A man has recalled being assaulted while attending one of Oasis’ homecoming concerts at Heaton Park last week, resulting in him missing the entire show due to the ordeal
A man was assaulted after allegedly “spilling someone’s pint” at an Oasis gig at Heaton Park. Martin Brierley was forced to miss the whole show after spending £300 and later spent the night in A&E.
Emma Brierley, 32, attended the concert last Saturday night (July 12) with her husband, Martin, 50, and a mate. After entering the cordoned-off area, the couple queued for the loos and planned to grab a drink from the bar before settling in to enjoy the gig they’d been eagerly anticipating for months.
Shortly afterwards, Martin decided to head to the bar to fetch a round of drinks while Emma returned to their spot in the park ahead of the concert. It wasn’t until Liam and Noel Gallagher hit the stage and Emma noticed Martin hadn’t come back that she began to worry he might have lost his way – until she received a call from a security staff member asking her to make her way to the medical tent near one of the entrance gates.
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“I tried ringing him a few times, but there was no signal at all,” Emma, who works for the Mirror’s sister title, the Manchester Evening News, said. “I thought he’d have just gotten lost somewhere in the park on the way back from the bar.
“Oasis were already playing now and I was saying to our friend how gutted Martin would be to have not made it back from the bar yet. We were just thinking he was struggling to find us at this point.
“We were on the top of the hill, quite far back from all the crowds. We weren’t bothered about how close we could get and didn’t want to get crushed because it was very busy.
“At 8.23pm I received a call from ‘Martin’, but it was actually a member of security staff using his phone and telling me to go to Gate 20. There was no mention of what had happened, so I told my friend to wait with my bag, still presuming he had just got lost on the way back.”
As Emma approached the gate, she spotted Martin on the ground, bleeding and hurt. She immediately recognised him from his trainers and “rushed to him” as he was surrounded by security officers.
“He was conscious when I got there, but looked a mess, and his shirt was soaked with blood,” she said. “They were telling me they were taking him to the [medical] tent for treatment.
“I asked a member of security to help me try and find our friend to come with us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find our friend, so I headed back with security. When I returned, we then went through sealed fence and to a gazebo with police and paramedics.”
Martin’s recollection of what occurred is hazy. He recalled accidentally toppling over a group’s beers, which were placed on the ground, as he walked back from the bar whilst watching the large screens.
Recalling the incident, Martin explained: “I was bringing the drinks back from the bar, and there was a group with their drinks on the ground. I didn’t realise and obviously walked right through this bloke’s beers. I told him they shouldn’t have been on the floor because it’s a field.”
He continued: “I turned around to walk off, and I’ve got this flashback of a hand coming across my face. The next memory I have is of a member of security trying to pull me up by my right arm, and blood being everywhere. I am not sure if I passed out or not. Then the next thing I knew, I was in the medical tent.
“They definitely went for me more than once. I had injuries to my head, two black eyes and injuries to my jaw and lip.” The Oldham couple reported that they were only asked for basic details by police officers who arrived about 10 minutes post-assault. Martin was stretchered into the medical tent where his head wound was glued and bandaged to stem the bleeding.
Emma said that after roughly half an hour, they were informed they could go back to the concert, but they ‘just wanted to get out and get home’ after what happened. Describing their departure, Emma said: “I asked where we were going as we didn’t have a clue where we were and was told to head out of the tent and just keep walking and that the stage was on our right.”
“At this point, Martin had no shirt because of how blood-soaked it was, but we couldn’t find anywhere to purchase one or offered anything. I was concerned that we had just been let out with the injuries Martin had sustained, but at this point, we just wanted to get out of the concert, get home, and get Martin to A&E near us just to be checked out properly.
“After missing nearly all of Oasis because of what happened, the day had been ruined for us. I was feeling very anxious around everything and just wanted to get Martin closer to home, into appropriate clothing and to A&E.”
The couple later found their friend, who had been able to enjoy the entirety of the concert, and they left Heaton Park. On the way out, Emma claimed she asked a police officer how to make a complaint because they ‘hadn’t been given a crime reference number’ or had chance to explain what had happened to any officers at the scene.
Martin spent eight hours at Royal Oldham Hospital overnight, including having CT scans. His injuries were not deemed serious and he was discharged at around 10am on Sunday.
Emma later made a complaint to Greater Manchester Police about their treatment at the concert, claiming that the couple have still not been visited by an officer. “Martin and I had never seen Oasis before so we were so excited,” Emma added. “I had managed to get a ballot number last year and sat for hours to get these tickets.”
The couple had everything set for a perfect day out, with the kids looked after by grandma and the sun shining, but their concert experience turned sour. “We sorted the kids being babysat by my mum, it was a sunny day and we were really looking forward to it. It was all so disappointing. You don’t think you’re going to go out to a concert and this is going to happen to you.”
Greater Manchester Police have confirmed they are probing an incident at the Oasis gig in Heaton Park on Saturday night. A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “Officers are investigating after we received a report of an assault at the Oasis concert at Heaton Park on Saturday evening.”
They added that the victim was treated for injuries which were thankfully not severe. “The man received injuries for which he was treated for, and thankfully which weren’t serious. We will be visiting the man in due course to provide further updates, with an investigation underway.”
The tour promoter, SJM Concerts, was approached for comment.
