Was There Then: Oasis⚫⚪Live🎸🎙️At Prehen, Doire/Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland ☘️🔴✋- September 2002

Now that the euphoria of the imminent 2025 Oasis return has dwindled slightly, I will reflect on a few more of my glory days watching Oasis. In total I was at 14 Oasis concerts from 1996 to 2008. I have already written about the Cork Oasis gig in 1996, how I got tickets for the Dublin Oasis gig in 1997 , a review of that actual Dublin gig in 1997 and my Finsbury Park brace of Oasis gigs in 2002 in London, England. I also covered my 2016 return to Cork which was sentimentallic. Now it’s time to write a bit about one of the three Oasis concerts in Northern Ireland that I attended. Two of them were at The Odyssey Arena in June 2002, the third one was also in 2002 and was at Prehen Playing Fields in Derry/Doire/Londonderry. Tickets for this one were £29 plus I think a £1.50 booking fee, a decent price back then to watch Oasis.

“Born on a different cloud from the ones that have passed round town” – Liam Gallagher.

It was just my workmate Darren Latimer and I at the Prehen concert in Derry/Londonderry. It was an odd choice of venue for Oasis but Derry was loving it that weekend. I drove us up early Saturday morning and we stayed in the Waterfoot Hotel. The Waterfoot was a class hotel, a location on the river, with a great bar and restaurant and even a swimming pool. We only stayed one night here but we arrived early, drank in our hotel room and certainly had a wild 24 hours in Derry/Londonderry that time.

Waterfoot Hotel, Caw Roundabout, Londonderry BT47 6TB, United Kingdom
+44 28 7134 5500 [email protected]

“You fall in, you fall down; there’s no love in your shotgun town” – Noel Gallagher.

The day was decent banter as we met a load of lads in the bars, drank the carryout in our hotel room, watched football and then the girls at Cafe Rock after the concert. Darren Latimer and I had some mental days but I am sure some more photos from the actual concert exist, I just can’t find them now. I actually thought Ocean Colour Scene were decent too and this was well organised. Daz and I were on the rip quite a bit back then. We had Nokia phones by 2002 but not camera phones, smart phones, WiFi, social media or the like. The 2 photos here were on an old 24+3 disposable camera. The ticket photos I took today when I found the tickets.

I found this photo on Facebook from Ally Simpson, and there are also a few links below but not much proof remains of those wacaday times.

As for the setlist, I was also able to find that online…

Some online links I found about Oasis in Derry that day: