Was There Then🎸🎙️Oasis⚫⚪Live At Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Corcaigh, Republic of Ireland🇮🇪, August 1996

“Where were you while we were gettng high?” – Noel Gallagher.

I mentioned the mega Oasis gig in Cork before on a post on my love for the band, however individually on this blog I plan to review and detail each major concert/gig I’ve attended, and so it begins in August 1996. Colin Walker and Keith Freel who I played football with and went to Boys Brigade with were both big into Oasis. The phenomenom was massive, so in July 1996 there were tickets available for the concert gig at a gaelic football stadium in Cork, right on the south west coast of the Republic of Ireland. Colin and Keith had already bought their tickets from MTM (More Than Music) in Bangor’s Flagship Shopping Centre. I had decided I simply had to go. I wasn’t working at the time (though I wrote for NI fanzine Arconada…Armstrong! and helped out serving tea and coffee in a Nursing Home!) and I had just turned 16, but had saved up some pocket money from parents and grandparents so I could afford it. Tickets were £22.50 and my Dad, who worked in Dial House, Belfast for BT at the time came home one day saying he saw them advertised on sale at Golden Discs on Donegall Place. I asked him to get me one the next day, expecting them possibly to be sold out. Oasis were MASSIVE at the time, much bigger than REM, U2 and Bon Jovi. Both Oasis albums Definitely Maybe and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? had been in the UK top 10 for the previous 6 months constantly. The next day however my Dad phoned me at lunch time to say he had got me a ticket!! I couldn’t wait till he got home to actually hold the ticket and believe that as a 16 year old I was going to see Oasis – my favourite band.

“All your dreams are made when you’re chained to the mirror and the razorblade. Today’s the day that all the world will see” – Noel Gallagher.

I phoned Colin soon after and told him I had a ticket too and that we would now have to work out a way of getting there and back. It would not be easy, as to get to Cork from Bangor we would have had to cross the border and then get from Dublin to Cork. It was mentioned that a train (with a few changes) could be the best option, and budget for me wasn’t an option at the time, I was willing to spend extra money on it cos after all it was Oasis. Then as the day neared, Colin’s Dad Leonard offered to drive us all the way down! It was brilliant that he would give up a whole day of his time to drive us all the way there and back – it was one hell of a drive, and into an area none of us really knew. We must also remember the politics at the time and the dangers therein. The previous month, July 1996 had been a Drumcree Stand Off, where Orangemen were refused the right to march down their traditional route in Portadown (a saga which would sadly continue into the 2000s…) and this had meant widespread rioting in most of Northern Ireland.

Cork is a very Irish Nationalist city (for 32 counties), and we are all Northern Ireland fans (for our 6 counties). At the time we didn’t really think of it like that – we were just 3 lads going to a concert. But it’s an important aspect to consider. Less than 3 years before this, Northern Ireland had been on the brink of civil war, with the IRA’s Shankill Road Fish Shop bomb and the callous retaliation of the Ulster Freedom Fighters in the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel where innocent Catholics were shot dead in cold blood (an incident which has stuck with me, and one I have covered in my books). So with there still being bad relations between Protestants and Catholics, we were going to be driving into Irish territory. This was also in the days before mobile phones (I first owned one of these in December 1998) and the internet (I first used the internet in November 1996) so there was no way to get in touch with anyone down there, so it was nice that Leonard offered to drive. A wee photo below of the Irish Punt Notes we used that day too. Yes The Republic of Ireland once had its own currency of course…

The weekend before the Cork concert I was running on adrenalin. BBC Radio One interviewed Noel Gallagher live from Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire, England, a gig which saw Oasis break some records and the entire gig from the second night was broadcast live on BBC Radio One. In those days I had a CD and Cassette player and so I taped the entire gig on two C 90 tapes. We had been eagerly awaiting those gigs as two new songs were unveiled, but in those days there seemed to be much more strictness with music copyright and taping etc., so the BBC (and MTV) left the two new songs off their broadcast. I know copies of them must exist somewhere as they wouldn’t tape the whole gig and leave out those two songs. As it happened the two songs were “My Big Mouth” and “Its Getting Better Man”, both of which would appear on the 1997 album “Be Here Now”, and my cousin Gary happened to buy a bootleg CD of the gig later that year in Hector’s House in Belfast and low and behold both songs live from Knebworth were on that CD! Anyhow the Knebworth gig made the BBC and ITV news such was the popularity of Oasis at the time.

