Oasis Live Concerts, Radio Sessions, Soundchecks, Demos, Promos and Interviews

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"I was one of the bookers at both the Powerhaus and The Garage from about June 1993 to April 1997. I don’t remember Oasis playing the Garage. I think I was at that Intastella show, too. Maybe Oasis dropped out or the van broke down or wanted to move the London show because somebody important couldn’t make it that night. It happened a lot and no sleep was lost if the opening act didn’t show.

Now that I think about it, [their agent] Ben Winchester was looking for a London date for Oasis because they couldn’t do that Intastella support at The Garage. Something prevented Oasis from making the journey down to London in October.

I booked Oasis for the show at the Powerhaus on 4th November 1994. That definitely happened. And as I’ve always understood, it was their first London show. It was one of our new band nights which featured 4 emerging acts. And because it was a Thursday night – it was the best new band night, better than a Monday or Tuesday. Delicatessen were the ‘headliner’ but Oasis did the prized penultimate slot which meant they were on stage at 10pm – which was the favoured time by A&R, record label people and agents.

I booked them very last minute (which is perhaps why they didn’t appear in the ad) as a favour to Ben Winchester, the agent, who put a lot of his acts through the Powerhaus. I liked Ben (still do in fact) and all of the Creation acts he had on his roster. He came to me and said he had a band that he needed a slot for because the whole of Creation and important people at Sony wanted to see them. That show on the advert – BMX Bandits + 18 Wheeler was a Ben Winchester special!

I remember that at the time, the new bands were not given a guarantee. Rather, once they hit 30 paying guests, they were paid £1 per guest including the first 30. Tickets were £4. Oasis were paid £53 that night and Noel signed for the cash. So, 53 people had come down that night specifically to see them rather than Delicatessen or the other acts. There was probably 120, maybe 150 tops in the room that night, though I can’t swear to it. That would have been healthy for a new band night in a venue that held 450 to 500 people.

Back then, we had paper diaries, calendars actually, where we wrote down who played there. I left mine behind when I left the organization. I think one of our accountants may still have the sheet signed by Noel that night and maybe the calendar too. The Powerhaus was the place to play from maybe 1990 to 1993 and was overtaken (I feel) by the Garage which was newer because it opened in 1993. Both venues had pretty much anyone who was anyone pass through.

I also remember that we had a notebook where we would put list all of the acts who sent demos in. I don’t remember if it was a cassette tape or maybe it was the 12” white label of the “Columbia” demo but I remember that for my entry for Oasis I described them as a 'cross between the Jesus and Mary Chain and Happy Mondays'.

The thing that impressed me most about Oasis that night was the amount of people they brought down. I was always happy if a new band managed 30 guests. Having had 53, Oasis were champs!"

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