Guitar breaking 'Oasis' up for auction in Paris

Also on the auction block, but expected to receive very low bids, is a set of bondage gear worn by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore at a 1980s photoshoot.


A guitar, whose smashing triggered the break-up of Oasis stars Liam and Noel Gallagher, went under the hammer along with other rock memorabilia in Paris the following month.

Later repaired, Red Gibson's destruction at the French capital's Rock en Seine festival in 2009 was "a cult moment" in music history, said Jonathan Berg, a guitar expert and co-founder of the auction-held Artpages gallery.

With a starting price of 150,000 euros ($160,000), auctioneers say bids for the guitar could reach 500,000 euros ($540,000) at the sale on May 17.

Berg said the notoriously corrupt Britpop legends were slated to play in Rock 'n Scenery at the end of a year-long global tour — but "things had been going on between the two brothers for some time," Berg said.

"It exploded backstage, one of Noel's guitars broke, and that caused the group to break up."

An eager crowd awaiting the pair's arrival was stunned to receive the message that the oasis was history.

The dramatic split set off years of public acrimony between the brothers via the press and social media that slowly cooled.

Noel sought a guitar-maker to repair his broken instrument, settling on a London-based French luthier, Philippe Dubreuil, two years later.

But the composer "in the end got rid of it, because it reminds him so much of Oasis," said Burgess's partner, Arthur Perrault.

Also on the auction block, but expected to receive very low bids, is a set of bondage gear worn by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore at a 1980s photoshoot.

And a rare vinyl signed by both Jimi Hendrix and beloved French rocker Johnny Hallyday is up for grabs.

Hendrix signed the record after a 1966 concert in the eastern French city of Nancy, when a fan of "Johnny" looked for his idol in a cafe, but found only his supporting act, the then-unknown Jimi Hendrix experience.

Nearly 45 years later, in 2011, French Jimi Hendrix specialist Yazid Manou put the owner in touch with Hallyday to complete the autograph collection.

Both items are expected to sell for up to 12,000 euros.

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