The Oasis fan who fell to his death during the band’s concert at Wembley Stadium slipped on spilled beer before plummeting from a balcony, his father has claimed.
Landscape gardener Lee Claydon, 45, tumbled from the venue’s upper tier during the sell-out gig for 100,000 spectators in North London on Saturday evening.
The father-of-one from Bournemouth died at the scene despite medics battling to save his life in front of horrified fans as the band finished off the concert.
Now, his father Clive Claydon, 75, has revealed the circumstances, telling The Sun: ‘There was beer all over the floor, it was really slippery, and Lee just slipped and fell.
‘I’ve been told that it was an accident waiting to happen. It was a horrible, horrible accident. All I really know is there was beer everywhere, he slipped.
‘We don’t know the rest of it. I wasn’t there so I don’t know what happened, but it will all come out. I am so devastated. I can’t understand how it happened.
‘I’ve never been to Wembley, but you would expect the health and safety to be good. He has never taken drugs in his life and he may have had a beer, who doesn’t at a concert? But he certainly was not drunk. I want answers from Wembley.’
Mr Claydon also told the PA news agency: ‘He was a lovely bloke, loved to be with his family – a hard-working family man, he loved his kid, looked after them really well.’
He added: ‘He had everything going for him. I am so devastated, I have been to the doctor for tablets and everything to get over it.’
Oasis fan Lee Claydon, who died in a fall at Wembley, is pictured with his partner Amanda
Lee Claydon, pictured with his partner Amanda, tumbled from the upper tier during the concert
He said that his son, who was set to go on holiday with his family soon to Turkey, had gone to the concert with his brother and his brother’s children, might have had a ‘couple of beers’ but had not taken any drugs.
Mr Claydon said: ‘He doesn’t take drugs, he may have had a couple of beers but who hadn’t there, people have said horrible things but it was just an accident.’
Mr Claydon said that he was concerned about the safety measures at Wembley but added his son’s brother and family had not seen the accident happen.
‘It must have been horrific,’ he said. ‘All I know is there was beer everywhere, it’s slippery, he slipped apparently, we do not know the rest of it, there’s questions about the barriers.’
He added: ‘Of all the thousands of people there, it had to be my son.’
In a statement issued over the weekend, Liam and Noel Gallagher said they were ‘shocked and saddened’ by the incident.
Mr Claydon’s cousin Shannon Robbie said she was sure he was having the time of his life before tragedy struck.
She added: ‘You just don’t fathom you will go out for a night of amazing fun and not come home at the end of it.’
And Mr Claydon’s brother Aaron described him as ‘the man I have always looked up to’.
The Gallagher brothers walk on to the Wembley Stadium stage holding hands on July 26
Writing on a GoFundMe page set up to support Mr Claydon’s grieving partner Amanda and family, he wrote: ‘Lee was a loving family man who was a role model to his son Harry and was loved so much by all his family.
‘Lee would have done anything for any of us and was taken far too soon.
‘Please help us raise as much funds as we can to take one worry off Amanda and family right now as they are going through any family’s worst nightmare.’
A witness told the Daily Mail that they heard screams after Mr Claydon, who police said was in his 40s, fell in the ‘horrendous’ incident.
They added: ‘The guy fell from a balcony. Paramedics came rushing over. There was a lot of screaming and shouting.
‘It was a big fall. God knows how it happened. It was so tragic. I don’t know how on Earth it happened. It was heartbreaking. He was only young.’
It is understood Mr Claydon fell at the end of the show as fireworks were set off after Oasis played Champagne Supernova.
Another fan witnessed paramedics trying to revive him after he had hit the concrete floor.
They said: ‘At first glance I thought it was a coat falling from the above tier but then I looked and saw the bloke on the concrete. It was horrific.’
The first night of Oasis performing at Wembley Stadium in North London on July 25
The band added: ‘Oasis would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person involved.’
Sunday night’s show went ahead as planned with frontman Liam appearing to reference the tragedy before performing their hit Live Forever.
He told the crowd: ‘This one’s for all the people who can’t be here tonight, but who are here if you know what I mean. And ain’t they looking lovely.’
Former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys, who had been at Wembley to watch Oasis, said he was shocked at the amount of alcohol fans were drinking.
He wrote on social media: ‘I heard about this last night. It’s so sad. Thoughts are with the family.
‘The cause was the massive amount of alcohol allowed into the arena. I was astounded to see it. It wouldn’t happen at a football match. It shouldn’t happen at a concert.’
It comes as a woman who witnessed a man falling from an upper level at Wembley Stadium four years ago questioned whether lessons were learned from the incident.
Stephanie Good, 39, said she watched a man fall from the stands during a Euros football match between England and Croatia in 2021.
The man, named as Jon, reportedly survived but suffered two broken ankles and femur and a fractured pelvis just before kick-off.
Mrs Good said she was shocked to discover another incident had happened at the arena, when a man in his 40s died after falling from a height during the Oasis reunion concert on Saturday.
She said: ‘When this happened the other day, I thought: ‘That’s so similar to what happened when we were there and it’s four years ago’. It makes me wonder, were lessons learned?
