The barbative back-and-forths between the Gallagher brothers in the years after Oasis split are the stuff of rock-lore, but the fortune of the broken guitar that broke the band has received fewer column inches.
Now, 13 years on, an auction in Paris and a hand-scrawled note by Noel Gallagher has changed this narrative, bringing the singer-songwriter's beloved red Gibson back into the limelight.
The Artpeges gallery in Paris on Tuesday night auctioned the fully restored ES-355 for £325,000 ($403,254).
In an accompanying informal certificate of authenticity — a piece of pop memorabilia in its own right hitherto not seen in public — Noel affirmed the instrument's place in his affections and its elemental role in the break-up of Oasis. He then signed off with customary irreverence, writing "Peace, love + bananas!!"
"This 1960 Gibson 355 serial #A34884 was the guitar that was smashed up in Paris in 2009 the night Oasis split up," he wrote. "It was also my #1 favourite guitar that I used for both writing and recording."
Gallery co-founder Arthur Perault said he was “pretty happy” with the outcome, and fellow co-founder Jonathan Berg called the instrument “a cult moment” in music history.
That the mangled guitar that was once in two pieces was sold in pristine condition is down to master French luthier Philippe Dubreuille.
It was through his working relationship with Oasis band members Gem Archer and Andy Bell that Dubreuille heard about the disbandment.
Set to headline the French capital's Rock en Seine festival in 2009, the fractious Gallagher brothers became embroiled in a Gibson guitar-bashing ding-dong that reverberated around the world.
The spat led to Oasis's immediate withdrawal from the festival — where their Friday night headline slot was taken by ska band Madness — and proved to be their final act as an ensemble.
Two or three days after the fateful night in Paris, Gem Archer and his wife went to Dubreuille's Denmark Street workshop in London and told him that Oasis was "finished".
"I said 'oh come on'," Dubreuille, an Oasis fan, now recalls, "but he said 'That’s it, that’s it.'"
A tale of two guitars
In truth, the split hadn't required a Nostradamus prediction.
"The two brothers could not stand each other and that was very tense," said Dubreuille.
"When they played in Paris, apparently they had done more than two years of touring around the world. Good cuisine everywhere. Nice to be in Paris and maybe two more days in England and then the tour was over."
Such an amicable end was not to be. The precise details of the apocalyptic argument remain nebulous but, according to Dubreuille, it was Noel, infuriated by his brother's antics, who smashed Liam's Gibson J-100 first.
Dubreuille said the guitar had been signed by the younger Gallagher's son and held sentimental value, perhaps explaining the righteous fury which Liam was said to have then vented upon Noel's ES-355.
When he discovered the sad fate of the instrument, Dubreuille had a premonition.
"I said: 'One day, I am going to repair that guitar.' It took two years to come to me," he said.
"Noel kept it in a vault. He didn’t want to be reminded of the story. And one day, somebody came. His name was Jason Rhodes and he was Noel’s guitar tech.
"Jason came with the guitar and said: ‘OK, Phillipe look, what do you think of that, can you repair it?’
"He said he had taken it to some other guy who said it was [irreparable], and he said 'do you think you can do something?'
"The neck was off, a piece of the wood was broken, a piece on the front was missing, there was an ugly hole, a part of the piping was gone, and one of the pickups was hanging off."
Yet, Dubreuille hadn't garnered his stellar reputation for nothing. He is to guitar making and repairing what Jimi Hendrix was to playing.
His list of clients reads like a musical firmament: Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Chrissie Hynde, Iggy Pop, Mark Ronson, Dave Stewart and William Orbit were all among those to have called upon his luthier services.
"It took me a month to do it," he says of the Gibson restoration. "Recolour everything. Revarnish the parts that were missing, and put the guitar in the incredible condition it’s in today."
"I really did a fantastic job. Like a wizard job," he said.
Noel Gallagher, who now fronts his own band High Flying Birds, no doubt agreed with the assessment.
"During the year I was in London, Noel gave me some jobs to do for him, like resprays," Dubreuille said.
"At one point, I was doing a guitar and he wanted to call me to ask some questions about how I was going to do it to make sure we were of the same understanding.
"He was really impressed by my work."
Gibson too painful to keep
Noel's avowed esteem for the Gibson didn't stop him from selling it, however, and a few transactions later it landed at Artpeges gallery.
Dubreuille, currently based in Brittany, France, noted he had charged only a standard amount for the guitar's repair, but will not receive any of the proceeds from the astronomical sale.
Yet he is a craftsman and music lover to the core, so the lack of financial recompense means little.
"I didn’t care about the money and the time it was going to take for me," he said. "It was the prestige."
Thanks to Dubreuille's prodigious skills, Noel Gallagher's Gibson ES-355 now has a chance to live forever.
And, while he once sang "please don't put your life in the hands of a rock and roll band", perhaps the moral of the story is not to trust them with your cherished Gibsons.
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
The finalists
Player of the Century, 2001-2020: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ronaldinho
Coach of the Century, 2001-2020: Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Sir Alex Ferguson
Club of the Century, 2001-2020: Al Ahly (Egypt), Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Real Madrid (Spain)
Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Club of the Year: Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Real Madrid
Coach of the Year: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta), Hans-Dieter Flick (Bayern Munich), Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Agent of the Century, 2001-2020: Giovanni Branchini, Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola
England Test squad
Ben Stokes (captain), Joe Root, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts
The specs
Engine: 1.4-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 180hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 250Nm at 3,00rpm
Transmission: 5-speed sequential auto
Price: From Dh139,995
On sale: now
FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Co%20Chocolat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Iman%20and%20Luchie%20Suguitan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Food%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fahad%20bin%20Juma%2C%20self-funding%2C%20family%20and%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
MATCH INFO
Southampton 0
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 16')
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The details
Colette
Director: Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West
Our take: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
