With a drunken shove, Danny Sullivan, a contractor from Pickering, Ont., pitched British rock star Noel Gallagher into a bank of amplifiers and speakers, and catapulted himself into instant, worldwide notoriety.
Now it's almost time for Mr. Sullivan to face the music, at a sentencing hearing this morning at downtown Toronto's Old City Hall courthouse.
In September, he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. His lawyer, John Collins, said yesterday that in light of his client's otherwise "exemplary" record, he would be seeking a conditional, non-custodial sentence.
The broad facts of the incident on Sept. 7, 2008, during the two-day Virgin Music Festival on the Toronto Islands, are not in dispute.
Oasis was the headline act, and it was just after 10 p.m. when Mr. Gallagher, the band's songwriter and lead guitarist, struck up the opening chords of monster 1995 hit (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
That's when the intoxicated Mr. Sullivan made his unscripted appearance.
What happened next was captured on video cameras, in images that swiftly made their way onto the Internet.
The clips show Mr. Sullivan, now 48, running across the stage toward Mr. Gallagher and violently pushing him from behind. Mr. Gallagher fell forward, striking one of the speaker cabinets facing the audience. Three security guards grabbed Mr. Sullivan, who was held backstage until police arrived.
X-rays taken at Toronto General Hospital the next day showed no obvious fractures, but a CT scan in London, Ont., on Sept. 22 revealed three broken ribs. Mr. Gallagher said it took him about eight months to fully recover.
Today's sentencing hearing will be before Judge Richard Schneider.