Liam Gallagher has hit out at the City of Edinburgh council over a report that predicted Oasis fans would be “rowdy” and “intoxicated” during the rock band’s shows in the city.
A number of concerns about the gigs were raised at a safety briefing in October last year involving the council, promoter DF concerts, security firm G4S, Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service and city transport providers.
It noted the crowd could feature a number of “middle-aged men” who would “take up more room” in comparison to the audience who attended Taylor Swift’s run of shows at Murrayfield Stadium last summer.
The council’s comments were made public under a freedom of information request by the Scottish Sun, as the Oasis ‘25 reunion tour continued its UK run.
Performing at the stadium on Friday (8 August), Liam branded the council a “bunch of snakes” and said his band were “still waiting for our apology”, the BBC reports.
Speaking in front of around 70,000 fans, he said the Britpop icons were bringing “£1bn to this city” before claiming none of the crowd would see any of it thanks to the council.
He also took aim at the performers at arts festivals taking place in Edinburgh through August, describing them as a place for “people who swallow swords” and perform “poor magic tricks”.
When the report first emerged, the “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” singer wrote on social media: “To the Edinburgh council, I’ve heard what you said about Oasis fans and quite frankly your attitude f****** stinks I’d leave town that day if I was any of you lot.”
In a second post, he added: “I’d love to see a picture of all the people on the Edinburgh council, bet there’s some real stunning individuals.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, an Edinburgh MP, called the council remarks “classist and snobby”.
“I mean, Murrayfield is a great example,” he said, responding to comedian Matt Forde during a talk at the Fringe festival. “You can go and see Scotland versus the All Blacks on a Saturday at three o’clock and get as ratted as you want sitting watching the rugby, and people do, they spend most of their time at the bar.
“And I remember my team, Hearts, played Celtic there the following day on the Sunday, when Hampden was out of use for the Commonwealth Games, and there was a complete ban on drinking in the stands for the football fans. That’s just classist and snobbery.”
City of Edinburgh Council did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
Oasis are playing a further two dates at Murrayfield on Saturday (9 August) and Tuesday (12 August).
Friday’s performance marked the first time Liam and his older brother Noel had performed together in Scotland since Oasis split in 2009.
Their audience was regaled with a 23-song setlist featuring some of the band’s biggest hits, closing with a huge fireworks display after a rendition of “Champagne Supernova”.
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