Oasis brother hurt in attack during Toronto concert
'It all happened so quickly,' witness says
Last Updated: Monday, September 8, 2008 | 3:43 PM ET
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Video
- Christine Birak reports: Oasis brother hurt in attack during Toronto concert (Runs: 2:04)
- Play: QuickTime »
- Play: Real Media »
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
Noel Gallagher plays at the 2008 Virgin Music Festival. He was assaulted during the song (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (Dwight Friesen/CBC)A man was charged with assault on Monday after the Gallagher brothers of Oasis were attacked while performing at the annual Virgin Festival in Toronto on Sunday.
Guitarist Noel Gallagher was treated in hospital after a man ran onto the stage and attacked him while he and his brother Liam were performing, according to the band's website.
Noel Gallagher "fell heavily onto his monitor speakers," and may have fractured his rib and suffered ligament damage, the site said.
Now the band says it may have to cancel its concert slated for Tuesday in London, Ont. The band is asking fans to keep checking the Oasis website for updates.
Daniel Sullivan, 47, of Pickering, Ont., was charged with one count of assault on Monday in a Toronto court. He was released with a promise to appear in court Oct. 27.
Police say a man may have come from the wings of the stage or jumped up from the crowd of 25,000 at the final performance of the festival on Toronto Island on Sunday night.
The man tackled Noel Gallagher and then went after his brother Liam, who was halfway through singing the band's hit (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Liam raised a fist and appeared to be ready to hit the man before security grabbed the attacker.
'Stunned' silence follows attack
"Someone barged out from the back and hit someone. It all happened so quickly that I wasn't in a position to evaluate who was doing what to whom," said David Lee, who was in the audience.
Lee told CBC News on Monday that the crowd went quiet after the attack.
"I supposed one word to describe that is they were stunned into silence," said Lee, 53, who has been to many concerts, but never seen such violence before.
The attacker was quickly pulled off stage after launching the assault, and the Gallagher brothers also left. After about five minutes though, Noel returned and led the band through another song. Liam then emerged to sing the band's hit Wonderwall.
Lee was filming the concert on his digital camera when the incident occurred. He decided to keep filming, realizing that from his seat 15 to 25 rows back, he could see better through the zoom lens of his camera than with his own eyes.
He later decided to post the video on You Tube, and by 6 p.m. ET Monday it had been viewed more than 290,000 times.
"I wanted to make sure that people who weren't there had the opportunity to evaluate for themselves what exactly happened, rather than rely on rumours," Lee said.
"The band itself is a significant player on the music scene. This is an act of injustice, an uncalled for attack on anybody, regardless of who they are."
The concert ended at 10:30 p.m. ET, much earlier than anticipated, with a cover of the Beatles' I Am the Walrus.
The band's North American tour wraps up in New York City on Sept. 12.
Share Tools
FILM REVIEW: Men in Black 3 by Eli Glasner May. 25, 2012 11:40 AM Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the action sequel Men in Black 3, a third instalment of a series now 15 years old. Though new addition Josh Brolin manages some amazing mimicry as a younger version of Jones, the story doesn't measure up to the weird and wonderful charms of the original, says film reviewer Eli Glasner.
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- The family of a Toronto woman who died in pursuit of her lifelong dream to climb Mount Everest is asking the Canadian government for help in bringing her body back to Canada. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- The federal government is shutting down the Canadian consulate in Buffalo and dropping a requirement for foreign workers and students to renew their visas outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
Latest Arts & Entertainment News Headlines
- Keira Knightley engaged to rocker James Righton
- Keira Knightley, the British actress who starred in A Dangerous Method and the Pirates of the Caribbean series, is engaged to boyfriend James Righton, keyboard player for the Klaxons. more »
- Engelbert Humperdinck in the mix for Eurovision
- Engelbert Humperdinck, the 76-year-old singer known for hits such as The Last Waltz, will compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest against acts such as Norwegian gyraters and Russian grandmothers. more »
- Sotheby's Canadian art auction sets records
- Sotheby's auction of Canadian art produced a sale total of $3.55 million Thursday night in Toronto, with record prices for several Canadian artists, including Paul-Émile Borduas, whose Froissement Multicolore sold for $663,750. more »
- Shakespeare's Winter's Tale gets African reboot
- A Nigerian theatre company is performing an African reboot of The Winter's Tale, one of the lesser known tragicomedies written by the Bard, in London as part of the London Cultural Olympiad. more »
Q Blog
Toni Morrison on her two selves May. 25, 2012 12:44 PM Jian speaks with the celebrated African American author and academic about her two conflicting selves, and her new novel, Home.
CBC Books
Talking about war May. 25, 2012 2:08 PM The public conversation around war has always been complex and thorny. How does Canada's military approach differ from that of other countries? Are we a society of peacekeepers or warriors? These are some of the questions that Noah Richler explores in his new book What We Talk About When We Talk About War.
- Victim's husband held in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- SpaceX capsule docked at International Space Station
- Coffee prices get jolt in jittery economy


