A British Culture Archive exhibition at The Refuge, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Manchester, bringing together photographs and memories of Oasis fan culture.
In 2025, British Culture Archive presented Oasis Fans: 1994–1997 at The Refuge in Manchester.
The exhibition brought together Jon Shard’s photographs of fans queueing outside Maine Road, Amelia Troubridge’s pictures from inside the stadium, and photographs and memories submitted through The People’s Archive.
In February 1996, photographer Jon Shard arrived outside Maine Road on his first commission for NME.
His brief was to photograph the fans waiting to buy tickets for Oasis’s forthcoming homecoming concerts. Some had arrived the previous evening and slept outside the stadium in the freezing cold.
Jon started with the group at the head of the queue before the box office opened. He returned several hours later and photographed them again, this time holding the tickets they had waited through the night to buy.
“This was my first ever commission for the NME in the winter of 1995/96. I was asked to capture the dedication of fans waiting in the freezing cold for the hottest ticket in town. Those were the days before online ticket sales dominated, and queuing in person had its charm. People were willing to stay out and brave the cold; it was a bit of an event itself, almost a rite of passage for fans.”
Jon’s black and white photographs show friends sitting against the walls of Maine Road, smoking, talking and trying to keep warm in coats, hats and scarves.
He photographed individual fans and small groups, as well as the queue running around the stadium. Once the box office opened, the physical tickets entered the pictures, held towards Jon’s camera by people who knew the wait had paid off.
Oasis played two sold-out concerts at Maine Road on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April 1996.
Leah Walker attended the Sunday concert with friends and remembers the atmosphere around Manchester as clearly as the gig itself.
“The anticipation was immense, and when the day came, it didn’t disappoint. My friends and I walked to Maine Road from the city centre; the area around the stadium, Rusholme and Moss Side was buzzing. It was fairly chaotic, and there were a few muggings of tickets, though all in all, it was an amazing day and night out. The gig was predominantly made up of working-class kids like myself. From a fan perspective, I don’t think Oasis played a better gig after Maine Road; it was the best gig ever! That era felt like such a positive time. I’m in my mid-40s now, and we have never had anything like that in music since.”
Amelia Troubridge’s photographs take the story inside the stadium.
Amelia travelled to Manchester alone, slept in her car and photographed one of the two concerts from among the fans.
She cannot remember whether she attended the Saturday or Sunday show. What remains clear in her memory is the atmosphere inside Maine Road and the sense of optimism she associated with Oasis and the period.
The exhibition brought a previously unseen selection of Amelia’s Maine Road photographs into public view. Taken from within the audience, her pictures concentrate on the people around her rather than the band onstage.
“I took these photos at Maine Road back in 1996. I honestly can’t remember if it was the Saturday or Sunday gig. I remember driving up there on my own and sleeping in my car. What I was also doing was beginning to understand England. Community. The things that bind us. And hope. There was a lot of hope with the Oasis movement, and the 90s wasn’t there?”
British Culture Archive also invited members of the public to submit their own photographs and memories of Oasis between 1994 and 1997.
The response brought in personal snapshots from Maine Road, Loch Lomond and other concerts, alongside pictures of friends travelling, waiting outside venues and spending time together.
Many had remained in family albums, drawers and personal collections for decades. They had been taken by fans for themselves, without any expectation that they would later become part of an exhibition.
The submissions formed a fan-created Wonderwall at The Refuge.
“The 90s were a special time to me and my friends. You don’t forget times like this, seeing Oasis. They’re etched in your head forever.”
The accompanying memories were as important as the photographs. They recorded who people attended with, how they travelled, where they stayed and why the concerts continued to matter to them.
British Culture Archive published Jon Shard’s surviving wider series online in September 2024.
As the photographs circulated, people began to recognise themselves and their friends.
Anna, originally from Spain, had been at the head of the queue outside Maine Road. BCA identified her as the first person in line and the first to receive a ticket when the box office opened.
Nearly thirty years later, Anna came to the opening of Oasis Fans: 1994–1997. She saw Jon’s photographs again and reconnected with people she had shared the queue with in 1996.
Talia recognised herself sitting outside Maine Road in a deckchair, holding a cup of tea and wearing a Manchester City hat and scarf. She had little material remaining from that period and travelled from Southampton to see the exhibition. After the show closed, BCA gifted her the exhibition print.
Three former university friends who appeared together in Jon’s photographs also used the exhibition as an opportunity to meet again. It was the first time all three had been together in thirty years.
Other people pictured in the queue also visited, stood beside photographs of their younger selves and added names and memories to the archive. Several were given the exhibition prints in which they appeared.
What had begun as a magazine commission was returned to the people Jon photographed.
Oasis Fans: 1994–1997 was presented at The Refuge in Manchester from 2nd July to 31st August 2025, during Oasis’s return to the city for their Heaton Park concerts.
The exhibition brought three different views of the same fan culture into one space:
Jon Shard photographed the wait for tickets outside Maine Road.
Amelia Troubridge photographed the crowd inside the stadium.
The People’s Archive showed how those concerts were recorded and remembered by the fans themselves.
A limited 24-page publication was produced by British Culture Archive to accompany the exhibition. Featuring Jon Shard’s photographs, the zine was released as a single edition of 1,000 copies.
The project kept the focus where Jon’s photographs had placed it in 1996: on the fans.
Exhibition: Oasis Fans: 1994–1997
Venue: The Refuge, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Manchester
Dates: 2nd July–31st August 2025
Presented by: British Culture Archive
Featuring: Jon Shard, a guest contribution by Amelia Troubridge, and photographs and memories submitted through The People’s Archive.
Venue record: Oasis Fans at The Refuge.
Published to accompany the exhibition, this 24-page zine brings together Jon Shard’s Maine Road photographs. It was produced in a single edition of 1,000 copies, printed on 200gsm gloss paper.
Jon Shard’s selected works are represented by British Culture Archive for exhibitions, publishing, licensing and print editions.
Photographs by Amelia Troubridge remain © Amelia Troubridge.