The Cork gigs (of which there were 2) were on the following Wednesday and Thursday nights. Our tickets were all for Wednesday 14th August 1996 to be held at Pairc Ui Chaiomh in Corcaigh, Eire – that’s gaelic language for Cork, (Republic of ) Ireland. Leonard had agreed to drive, we were all set and I gave Colin a ring the night on his housephone before the gig to say I was getting my head down for some sleep as we had to be up at about 4 a.m. I think (I could be wrong, but I’m sure we left Bangor and Belfast behind well before 6 a.m.). The gates for the gig were due to open at 4 p.m. I had also NEVER been to a gig before and it was also an over 18s gig as I recall (though 16-18 year olds could get in as long as they were accompanied by an over 18). Of us three, Colin and I were both 16, and Keith just 15, but we didn’t see any problem with that, and I’m not sure if any of us took false ID just in case. I certainly didn’t…

Colin only lived round the corner and so Leonard called round and picked me up very early morning before dawn had lended itself to Bangor. I had prepared some lunch and drinks to keep me going through the day, as well as getting some punts. Punts was the Republic of Ireland currency before their succumbed their Irishness by adopting the dreaded “Euro” and it was around one punt for 90 pence of sterling, as I recall. The car was actually packed that day, with Leonard’s wife Jean coming obviously to keep Leonard company and even Colin’s wee sister Amy was there! Colin and I had brought every Oasis song available on a range of tapes, even bootleg ones and B-sides to keep us going the whole way down. Just after we crossed the border past Newry in Northern Ireland, we had our first picnic stop somewhere near Dundalk probably, I don’t recall where it was. It was probably at a petrol station for coffee and a banana and a chocolate bar or crisps.

Surprisingly, there were even some photos of us that day which is remarkable as there were no digital camers, internet or mobile phones back then. At least none of us owned them. When Oasis announced their reunion 2025 tour in 2024, I was suddenly back in touch with Colin and 28 years later, he found this photo of us on the way to Cork, amazing!

Still, memory and history of an event all those years ago becomes distant. After that, it must have been a long journey through much more traffic and we were now in the middle of random Irish countryside. I think the next stop was around 2 p.m. and was for petrol and snack. I don’t think we were drinking much alcohol that day, I didn’t drink much back then anyway (that would change the week after at my cousin’s wedding though!) and I was only 16 so was more excited about seeing Oasis than necking a tin of Harp. There was a grassy bank where I remember sitting down with Colin and Keith. We didn’t take any cameras to the concert and back then nobody had a mobile phone, or internet. The photo below was taken of me a few weeks later wearing the Oasis shirt I bought at that concert!

Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to drink in front of Colin’s Mum and Dad (and wee sister Amy) anyway, just in case. Looking back they wouldn’t really have minded…there might have been a bit of cider in my Lucozade bottle or something…Anyway the countdown to the concert was starting with us driving through twisting roads, at one point driving alongside sheep and cows on narrow country paths which were somewhere north of Cork. Soon the big skyscrapers and hotels of the city of Cork were glaring down at us in a city full of Irish ness. I noted immediately all the Gaelic tops, the Liam Gallagher doppelgangers and people walking down the roads singing “Wonderwall”. There were also many Irish tricolours about and street signs in Gaelic, plus the Irish peelers (The Garda) were on patrol, as we got into the city I remember a brief traffic jam, and seeing the river Lee and the large boats as Cork is a famous Irish seaport. I took the below photo on my return here in 2016.

Then the crowds were all gathered with their carryouts and a real party atmosphere was developing. Colin, Keith and I got out of Leonard’s car and in the days before mobile phones and all that we needed to arrange a meeting point for later.We saw a “Jury’s Hotel” in the Cork skyline on a corner, we agreed at 11 p.m. to meet them there for the drive home. We’d find Jury’s hotel easily enough we thought. And there we were by the River Lee in Cork on route to see Oasis.

