TORONTO - A clean-cut Pickering man admitted yesterday he attacked Noel Gallagher while the leader of British rock band Oasis performed in Toronto last year.

Daniel Sullivan pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm against Gallagher, whose band was headlining at the Virgin Music Festival, on Toronto Island on Sept. 7, 2008.

“Sullivan managed to make his way up to the main stage area, run past the electrical cords set up along the stage, pass the drum kit and lunge toward Noel Gallagher, shoving him violently from behind with great force,” said Crown attorney Ruth Neilson in reading an agreed statement of facts to Justice Richard Schneider in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Gallagher, who was facing the crowd and playing his guitar at the time, suffered three fractured ribs when he fell forward on to a speaker. Sullivan then turned and ran toward Liam Gallagher, the leader singer who was standing 10 feet away from his brother Noel.

“Sullivan almost made it to Liam Gallagher, but was tackled by security and was taken to the ground on stage,” said Neilson.

“He was held backstage for police to attend. Police report Sullivan was resisting, struggling and screaming as he was arrested. Officers tried to calm him down.”

Neilson said Sullivan was intoxicated at the time and has no recollection of how he was able to mount the stage, except that he “remembers attempting to climb over the fence .

“It appears no one attempted to prevent Sullivan from gaining access to the stage until he was tackled on stage by Oasis,” said Neilson.

Noel Gallagher was taken off stage and felt “winded” for some minutes but resumed playing the last 20 minutes of the show, court heard.

When he was re-assessed two days later, he was told to cancel all performances until he was better. He kept feeling pain for the next two weeks.

A CT scan in London, England on Sept. 22, revealed he had fractured his ninth, tenth and eleventh ribs on his left side.

As a consequence, Oasis was forced to cancel five concerts that were scheduled to promote the band’s new recording. One of those concerts was slated for London, Ontario, and another was a major record launch in New York City.

Noel Gallagher stated it took eight months before he felt normal again.

Oasis rescheduled the London, On., concert last December.

Schneider ordered a pre-sentence report for the 48-year-old Sullivan. His sentencing hearing was scheduled for Feb. 5, 2010.

sam.pazzano@sunmedia.ca