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Daily Record
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
On the brink of world domination Oasis played a Scottish town 30 years ago this month
'The ticket was the hottest in the land and there are stories of unlucky fans holding their own impromptu listening parties on Irvine Moor, where the music was blown loudly and clearly by the wind from the harbour.' With Oasis set to reunite for the first time in 16 years later this week, it's important to remember that the band once graced Ayrshire for some of the biggest rock shows the region has ever staged. We're just a few weeks shy of the 30th anniversary of the Manchester band's double performance at Irvine Beach Park. The Gallagher brothers rolled into town on July 14 and 15 in 1995 to play to thousands of fans. And Irvine's biggest claim to fame is that Don't Look Back In Anger was played live for the first time in Irvine all those years ago. The only agony attached to those shows is a stark reminder of how ticket prices have hit the roof with a brief for Oasis in Irvine in 1995 costing just £12.50 plus booking fee. Craig McAllister detailed the momentous shows for the 20th anniversary in the Irvine Herald. He wrote: "The band were surfing the zeitgeist, with the fastest-selling debut album ever released under their belt and a second, multi-platinum monster of an album about to be unwrapped by an expectant public. They could do no wrong and, a month after being the band of the festival at Glastonbury, with major input from Willie Freckleton they chose to play a weekend in Irvine. It was all very exciting." Freckfest's Craig Smart remembers it well. Craig Smart said: "That's what Willie was great at - making these type of events happen, being able to convince promoters and the council that Irvine was the location for big concerts. His people skills were phenomenal - he would enthuse anyone he came in contact with. I think if it had been anyone else, promoters Regular Music and CPL would have gone elsewhere.'Save the 'Some Might Say' single, fans had yet to hear any of the band's new material, but the new songs were warmly received. 'Roll With It', a month away from release and not yet in battle for Britpop bragging rights against Blur's 'Country House' was placed somewhere mid-set amongst the more familiar songs." Craig McAllister continued: "'Don't Look Back In Anger' was played live for the first time (in Irvine!) and a misty-eyed audience fell to their knees for a skyscraping anthem of Beatles proportions, made all the more pertinent by Noel playing the song with one of George Harrison's plectrums. That's a true story! "If, like many, you attended both nights, by the Saturday performance these new songs were greeted like old friends. "I have a very vivid memory of going to The Attic above The Kings after the Saturday show and hearing a group of folk bouncing into the queue singing the chorus to 'Hello', a track that wouldn't see the light of day until the album release in October. "The gig meant something to people. "The ticket was the hottest in the land and there are stories of unlucky fans holding their own impromptu listening parties on Irvine Moor, where the music was blown loudly and clearly by the wind from the harbour. It was great to see our town flooded with music fans from across the country. Hotels, pubs, restaurants and supermarkets all saw a spike in profits. Local Our Price stores stocked up on the band's back catalogue of singles and promoted them heavily. They too saw a marked increase in sales over the event weekend, the stellar line-up of support acts (Cast, Ocean Colour Scene and The Verve) contributing greatly to the ringing tills. In short, the shows were a brilliant thing for our town. "'Shall we do this again?' asked Noel Gallagher from the stage. 'Same time next year? Write to your local MP and demand it!' "Oasis never did come back the next year. A mere 12 months later, they were the biggest music act on the planet and would play to a quarter of a million people at Knebworth. Those Irvine shows captured the band perfectly in a moment in time, as they moved up a league from mere 'indie' band to an act that your gran would be familiar with. It's perhaps difficult nowadays to appreciate just how massive Oasis were about to become at the time, which makes those Irvine shows all the more special. 'When I think back to what was held in the Beach Park area over the space of 6 weeks or so - Rock on the Watter with approx 3000 people, the Radio One Roadshow with 20,000 people, the Harbour Festival with in excess of 40,000 visitors and the 12,000 over the two days Oasis were here – it's pretty impressive, not just in the amount of people involved but the programme itself. How do you top that?' "So how did they top that? The following year we had 'On The Beach' with the likes of Bjork, Supergrass and Julian Cope playing. "It was held in the same tent as the Oasis shows and was warmly received. Again our town was flooded with incoming music fans and once again the local economy received a boost. The year after was to have featured The Prodigy, but due to a number of reasons the event was relocated to Glasgow Green. 'It's very sad that nothing even close in terms of kudos happens in the area now. "
Edinburgh Live
09-06-2025
- Automotive
- Edinburgh Live
BBC Antiques Roadshow guest speechless as £1 vase bought at boot sale makes staggering value
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Antiques Roadshow's Eric Knowles was left gobsmacked when a glass vase, purchased for a mere £1 at a car boot sale, was valued at an astonishing amount. A woman from Ayrshire, who wished to remain anonymous, brought the vase to the BBC show for evaluation, not anticipating the staggering valuation she would receive. The vase was identified as a 1929 piece by famed French designer René Lalique, after being scrutinised by experts at Dumfries House near Cumnock, and was valued at a minimum of £25,000. The five-inch-tall glass vase was crafted using an ancient technique known as cire perdue. This complex method involves creating a wax model that is encased in plaster, then melted away and replaced with molten glass, with the plaster mould being broken away once the glass cools to reveal the final creation. The market value for Lalique pieces has seen a significant increase in recent years. Antiques Roadshow expert Eric Knowles shared his excitement with the Irvine Herald: "It's wonderful to find treasures like this beautiful vase during the programme's filming," reports the Express. (Image: BBC) He continued: "It certainly gives us all a buzz and we thoroughly enjoy meeting people everywhere we go. I've been waiting over 25 years for such a piece to come in, and this was the stuff of dreams. They'd dumped it in the attic after the plant in it died and were about to throw it away. We had a lot of clouds in Dumfries, but this was the cloud with a silver lining. It's worth at least £25,000." The vase ultimately fetched a whopping £32,450 at auction, exceeding its previous valuation by £7,000. This follows a rerun of the beloved BBC programme, which aired on Sunday, June 8. Viewers were transported to Brodie Castle in Scotland, where a parade of treasures awaited appraisal. Among them was a man who wowed Richard with a 1960s Rolex GMT-Master, inherited from his uncle. Richard, peering intently at the watch, informed the owner: "All Rolex collectors refer to these things by their reference number," and "You know as well as I do, because it says so on the dial, that it's a GMT-Master." (Image: BBC) Richard explained: "It's the reference 1675, which is the classic GMT-Master. When you said 60s, I think we could fairly safely say 1960 to 1961, so that all fits in." Upon closer inspection, Richard was thrilled to find the watch unaltered, noting that many watches are often modified during servicing, much to collectors' dismay. He said: "They would've changed the bezel and they would've changed the dial with an upgrade," before adding:"You would've had it back thinking, 'Oh, it looks like new'. Collectors hate that, it's absolutely original, spot-on." The expert told the owner: "It's a Rolex product, of course, but it says 'Made in the USA'. So perhaps he specified that he did not want the oyster bracelet; he wanted a jubilee bracelet, and they put this one on for him. "Which sort of detracts from it a little bit, probably detracts from it by a couple of thousand pounds." However, Richard had some good news as well, revealing that the watch is worth "£12,000 to £15,000." You can catch Antiques Roadshow every Sunday at 8pm on BBC1.
