Bressie recalls Oasis support gig at Slane

Supporting Oasis at Slane was a “very special” moment for The Blizzards, according to frontman Niall Breslin.

Liam and Noel Gallagher performed in front of 80,000 fans at the iconic venue in Meath on June 20, 2009, before splitting up a month later.

Oasis have now announced their comeback, after 15 years of bickering, and will perform two nights at Croke Park in August 2025.

Recalling that night in Slane in 2009, Bressie said it was “really special.”

“With shows like that, you’re just praying and hoping that nothing goes wrong,” he told the Westmeath Examiner.

“Whether it’s Whelan’s or Slane, it doesn’t matter, you just hope that there’s no sound check issues or anything, because you just have to walk on and plug in.”

He also remembers the gig fondly for other reasons.

“What a lot of people might not know is, when we supported Oasis, the agent for AC/DC was at the show and came out to us after we finished and asked if we wanted to support AC/DC the following week,” he said.

“The drummer of Thin Lizzy had broken his collarbone, and they were the original support.

“So, we played at Slane on the Saturday and then the following week we played before AC/DC at Punchestown – it was quite the week.”

Bressie recalls the owner of Slane Castle, Henry Mountcharles, being helpful at the gig.

“He was so accommodating and sound, Mountcharles and his family, they didn’t care if you were Oasis or The Blizzards, they just didn’t care and welcomed everyone, that was the vibe,” he said.

“I also remember Tyrone Brunton was there too, a Mullingar man, who was stage manager for The Prodigy.

“The support bands were only supposed to get a tiny part of the stage, but he gave us the whole stage, whatever we wanted, it was really special.”

Also supporting the Mancunian brothers in Slane that day were The Prodigy and Kasabian.

Bressie said The Blizzards have always been “huge fans” of Oasis.

“We were all obsessed with them as a band,” he said.

“It was inevitable they’d get back together, I don’t care what anyone says; the amount of money that was put on the table.

"People are worried that they won’t make it, but I’d say there are so many legal implications that if that does happen, they’ll be paying it off for the rest of their lives.”