The council confirmed the tree that was felled was dead and was no longer safe to be left standing
16:47, 16 Jul 2025Updated 18:02, 16 Jul 2025
Trees appeared to have been cut down (Image: @thebritishbartender/TikTok)
Council workers have been spotted cutting down a tree close to ‘Gallagher Hill’ ahead of the third major Oasis gig at Heaton Park on Wednesday evening (July 16).
The band are currently midway through their homecoming residency as part of their huge Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour. Having kicked off their run of UK shows in Cardiff at the start of July, they’re now back on home turf playing to more than 340,000 music lovers across five nights.
Oasis’ second night of their reunion gigs last weekend saw 80,000 ticket paying fans enjoying the electric atmosphere. However, there was also a separate crowd of fans who paid nothing enjoying the show.
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Huge groups of fans all headed to a nearby hill, dubbed ‘Gallagher Hill’, where they could see all the action playout on screens that were visible. Images showed massive crowds on the adjacent field taking part in a mass sing-along.
But the area was fenced off on Tuesday (July 15), with non ticket holders urged by the council not to travel to the park on the days of the remaining gigs. A statement explained why ‘additional measures have now been deemed necessary’ around the perimeter of the vast parkland amid a new warning over public safety.
Thousands of Oasis fans without tickets make the most of the hill at Heaton Park(Image: Paul Jacobs/pictureexclusive.com)
The new measures included the erection of steel fencing around a large area within the cattle field in the main park – which is currently being developed as a new woodland area and has been recently planted with around 300 young whips, the council said.
The erection of the fencing was put in place both ‘to protect the environment from further damage’ and to ‘dissuade people from gathering there’, with the concert no longer viewable from the area for non ticket-holders.
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In a video shared to TikTok on Wednesday, user @thebritishbartender shared a video of what appeared to be workers in high-vis trousers and hard hats cutting down a large tree in the area.
There was speculation on social media that the tree had been previously scaled by fans outside the stage area attempting to get a better glimpse of the show over the weekend, with others claiming it was being removed because it was dead.
“This morning the council begin cutting down trees at Gallagher hill. why? to stop people climbing them? maybe. your guess is as good as mine!” the caption read.
‘Gallagher Hill’ has been closed off to Oasis fans(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
One response read: “This is shocking, they are sold out so why stop others from seeing – its not like it’s stopping sales,” as another added: “I was more than happy to sit on Gallagher hill and listen to it! Now, they’ve made this personal for everyone who couldn’t get a ticket,” followed by: “This is so wrong. People can’t have fun anymore.”
However others were quick to point out the tree did not have leaves and was likely dead and a potential danger or threat to other new trees which had been planted in the area.
“[The] tree is obviously dead and dangerous not a tree that is safe to leave in a place with high foot traffic/people climbing it to get over the fence,” one said, as another penned: “It’s a dead ash tree that, they’re constantly taking them out because there dangerous.”
It was later confirmed by Manchester City Council that the tree that was felled was dead and was no longer safe to be left standing after it was climbed at the weekend and had branches broken.