We walked past all the stewards and Oasis fans, keeping ourselves to ourselves for the most part hoping to get in early enough and catch the support bands. I remember being searched on the way in and all I had was a bottle of Lucozade and Colin and Keith had some other soft drinks, which the stewards actually opened to check. A steward thought Colin was sneaking vodka in, but at the time I was sure we weren’t. It wasn’t actually that strict. The euphoria building was mad. I didn’t need to be drunk, the atmosphere was amazing, it seemed like the whole of Ireland had come to Cork for the day for the big concert! Once we got inside, the massive gaelic stadium was packed already and we made our way to the front as “The Bootleg Beatles” played away. They were the first band on and we caught most of their set. I must be honest and say I hadn’t heard much of The Beatles at the time, and was unfamiliar with most of their songs. However now I know most of them and am quite a big fan. As this was happening, We headed to the front where there was metal fencing, it was nowhere near the front of the actual stage itself, about a hundred yards back maybe or less given that it was a (gaelic) football pitch. Colin and Keith quickly went over to a steward joining a queue for a tag or wristband, which was apparently to get into “the pit,” for some reason I didn’t twig this early enough in my naiveity and I missed out, as I joined the queue they said there was none left. If my memory serves me right, they were plastic blue wristbands, I wonder if Colin and Keith kept theirs as a souvenir? After they got theirs, I had a look on the ground to see if there were any about and couldn’t see any, so we decided to stick together obviously! If we had of been more keen we probably could have looked around and found someone willing to sell their wristband, but I think we were all happy enough as we had a decent spot next to a massive speaker and camera stand, to the left of the photo below.

The Bootleg Beatles went off stage. The day was passing by quick, we had been awake for about 14 hours and then The Prodigy came out and totally rocked the place. Even the section we were in, some 60 yards back from the stage I reckon, was like a mosh pit. We got involved when they played “Firestarter” which was cracking! It had been a number one single for The Prodigy that year, who fitted in well onto the bill despite being a more dance style band. I also recognised the song “Out Of Space” from radio listens, and they also played their new song that night, called “Breathe”, which as it turned out was also a future number one single. I remember I bought three Oasis programmes and had no mission to carry them around all day, so tucked them into my jeans and under my t-shirt as we jumped up and down to The Prodigy. It was a hot summer’s day, I don’t think there was any rain, and I wore a t-shirt and jeans plus a baseball cap.

I’m not sure if we had, or even needed coats. I had a red and blue checked shirt. Soon we were standing over to the right hand side as you look at the stage, in an area which was packed in front of us, but much less packed behind. This was an ideal place to be for my first Oasis gig, I wouldn’t be so crushed up at the front so I wouldn’t enjoy the gig or see most of it, and I wouldn’t be sitting quietly at the back with all the lovey dovey types in their mid 30s. There was three of us there, me, Colin and Keith and we did converse with a few of the Irish guys and girls around us. It was around 8.50 p.m. that Oasis came out on stage to the sounds of the awesome instrumental “Swamp Song” (which has been since replaced by “Fuckin In The Bushes”). The reason I know this was the time, is I kept my sheets and notes I made from those days in a file, which I found recently, and I’m pretty glad I keep these sort of things, as our memories wont last forever (I attach the sheet of the set list that I wrote out the few days after the gig!). And that was it. That was Oasis on stage, I couldn’t believe it! There was Liam and Noel within my sight, ahead on stage, there were clearly visible, it wasn’t quite dark, and anyway two large screens on either side showed the band up close if we couldn’t see that far!

Launching straight into Columbia and Acquiesce (neither of which were even singles), the three of us sang every word and jumped up and down manicly to the beats of the two Gallagher brothers, guitarist Bonehead, bass player Guigsy and drummer Alan White. Liam was unshaven in a dark shirt, and Noel in some sort of bright stripey shirt (the Belfast Telegraph report from the next day shows that). The band were loving it, and having some kind of Irish roots (family spent years in somewhere like Louth…) the crowd were loving it. The programmes for the gigs that night also had Irish Tricolour flegs on them, which I didn’t actually mind, cos the orange faded to a red and they looked like Italian flegs! And besides the gig was in the Republic of Ireland, so that was fair enough (the previous Loch Lomond gig featured a Scottish Saltire and the previous Knebworth gig featured an English St. George’s Cross on their programmes). Then Oasis launched into first single “Supersonic” and the noise was deafening as we danced and sweated away in deepest Cork. The jumping up and down and singing didn’t stop – we were having too much fun. Singles “Some Might Say” and “Roll With It” soon followed and the amazing set list kept us buzzing and excited.

There were a few surprises too, a heart quenching “Slide Away” gave the song a whole new life to me, hearing it live for the first time I fell in love with that song, having not listened to it much on the album. Then B-side “Round Are Way” ended with an abrupt version of “Up In The Sky” as daylight fell on Cork and Noel Gallagher emerged for an acoustic set with his guitar. This started with Whatever, that great lost single which is still one of my favourite ever Oasis tracks, very under-rated and being a Christmas number 3 single in 1994, is STILL the closest Oasis have ever come to a Christmas number one. The end of Whatever was an acoustic rendition of “Octopuses Garden”, a Beatles song penned by Ringo Starr, before Cast No Shadow and Wonderwall were delivered with efficiently and Noel himself took over the vocals for a very very loudly sung “The Masterplan”, the crowd joined in this song, which was only the FOURTH track on the Wonderwall single, but had made its way into the set list, and rightly so, the line “there’s four and twenty million doors on life’s endless corridor” means so much.

