30 Years Ago: Oasis Becomes the Fastest-Selling Group in UK History

By the start of 1996, Oasis was inarguably one of the biggest bands in the entire world.

At that point, they'd released two highly successful albums: 1994's Definitely Maybe and 1995's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? The latter sold a record-breaking 345,000 copies in its first week in the U.K. and spent a total of 10 weeks in the No. 1 spot on their albums chart.

"I only have to fart now and it gets in the Top 10," Noel Gallagher cracked to The Sunday Times in February of 1996.

Naturally then, Oasis had zero trouble getting people to buy their concert tickets. On April 27 and 28, 1996, they played their first ever headlining outdoor concerts at Manchester City Football Club's home stadium (Maine Road), where approximately 80,000 fans turned up.

"To be honest, I don't really want to do stadiums," Liam Gallagher admitted to Melody Maker just before those shows took place. "But people want to see you, and its sometimes the only way to do it. You don't sell out when you play stadiums, do you? It's just a bigger venue, and wherever you play, there's always a space between you and the fans. That's just the way it is, like the world is round."

READ MORE: The Oasis Hit Written and Recorded in a Single Day

But when you're Oasis, you do in fact sell out when you play stadiums. A month later, all of the band's upcoming summer shows sold out in just nine hours, effectively making Oasis the fastest-selling group in U.K. history — not that anyone in the band was thinking that far ahead.

"This will all pass in about five or six years," Noel said to Rolling Stone in early May 1996. "We have the rest of our lives to sit around our houses and be inconspicuous. Now is our time. We're in the eye of the hurricane now, and one day it's going to blow out. We'll look back in our late 30s, no worries, and we'll still be able to get together and say, 'We were good, man. In fact, we were the best. And this is what we built.' As for now, it's a small price to pay."

An Even Bigger Outdoor Show

Those sold-out shows, however, included Oasis' appearance at the Knebworth Festival on Aug. 10 and 11, which remains one of the biggest concerts in British history. Over the course of those two nights, some 250,000 came to see the Gallagher brothers.

"I can't put it into words," Noel said to Select magazine then. "I can only understate it really, cos you can't see the back of the gig cos it's dark and it's f---ing two miles away from where you're playing. I've been doing interviews all day trying to put it into words and I'd rather not f---ing try to tell you the truth. Absolutely mind-blowing.

"Now I know what the word big means. We thought we were big when we played Earls Court, then Maine Road. But after last night...there's big, then there's bigger than big, and then there's f------ like last night...Now that is big. Now that is big. It's big."

Watch Oasis Perform 'Acquiesce' Live at Knebworth in 1996