Knebworth concerts have been part of British music since 1974, and a run of nights on this Hertfordshire estate around 30 miles north of London has become one of the few things that turns a band into folklore. The biggest are Oasis in 1996, Led Zeppelin in 1979, Queen in 1986, Pink Floyd in 1975 and Robbie Williams in 2003.
If you are here because of the 2027 Oasis gigs, here is our guide for where to stay.
Here are our top five Knebworth gigs of all time:
5. Robbie Williams (1-3rd August 2003)
Still the largest multi-night music event in British history, with 375,000 fans across three consecutive sold-out nights.
Fun fact: Because tickets sold out 10 months in advance, hundreds of fans became pregnant between buying tickets and the event. Promoters set up special “pregnancy stands” for expecting mothers and five women went into labour during the shows. Four made it to local hospitals, but one fan gave birth inside a St John Ambulance tent right on the estate grounds!
4. Pink Floyd (5th July 1975)
Floyd’s only UK show of 1975 and the live debut of material from Wish You Were Here, nine weeks before the album came out. Around 100,000 people came, with tailbacks stretching down the motorway. The set opened with two World War Two Spitfires flying in low over the crowd.
Fun fact: it went wrong twice. The PA build overran, so the Spitfires arrived exactly on cue and the band did not, ruining the entrance. Then the generators, which the crew had packed around with straw bales to muffle the noise, set the straw on fire mid-show. The same generators had already thrown Rick Wright’s Hammond organ out of tune.
3. Queen (9th August 1986)
Ten years before Oasis, Freddie Mercury performed his final live concert here with Queen on the Magic Tour which saw 120,000 fans watch Mercury perform for the last time before his health declined. The show was only added because Queen had sold out two nights at Wembley and could not get a third. Mercury was diagnosed HIV positive the following year and died in 1991.
Fun fact: Freddie Mercury flew onto the grounds in a custom-painted Magic Tour helicopter.
2. Led Zeppelin (4th & 11th August 1979)
Zeppelin’s last ever UK concerts, played after two years off the road and a year before John Bonham’s death. Peter Grant reportedly negotiated £1 million for a single show, the biggest fee paid to any act at that point.
Fun fact: nobody agrees how many people were there, and it ended a career. Grant and promoter Freddy Bannister fell out so badly over the gate that Grant had aerial photographs of the crowd sent to a lab for analysis to prove he was being short-changed. Bannister’s count was 109,000 for the first night. Others have claimed 250,000. Bannister never promoted at Knebworth again.
1. Oasis (10 and 11 August 1996)
The defining moment of Britpop, and still the gig every other Knebworth show is measured against. Oasis played to 125,000 people a night, a quarter of a million across the weekend. According to the BBC, 2.5 million people applied for tickets, more than 4% of the UK population at the time, and the band could have sold out another 18 nights at the venue.
Fun fact: Who can forget that oversized white chunky cable-knit jumper that Liam wore on night 2? Rumour has it that Liam hadn’t realised Oasis was booked for two consecutive nights, ran out of clean clothes and had to borrow his then-fiancée Patsy Kensit’s sweater on a sweltering summer evening.
Notable mentions: The Rolling Stones (1976), Chuck Berry (1981), Deep Purple (1985)
Knebworth’s next chapter is confirmed: Oasis return for six nights in September 2027, on 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26 September. Here’s what’s confirmed so far, where to stay for Knebworth 2027 and how to get to Knebworth. And for Oasis Knebworth 2027 camping a 200m walk from the estate gate, book The Pop-Up Camp here.
More for your Knebworth weekend: Oasis Knebworth camping, Oasis at Knebworth, 1996 to 2027 and Oasis Knebworth accommodation.
The Pop-Up Camp is an unofficial campsite and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any artist, promoter or Knebworth House.