‘No-one really knows what came out of their investigation into the guy who fell at the football and whether there’s anything more they could have done.
‘It felt like it wasn’t being taken all that seriously.’
Describing the 2021 incident, Mrs Good said the man ‘fell from the upper tier and landed in the stairwell between rows of seats’.
‘Me and my group were at the end of that row, so he landed right next to us,’ she said.
‘We didn’t realise he’d fallen until he landed, we heard this almighty bang, and looked around, and he was rolling down the steps and then landed against the wall at the bottom of the steps.’
Mrs Good added: ‘I think he was trying to attach a flag on to the front of the stand or something, and he’d somehow managed to fall straight over.
‘The thing that really stood out for us was the inadequacy of the emergency response – nobody seemed to know what to do.
‘They didn’t seem well-trained in terms of how to respond to a really big emergency.
‘Their stewards were kind of paralysed a little bit by fear, or they just weren’t well-trained and didn’t know how to call for paramedics.
Lee Claydon, pictured with Amanda, died at the scene despite medics battling to save his life
‘It was us who were sort of shouting at them that they needed to get some paramedics.
‘The first person on the scene wasn’t a stadium paramedic or St John Ambulance. It was an off-duty firefighter who had seen the guy fall and ran down to just try and offer some help.
‘When the paramedics turned up, they put sheets around him to give him medical treatment. And then a bunch of people, who I assume were stadium management, turned up – stereotypical men in suits.
‘Initially, there was no-one really helping, so it was left to fans to keep people away from him and try and get some help.’
A spokeswoman for St John Ambulance said the charity was not the first aid provider for the event.
Mrs Good, an NHS manager who lives in east London, said staff moved people to other seats but did not ask for witness statements.
She added: ‘They didn’t seek any input from people who’d seen the incident or the aftermath of it. They didn’t seem interested in speaking to anybody about it.
Lee Claydon (pictured with partner Amanda) was described as a ‘hard-working family man’
‘I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the emergency response was really lacking.’
Mrs Good said she then tried to get in touch with the stadium to give feedback, but was unable to do so and did not receive a response to a message on social media.
A physiotherapist who first helped the man following his fall said he was never contacted by Wembley stewards after the incident – which he found ‘pretty poor’.
Paul Hunter, 53, from Croydon, London, said Jon was lucky to be alive when he found him.
He said: ‘When I came around the corner and saw him lying on the floor, before I looked at his face, I thought: ‘He’s got to be dead. He has to be dead falling from there.’
‘And then to see him conscious and breathing, it was incredible.’
Mr Hunter was reminded of the fall when he read about the news the Oasis fan had died.
He said: ‘I can’t remember exactly where we were, but it looked pretty identical in terms of the location.’
Mr Hunter said he heard shouting – which he found strange as the game had not yet started and the arena was not at full capacity – and then calls that someone had fallen.
As a former professional football physiotherapist trained in dealing with trauma, he decided to help.
Mr Hunter said he saw the man lying on his back and realised how far he had fallen, which he guessed to be about 10ft.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the family of Oasis fan Lee Claydon, pictured
He saw he had significant injuries and helped the first responders to stabilise the man.
Mr Hunter said: ‘The stewards took my name and number down, but I never heard anything from Wembley, which I thought was pretty poor, really.
‘I did phone up Wembley the week after, to say that I helped out, and just wanted to get an update on how the guy was. I never heard anything.’
He said he would have expected to have heard from the stadium following the incident.
Mr Hunter said: ‘The stewards around knew what I’d done, and (I was first) on the scene. I thought someone would have contacted me.’
He thinks Wembley should consider making changes to the stands and include additional safety features.
Mr Hunter said: ‘To have one accident’s unfortunate, I can understand that. But now someone’s died from it.’
The Health and Safety Executive has been informed.
The Metropolitan Police are asking for anyone who witnessed the incident, or have mobile phone footage, to come forward.
Mr Claydon is understood to have fallen at the end of the gig while fireworks were being set off
In a statement the force said: ‘A man – aged in his 40s – was found with injuries consistent with a fall. He was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
‘The stadium was busy and we believe it is likely a number of people witnessed the incident, or may knowingly or unknowingly have caught it on mobile phone video footage.
‘If you have any information that could help us to confirm what happened, please call 101.’
The fall happened during the latest in a run of stadium shows for the band’s sell-out Live ’25 reunion tour – their first since splitting in 2009.
A spokesperson for Wembley Stadium said: ‘Last night, Wembley Stadium medics, the London Ambulance Service and the police attended to a concert-goer who was found with injuries consistent with a fall.
‘Despite their efforts, the fan very sadly died. Our thoughts go out to his family, who have been informed and are being supported by specially trained police officers.
‘The police have asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them. Tonight’s Oasis concert will go ahead as planned.’
In a later statement, a spokesperson for Wembley Stadium said: ‘Wembley Stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.
‘We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.’
The fall happened during a run of stadium shows for the band’s sell-out Live ’25 reunion tour – their first since splitting in 2009.
Oasis said in a statement: ‘We are shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of a fan at the show. Oasis would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the person involved.’
