Memories: the day Oasis came to Wigan

And it has brought back some vivid memories for one Wigan journalists too.

Noel Gallagher of course performed at Robin Park this summer. But while the band itself has never staged a big gig here, Noel and Liam were once spotted in town – on a chilly March day in 1997.

The pair were at the height of their fame and in Darlington Street shooting the front cover for their single D’You Know What I Mean? on a ginnel known locally as The Blind Steps.

Former Wigan Evening Post photographer Nick Fairhurst was one of the first on the scene.

He said: “On the day in question, there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the newsroom when an excited journalist, Karen Stephen, descended on the picture desk saying that she had had a tip-off that Oasis were in town to do a photo shoot.

"I think my inner thoughts were ‘Yeh, right’ but off I went to check it out anyway.

"On arriving at the ‘Blind Shop’ on Darlington Street there were quite a few people standing around and a couple of police officers.

"I went up to the door to investigate further/make myself known when all of a sudden a scruffy looking bloke lunged out of the door and stuck a Winston Churchill salute straight in my face/camera.

"I thought ‘cheeky blighter we’ve only just met’. It was Liam Gallagher.

“Oasis took their place on the steps above a crowd of extras in the alley next to the building and I stood on the opposite side of Darlington Street with a clear view of the band, with the magnificent twisted spire of St Catharine's Church rising behind them.

"I don’t know if it was for show or they just didn’t like my presence but they continued to send more ‘Victory V’ signs my way!

"The band members were directed to walk down through the crowd who were looking up to a man leaning from a window above them ‘preaching’ from a Bible.

A few films later (pre-digital), Chief Photographer Gary Brunskill came to relieve me of my duties and films and off I went to my next pending job.

"Gary managed to get a shot of Liam Gallagher kissing a copper and a couple of days later the picture ended up on the front page of The Sun.

"Shortly afterwards, our pictures were syndicated around the world!”

In a 2016 Pemberton-born artist Brian Cannon, who worked with the group on many projects including D’You Know What I Mean?, shared his memories of the day.

It was he who selected the Blind Steps, saying: “We chose Wigan as the first place not because there’s anything particularly interesting about that scene but because there were 40 or 50 extras.

“They were all my family or friends; my mum and dad were in there, my mates’ mums and dads were in there.

“So rather than ferry them to a location miles away, it just made sense.

“Noel came and gave it his approval and we went with it.

“We hired out the Bellingham Hotel where we ate and then shipped everyone down to Darlington Street.”

Unlike today, there was no social media for word to spread that the biggest band in the world at the time was in Wigan.

However, Brian says that 200 people did get wind of who was in town and lined up across the road to get a glimpse of Noel and Liam.