‘I could see Patsy Kensit dancing away at the side of the stage.’ Cult thing of the month: free residents' ticket to see Oasis at Maine Road, 1996.

There'll be lots of talk about Oasis tickets in the coming months - and how much they cost. Let Cult Manchester's Katherine Macfarlane take you back to a time when it was possible to get a freebie - if you knew someone in the right postcode.

This ticket is the only evidence that I have to prove I saw Oasis at Manchester City’s Maine Road on 28 April 1996. A friend of mine lived in one of the terraced houses next to the football ground and local residents were offered free tickets to compensate for putting up with 80,000 thousand Oasis fans on their doorsteps over the two days. That's why is says 'resident - not for re-sale' on it. The issue number is 000031.

My friend’s house backed onto Maine Road, so it didn’t take us long to get into the stadium, only about five minutes. We walked directly from the house to the Kippax Street turnstile, which was a real novelty. Think of all the faff associated with going to a big gig these days.

This was the first stadium gig I’d been to, so walking into Maine Road just blew me away - the size, the amount of people, the noise.  We had great seats, just to the left of the stage, which meant you could all see the comings and goings down below. Ocean Colour Scene were on first followed by Manic Street Preachers. The Manics had regrouped after the disappearance of their guitarist Richey Edwards in February 1995. Seeing them playing on stage without him was very moving.

It was April, it was cold, but nobody cared. Noel and Liam were in their element that night, playing to 40,000 fans at their beloved Maine Road - they couldn’t put a foot wrong. I could see Patsy Kensit, who was dating Liam at the time, dancing away at the side of the stage. 

The whole atmosphere was amazing with everyone singing along. What’s more, we were back in my friend’s house pretty quickly after the show while fans continued to file past her front door to make their way home.  

My ticket eventually got put in a frame and then I forgot about it, as other tickets were added to the expanding collection. I only came across it stored in box recently and I was able to tell my children, yes… I swear I was there!