Noel Gallagher‘s guitar, which was damaged backstage on the night Oasis‘ split in Paris in 2009, is being auctioned off.
The band were slated to headline Rock en Seine at the time, but Noel clashed with brother Liam, minutes before their scheduled appearance and a guitar got damaged in the process.
The red Gibson ES-355 has since been repaired and is set to go under the hammer on May 17, with a starting price of €150,000 (£125,000). Auctioneers are predicting that the item could go for as much as €500,000 (£415,000).
Arthur Perault, a co-founder of the Artpèges gallery, which is holding the auction said Gallagher got rid of the guitar in the end, because “it reminds him too much of Oasis”, according to The Guardian.
Oasis split after the row with Noel recently recalling how he sat in the back of a car at the music festival before he decided it was time to quit the band.
“And the driver pulled off and that was it. I didn’t feel a sense of relief because I knew there was a shitstorm coming. And there was going to be a lot of nonsense talked about it,” he said.
“One of the biggest bands ever imploded, finally. And I couldn’t go back to England because the press had descended on my house and my missus was there with my kids.”
He added: “So we had to kind of spirit her out in the middle of the night and they came to join me in France somewhere. And then when we eventually got back to England, of course all fucking hell broke loose.”
While his argument with Liam was the final reason for the split, he admitted it wasn’t “a decision [he] took lightly”.
“It was my life, I directed it and creatively it was my thing. With the benefit of hindsight it was the best thing for me and for the band,” he added.
“Because the band now, Oasis back in 2009, were not lauded as one of the greats of all time. There was a kind of undercurrent of: ‘Well they should really call it a day’. That’s what I felt anyway.
“And I felt that people had stopped listening to the records and were coming to see us trot out the hits and it’s a position I never wanted the band to be in. But now of course we’re seen as up there with all the greats.”
Meanwhile, Noel recently criticised Harry Styles and his fellow former X Factor stars for not working as hard as “real” musicians.
“You’re not telling me Harry Styles is currently in a room somewhere writing a song,” he said. “With any joy, he’ll be surrounded by a lot of girls.”
Noel added: “I can assure you he’s not got an acoustic guitar out trying to write a middle eight for something.”
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