My favourite song at the time was then aired, “Don’t Look Back In Anger” with “Live Forever” following. In a 1996 world anything was possible with this band. The songs kept coming, and after a very short break, the two new songs were unveiled. Colin and I tried to listen to the words as Liam sang them “we’re the fire in the sky, its getting better man” and “whos gonna take the blame for my big mouth?” were all I could pick out, from two songs which rocked along that night and gave a sneak preview of the new album, which wouldn’t be out for another YEAR from that week, the eloquent and era-ending “Be Here Now”, which got positive reviews at the start and then ebbed away. I don’t care, I love everything Oasis have ever done and those two new songs “My Big Mouth” and “Its Getting Better Man” were worth the £22.50 ticket charge alone! One of them appears below on a VERY RARE video I found on You Tube.

After that another quick break and the darkening sky was ready for the Oasis encore. I wrote this down as being “Champagne Supernova”, “I Am The Walrus” (where Oasis covered yet another Beatles song, this time joined onstage by The Bootleg Beatles) and “Fireworks” (to finish the gig off, not a song, but colourful flames lighting the sky. During the set, Wonderwall, The Masterplan and Champagne Supernova were the “lighters in the air” moments, of which for me, Champagne Supernova was the best, an epic 7 minute song with gorgeous guitar riffs, awe inspiring vocals and a rousing final chorus, which finally calms down to the “where were you while we were getting high?” line yet again. That line could sum a lot of things up for me, and in this instance, 12 years ago I was there and getting high on life and music. Just last month I saw Oasis (for the 12th time) and they finished on the same two songs. They haven’t lost their touch, but it would take a lot to beat those first few Oasis gigs, and this night in Cork will live forever in my memory…

As the fireworks went off, we exited the ground through the crowds who were all amazed by the energy by Oasis and the set list, Colin and I stopped off to buy an unofficial t-shirt for just 5 punts! I also bought a poster that night for just 2 punts. I still have both of those, and my programme, and my set list and my ticket, but most of all my memories. Within ten minutes we had found Jury’s Hotel, where right enough Leonard was waiting for us in the car and we got in tired and enjoyed the long trip home, where I don’t remember much about that journey home. It didn’t really matter. I had just seen Oasis live, at their peak. We got back to Bangor early morning and after two hours sleep I had to get up and down to school to collect my GCSE results. I remember nothing of that except that I passed them all. I’ll leave this Oasis quote for you:
“How many special people change? Where were you while we were getting high?”

Date – Wednesday 14th August 1996

Ticket Price – £22.50

Bands – The Bootleg Beatles, The Prodigy, Oasis

Venue – Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork, Republic of Ireland

Who Went – Keith Freel, Colin Walker, Jonny Blair

Countries Visited – Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland

Strange Currencies – Irish punts and pingin.

Attendance – 60,000 odd

Cork set list that night from Oasis –

14/08/1996
Cork Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Oasis : Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan, Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Alan White.

1. Supersonic
2. Hello
3. Some Might Say
4. Roll With It
5. Slide Away
6. Morning Glory
7. Round Are Way/Up In The Sky
8. Cigarettes & Alcohol

Acoustic:
9. Whatever/Octopuses Garden
10. Cast No Shadow
11. Wonderwall
12. The Masterplan

Noel on vocals:
13. Don’t Look Back In Anger

Back to Liam:
14. Live Forever

Short break before the new songs:
15. My Big Mouth
16. It’s Getting Better (Man !!)

Encore:
17. Champagne Supernova
18. I Am The Walrus

NOW FOR A RARE VIDEO…

OASIS LIVE IN CORK THAT NIGHT, MY BIG MOUTH!!!!:

OASIS LIVE AT CORK FROM A FRENCH OASIS WEBSITE:
http://www.oasisfr.com/live/481/cork-pairc-ui-chaoimh

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CORK MUSIC FORUM:
http://www.peoplesrepublicofcork.com/~peoplesr/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=375d236564299dd0a53eb75d399994a6&f=18

If you were there that night, or have any photos or memories or even videos please get in touch or share them! Here are some videos I found online, including the WHOLE CONCERT!:

The full concert is live here: