My feud with Oasis that led to Noel calling me a ginger whinger and Liam slamming me in front of a crowd of 70,000

The warring Gallagher brothers may have finally buried the hatchet. But as Oasis announce their sensational comeback tour, there’s one feud that still needs to be resolved: mine with Liam and Noel.

Liam insulted me on stage in front of 70,000 people and Noel wrote a blog post calling me a ‘joyless husk’.

And the news that the band are to play some of their reunion shows on my doorstep – in Heaton Park, Manchester – has brought it all back into focus, because that’s how our falling out began 15 years ago.

I have to stress that this is not personal — at least not for me. Because while it’s not quite my Wonderwall, I do like their music.

But in June 2009, dark clouds began to gather as the band were set to play a trio of shows at Heaton Park. For those unfamiliar with the area, this beautiful spot in the north of Manchester covers 600 acres of rolling parkland. I grew up in the area (I still live there) and the tranquility of Heaton Park has defined much of my life. From playing there as a child to being courted as a teenager by my husband Martin and pushing prams on long sleep-deprived walks, Heaton Park has been my strength and abode for decades.

So the prospect of the Oasis juggernaut invading this precious space filled me with horror. At the time I was working as a columnist for the Manchester Evening News (MEN) and used the platform to voice thunderous objections to the concerts.

‘Apart from the noise, the litter and the many drunken Gallagher enthusiasts streaming through our streets until the early hours, drunk on cigarettes and alcohol, why was this necessary in the first place?’, I wrote.

Instead, I wondered: if the band was tired of playing in football stadiums, why not play in a piece of wasteland, clean it up and improve the landscape? So they could do something for the local people too.

It is clear that my column has struck a chord.

On the night of the first concert on June 4, 2009, Liam roared his displeasure on stage. Before playing Cigarettes & Alcohol, he shouted at the audience. ‘I want to dedicate this next one to a Mrs. Epstein, who works for the Evening News and thinks that people like us don’t belong here – the lesbian.’

Believe me, the sound of 70,000 people booing your name – I heard it later in a clip I put on YouTube – is something that will stay etched in my memory.

But on the night itself I became aware of Liam’s outburst through my then 16 year old son, Sam. He wasn’t interested in my opinion about the park, but had been to the concert.

Angela Epstein responded with another column about the incident, which subsequently drew the ire of the other Gallagher brother

When we got home afterwards he shouted at me: ‘I can’t get away from my own mother, not even at an Oasis concert!’

I responded with another column about the incident – ​​which subsequently drew the ire of the other Gallagher brother. Noel wrote on his official blog calling me “a red-headed whiner from the MEN” who has written a few shitty little pieces in the last few days.

‘She claimed that we – and by that I mean YOU – had no “right” to “come over” from London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Tokyo, LA, Milan, anywhere in the world really, to “her” beautiful piece of England and enjoy ourselves and leave a bit of mud behind. What a joyless old fart!!’ So did this Gallaghers tirade bother me? Absolutely not (although the “old” was a bit harsh). It reminded me how even rock gods can be stung by the power of words.

Much more worrying was the state of the park when the Oasis circus left town a few days later. And that’s without even mentioning the front gardens of local residents, which had been used as urinals by fans.

I saw such shows as a violation of a beautiful open space (Heaton Park, pictured)

Little more was said in our war of words, as Oasis split a few months later when Noel left after a row with Liam in Paris. However, the precedent had been set and the park would go on to be used for other large-scale music events.

And although I have to admit that the organization and cleaning after each concert or festival got better, I still saw such shows as a violation of the beautiful open space and regretted that Oasis set the trend.

And with that, the circle is complete: the band will once again perform five nights at Heaton Park in July next year.

Now, urban multimillionaires who long ago left Manchester, will Liam and Noel suffer from a joyless shell that just wants to protect a precious part of my – and their – city? Don’t look back, lads…

Representatives for the Gallaghers declined to comment.