'I was 90s music promoter who told Oasis their name was crap and songs too loud'

When Oasis take the stage on their £50million reunion tour this summer, one promoter will be reflecting on the advice he once gave the trailblazing brothers. Colin Sinclair first met Noel and Liam when he ran the iconic Boardwalk venue in in the 90s.

He went on to befriend the Gallaghers as they conquered the but his first impressions were not great. Colin recalls: “When Oasis first started, they brought me the demo tapes they had recorded.

“I would say, ‘Some of the louder songs are indecipherable.’ I thought the songwriting was brilliant – but I did say that Oasis was a bad name for a band.

I told Noel and Liam, ‘You need a better name.’ There was a shop in the Arndale centre called Oasis and a soft drink with the same name as well.

“If they had listened to me and changed their name, they probably wouldn’t have made it. It was their idea and that was part of it.”

Liam made his debut as the band’s singer at the Boardwalk aged 18 on August 18, 1991, but to a much more humble crowd than the 1.4million who managed to get tickets for the UK tour.

“There were about six people there!” says Colin. But he added: “You could see they were amazing musicians and had an amazing-looking frontman which every band needs. There was a lot of energy on stage. I lost money on most of the gigs I promoted and I definitely lost money on that one!”

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Booking agent Lynn Hamnett certainly wasn’t impressed, as Colin said: “They weren’t very good. My boss asked me: ‘Do you think they’re going to make it?’ I said: ‘They haven’t a hope. They’re crap.’ Liam would lean out from the stage. I remember thinking: ‘Who the hell does he think he is?’”

Noel, five years older, had yet to join Liam in the band but, as legend has it, told him: “Your tunes are sh*t” – before inviting himself to the next rehearsal. It was still a struggle, as Noel recalled: “There was a famous gig at the Duchess in Leeds where no one turned up at all.

“Not even one person. So we actually played to less than three men and a dog... not many bands that can say that. We did an encore and everything.”

To Colin’s relief, the band’s following quickly grew, along with the number of pints being sold. “Oasis brought a drinking crowd and as a promoter, that’s what you want,” he says. “When you book a band, you want to know if they will bring a crowd – and what they will drink. You don’t want a crowd who only drink water.”

The band famously got their break in May 1993 when they played at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow in front of Alan McGee, the boss of Creation Records. “They did a killer gig in front of the right person at the right time,” Colin says.

“They delivered when it mattered. “Not every band does that, but Oasis did. I’ve seen bands fall apart on their biggest night, but Oasis delivered.”

Their career took off and Noel remembered a chaotic gig in Leicester in 1994 during a tour to support second single Shakermaker. He said: “It was that mental that I knew after the encore they were going to invade the stage. So, I put my guitar down and set the delay pedal going, then ran. I ended up in the dressing room with one shoe.”

This year’s reunion gigs are set to be the biggest events of 2025 – but bookmakers have speculated that the Gallaghers will fall out before they play their first gig at Cardiff on July 4.

“That wouldn’t surprise me,” says Colin. “Brothers have a bond, but when they fall out they really fall out.

“If Liam and Noel never had any tiffs, there wouldn’t be the interest. Noel was responsible one, Liam was just a lad who was up for fun all the time.”

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