Noel Gallagher’s guitar that was damaged backstage at an Oasis concert and culminated in the band breaking up has sold for €385,500 (£325,000) at an auction in Paris.
The red Gibson was broken at the French capital’s Rock en Seine festival in 2009 towards the end of the band’s year-long Dig Out Your Soul global tour.
Jonathan Berg, a guitar expert and co-founder of the Artpèges gallery that held the auction, said the instrument marked “a cult moment” in music history.
The band had been slated to play at the festival but the crowd were famously told that they would not be appearing. Noel later announced he was leaving the band, saying he could no longer work with his brother Liam.
Berg said: “Things had been brewing for a while between the two brothers.”
He added: “It exploded backstage, one of Noel’s guitars got broken and that led to the group breaking up.”
With a starting price at €150,000, the auctioneers estimated bids for the guitar could have reached as high as €500,000. The guitar, restored in 2011, was presented with its original case and a note from its former owner signed “Peace, love and bananas”.
Arthur Perault, another co-founder of Artpèges, said he was “pretty happy” with the auction at the Hôtel Drouot.
Among the other lots was a bondage suit made of leather and chains worn by Martin Gore from the British group Depeche Mode, which was bought for €15,528.
A rare vinyl signed by both Jimi Hendrix and French singer Johnny Hallyday sold for more than €10,000.
