an inconsiderate support act.

"We stayed in these Winnebago, caravan things at the back of the stage," he tells BBC 6 Music.

"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."