Noel Gallagher Plays The Victim

During Oasis’ set at September 2008’s Virgin Music Festival in Toronto, a man sneaked past security and ran onstage right after the band had begun playing its 1995 hit “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” The stage intruder, Daniel Sullivan, then crept up behind Gallagher and violently shoved him. The guitarist was knocked to the floor as he fell into some sound equipment. Gallagher suffered three broken and dislodged ribs.

The guitarist did not attend Tuesday’s court date at Toronto’s Old City Hall court but instead had his victim impact statement read by the Crown attorney.

“I ended up in a heap on the floor. I had no idea what had happened,” he wrote, according to BBC News.

“It was as if I had been hit by a bus,” Gallagher added. He explained that he suffered “severe pain” for three months and that a year and a half later he still sometimes feels “painful twinges.” The Toronto Star noted that Gallagher’s chiropractor said that injuries to his ribs were because of the push, rather than his subsequent fall.

The attack forced Oasis to cancel a number of shows and promotional appearances. According to the BBC News, Gallagher says the canceled gigs affected sales of the band’s 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul.

Last November Sullivan pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The 48-year-old’s sentencing has been postponed until April 21. He is facing six to eight months in jail and a $2 million civil lawsuit.

Sullivan admitted to being drunk during the attack and said he has no idea how he even got backstage, according to the BBC News.

His lawyer, John Collins, is pulling for a conditioning sentence to be served in the community rather than jail time. Collins says the first-time offender has had to deal with negative media attention, including international press camped outside his Pickering, Ontario, home, according to the Toronto Star. A British tabloid reportedly threatened to print a story saying Sullivan jumped onstage because the guitarist was having an affair with his wife – unless he agreed to an interview.

Oasis broke up last August minutes before the Britpop band was set to take the stage at Paris’ Rock En Seine Festival. A big fight backstage between the Gallagher brothers reportedly spawned the breakup.
 
Click here for the Toronto Star story.

Click here for the BBC News story.