Oasis’ secret Wigan photoshoot featuring eager locals and casual visit to nearby pub for pint of Guinness

Former Wigan Evening Post photographers Gary Brunskill and Nick Fairhurst have reflected on Oasis coming to town in the 1990s.

In 1997, Noel and Liam Gallagher spent a day in Wigan shooting the front cover for their single D’You Know What I Mean? on a ginnel known locally as The Blind Steps, before visiting a now closed nearby pub the Crispin Arms.

A photo taken by Gary of Liam kissing a policeman was published in national newspapers The Mirror and The Sun.

Photographers Gary Brunskill and Nick Fairhurst on snapping Oasis in Wigan

Gary said: “One of the reporters came in, she had a word with the editor and sub-editor and then came over to us on the photographic desk and said Oasis are going to be filming an album cover in Wigan, the top of Darlington Street. We didn't believe it.

“The link was Brian Cannon, the graphic artist, lived in Wigan, and he was the guy in charge of the artwork on the album covers. Brian had got all his relatives and friends from round Wigan to come here as extras to make up the crowd, because it was cheaper than ferrying actors in and that, and they were happy to do it for nothing, obviously for Oasis”

Nick said: “I parked up and went to the door to see what was going on and this scruffy bloke kind of lunged out of the door and stuck his fingers up at me and it was Liam Gallagher. I thought, ‘cheeky blighter, we’ve only just met’. It was not very pleasant, but I think it was all a lot of bravado I think.”

Gary said: “I had my camera, and I was just stood with the fans. Noel came out first and made his way straight into the car, but Liam hung about and acknowledged the policeman, smiling, and then he just grabbed him and kissed him. I just lifted my camera up and got that one shot really, because he dashed off then into the car.

“When I looked at the negatives, it was literally just that one frame, that was the picture, and they used that in the Evening Post, and then they cropped it to just Liam and the policeman and that made a nice upright front page picture. I was chuffed. Everything had come together in that one shot because the frame before it, there were fans in front of me, and the frames after it, Liam was behind the policeman, you couldn't see him. It was just that one frame, click, got it.”

Oasis return with Cardiff gigs

Oasis will kick off their tour on July 4, playing for the first time in 16 years at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, before heading to Manchester.

The band will play at Heaton Park on July 11, July 12, July 16, July 19 and July 20.