An Oasis super fan has been left gutted after missing the band’s concert because he was ‘knocked out by security guards’ as they tried to tackle a gate-jumper.
Joel Garner, 34, needed to go to A&E and ended up missing the entire sold-out show at Heaton Park in Manchester on July 16.
It wasn’t just a simple knockout, either. Apparently Joel was barged into so hard by security that after being KO’d, he went into a full-blown seizure and then suffered memory loss of the surrounding hours. That’s a pretty bad knockout!
His sister Evie Barker, 23, who was with Joel + three others at the gig, claims the security guards referred to him as ‘collateral damage’ before walking off while he suffered his seizure.
Evil explained to Metro: ‘There were five to seven security guards fully sprinting, tailing this guy who jumped over the gate.
‘There was one massive pile-up and they clattered into the guy who jumped the barrier and Joel.
‘They must have seen him there cause they were all running towards him.’
Joel, from Derbyshire, says his memory is sketchy because he hit his head in the crash, but recalled: ‘There was a bit of a commotion and before you know it I was knocked flying by someone.’
Evie claims the security guards caught the gate-jumper in the end but were completely uninterested in Joel’s condition after knocking him out.
‘The security said to my boyfriend, “did he jump the fence? or was he collateral damage?”
‘What a way to refer to someone they’ve just knocked over. Then they just walked off and all of them just left.
‘It seemed like they were trying to take down the guy and didn’t care who was in their way.’
Joel was rushed into the nearby medical tent and was then taken to hospital for further checks, with the whole group staying with him until he was discharged around 7 hours later at 4am. Which means all 5 of them missed the concert due to these security guards accidentally knocking out Joel.
Joel said: ‘I am absolutely gutted to not have seen Oasis. We were just looking forward to having a good time and literally within 15 minutes all hell breaks loose.’
‘I’m grateful I’m still in one piece. The five of us spent £700 on tickets and we didn’t get to see a single band.
Amazingly, Joel has decided not to press charges, but rather, has made a request for free tickets so that he can catch Oasis at another show before they wrap up their reunion tour. Is he feeling OK?
His sister Evie had already fired off e-mails to the gig’s promoters SJM Concerts while Joel was still recovering in hospital, and was offered five free tickets to an Oasis gig that weekend, so that’s nice.
Unfortunately, that came too soon for Joel who was still in recovery mode, but the rest of the group were able to make it.
Meanwhile, Evie has been left unimpressed by the response from Showsec, the company in charge of security at the show. An e-mail from the company reads: ‘We are sorry to hear that you have had cause to raise a complaint’ and asks for more details to investigate. She’s supplied additional details but has heard nothing back since.
Greater Manchester Police were investigating, but since Joel has chosen not to press charges, will soon be closing the case. I’m not really sure what Joel is thinking as this would be a fairly easy slam dunk for any lawyer worth their salt, but all he wants is a free ticket to see Oasis instead. Once he accepts that ticket, they’ll argue he’s been compensated already. He’s choosing an Oasis gig over thousands of pounds in compensation!
Have they checked for a concussion yet? Might be a good idea.
For a look at the incredible manner in which Noel Gallagher dealt with a ‘cringe’ Oasis fan on the streets of LA, click HERE.
