Noel Gallagher’s damaged Gibson from the night Oasis split is going up for auction
Gallagher had the guitar restored after the fight with Liam but sold it as it reminded him too much of Oasis.
Image: Mauricio Santana / Getty
A guitar belonging to Noel Gallagher that was damaged backstage on the night that Oasis split will be going up for auction in May.
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The red Gibson ES-355, which has been repaired, was damaged backstage at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris in 2009, where Oasis had been booked to perform. The band would eventually cancel their performance just minutes before they were scheduled to take to the stage after a fight between Noel and brother Liam Gallagher broke out.
The auction will be held this 17 May at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris, France, with starting price for the guitar set at €150,000 (£125,000). The guitar will be part of a lot totalling 84 pieces of music memorabilia and includes a limited series of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon prints signed by graphic designer Storm, stage clothes worn by Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore and patterns for suits worn by Mick Jagger or Robert Plant.
Gallagher primarily used his red Gibson ES-355 between 1996 and 2011. Famously describing the Gibson as “the best guitar I ever had”, Gallagher had it restored following the fight with his brother but eventually parted with the instrument because it reportedly reminded him too much of Oasis.
The classic feud between Noel and Liam Gallagher continues till today, with Noel recently offering Liam a backhanded comment on the latter’s success. “[Liam] is doing massive gigs, he’s selling more records than I am and he’s selling more tickets than I am, if you can believe that,” Noel told Chris Evans (the British radio host) on his How To Wow podcast.
The barbed compliment followed a small war of words between the brothers regarding a 2020 claim by Liam that Noel turned down an offer of £100 million to reunite Oasis. “Wahey we’re getting back together Noel Gallagher being minted and rich as fuck he’s doing it for nothing me being a desperate cunt and have fuck all else going for himself I’m doing it for the cash c’mon you know LG x,” Liam wrote on Twitter, calling a £100 million offer for Oasis to go on tour “not enough for the greedy soul”.
Noel would go on to rebuke the claims, writing on Twitter: “To whoever might be arsed: I am not aware of any offer from anybody for any amount of money to reform the legendary Mancunian Rock’n’Roll group Oasis.”