Fences erected at Oasis’ Manchester gig site as ticketless fans urged not to go

By Pol Allingham and Ellie Crabbe, PA

Steel fences have been erected at the site of Oasis’ Manchester gigs and fans without a ticket have been warned not to attend the upcoming shows.

More than 70,000 concertgoers were inside the Heaton Park venue on Friday night for the Britpop band’s hotly anticipated first gig in Manchester for nearly 16 years.

They also played there on Saturday and will perform again on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

 

Manchester City Council previously warned those without a ticket not to attend but people gathered to glimpse the large screens above the stage in the distance.

Steel fences have now been erected around parts of the park to prevent ticketless fans watching the performances and to protect nature in the park, including pregnant cows.

The council said: “After taking stock of how the first two nights went, additional measures have now been deemed necessary and will be in place for the next three concerts.

“The erection of the fencing has a dual purpose – both to protect the environment from further damage and to dissuade people from gathering there.

“The necessary measure means the concert will no longer be visible from this area.”

Heaton Park has no facilities for people without a ticket and the event area is “double-walled with solid high security fencing all the way round”, the council said.

There will be “in excess of 2,000 event security staff and police officers on duty around the site to ensure both the safety and wellbeing of ticket-holders and that only those who have tickets access the concert”, it added.

The fences will cover a large area of the hill within the park’s cattle field, which is being developed as a new woodland area with around 300 young trees planted.

The measures also aim to protect pregnant and nursing cows and a bull in the field.

John Hacking, the council’s executive member for employment, skills and leisure, said in his statement: “The steps being taken ahead of the next concert regretfully mean the distant view of the large screens behind the event stage will no longer be there.

“Unfortunately our hand has been forced in having to put these additional measures in place to protect the very recent extensive planting of young trees in that location as we try to establish a new woodland area in the park, and the wellbeing of our cattle herd in the field, as well as to keep people in the park safe.

“Our advice to music fans who don’t have tickets for the concerts is to head into the city centre instead.

“The whole city is going all out to celebrate and help everyone have a good time.

“We’ve got some fantastic things going on with a real party atmosphere for everyone to enjoy, whether they’ve got tickets for the Oasis gigs or not.”

The five sold-out Manchester shows follow the band’s first comeback gigs in Cardiff last week.

Oasis will then visit London’s Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium and Dublin’s Croke Park throughout July, August and September.

Their reunion announcement came after Noel Gallagher quit the band, saying he “simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer”, after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in 2009.

The brothers announced the Oasis Live ’25 tour last August.

While many fans were thrilled, some were outraged after some standard tickets in Ireland and the UK jumped from €150 to over €400.

The controversy prompted the British government and the UK’s competition watchdog to pledge to look at the use of dynamic pricing.