The worst Oasis concert of all time: Crystal meth at The Whisky-A-Go-Go in 1994
The 2016 documentary Oasis: Supersonic unearthed several memorable stories about Britain’s favourite pair of bratty brothers, the Gallaghers. While the tales of their glittering rise to stardom are captivating, it’s the darker moments that draw us in with a mix of curiosity and morbid fascination. One such story takes us to Los Angeles, the iconic Whisky-A-Go-Go, and an ill-fated encounter with crystal meth. This is the story of Oasis’ worst ever concert.
When Oasis crossed the pond for their first US tour, there were rumblings in the music world that America might not be quite ready for the Gallaghers and their band. Oasis’ infamous disregard for the formalities of the music industry certainly earned them some much-needed media attention, helping them make a splash in the States. However, it also created a myriad of potential headaches for their tour manager, especially in an increasingly sanitised US rock scene. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, the band wasted no time in bringing these issues to the forefront.
For those who weren’t around in the early 1990s, or at least weren’t paying attention to Liam and Noel Gallagher, let’s try a visualisation exercise. Picture Liam and Noel as they are today—now strip away any gracefulness or wisdom they’ve gained with age. Add in the intoxicating arrogance of youth, the relentless energy of a Duracell bunny, the backing of a nation besotted with their fresh rock and roll sound, a sudden influx of cash, and an abundance of cocaine. Now, mix it all together, pour it into a swaggering body, and brace yourself as they smirk and smash their way through America, or any other country in their path. This was the kind of Oasis that Los Angeles had to contend with in ’94.
True to form, it didn’t take them long to cause some musical mischief. The band were thrown out of the KROQ radio station for swearing on air. They then found themselves fighting with bouncers at the legendary Viper Room. They’d even had a visit from the LAPD, arriving at 6am with guns drawn because Bonehead refused to stop playing ‘Supersonic’ on his guitar as loudly as he possibly could. It appeared as though the scene was set.
The band arrived at the soundcheck at one of the most iconic venues in the world, the Whisky-A-Go-Go, with dreams of emulating some of the greatest rock acts of all time. They envisioned following in the footsteps of legends like Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors, and countless others. This was supposed to be the beginning of Oasis’ anticipated domination. However, their craving for the rock star lifestyle led them on a hunt for cocaine. Instead, with the reckless bravado of Brits abroad, they ended up stumbling upon something far more dangerous—the “ninja speed” drug: crystal meth.
Liam, reflecting on the incident, says in Supersonic film: “I don’t know who fucking got it, but it was there, and we all thought it was coke. We’re doing big fucking lines of it, and it just kept us up for fucking days”. The band were not in the right place.
With a huge introduction from the perversely hair-cutted compere, calling them “the best band in the universe”, Liam saunters on stage with a frazzled look and tells the audience: “The fookin’ band aren’t coming. You’ve just got me tonight.” A sentiment which would later be all too likely an event, but not tonight, as the band dutifully followed him on stage. On reflection, maybe they shouldn’t have.
What followed was a truly disastrous set, quite possibly one of the worst performances you could ever witness. It was a chaotic display, riddled with incidents of rock and roll infamy. The show was plagued with issues, including [deep breath] exploding bass amps, Noel playing entirely different songs from the rest of the band, Liam threatening the audience after a crowd surfer nearly knocked over his mic, Noel adopting a camp tone while singing, and Liam, in response, losing interest and sitting through most of the songs, barely bothering to sing. It was a performance that has since become legendary for all the wrong reasons.
Then, the brotherly fights began. Liam, getting right up into Noel’s face and telling him to go “fuck himself” and then bopping him on the head with a tambourine. The singer then offered another view of that particular incident, stating: “He’s lucky I didn’t launch a monitor at him or something, or a fucking drummer”.
It is alleged that Liam then descended into full-on crazed animal mode, pacing the stage like an angry tiger until, mercifully, the set came to an end. He walked off the stage and straight out onto Sunset Blvd, a towel draped around his neck, while Noel, fed up and frustrated, fled to San Francisco, quitting the band for a fortnight. All of this chaos stemmed from a simple yet catastrophic mistake: someone on their team didn’t know the difference between cocaine and crystal meth.
Oasis would go on to dominate the world of rock for the next decade and then some, still finding new fans with their solo work to this day. While this is undoubtedly one of their worst gigs ever, it would actually work in the band’s favour. In America, it would transform them from “that British band” into a rock and roll outfit worthy of trashing Sunset Strip. In Britain, it would cement them as children of Britannia—ballsy, brash, brutal, and usually inebriated.
They were us, and we were them, and since then, it’s never really changed.
