A denim jacket, some trousers and assorted underwear land on stage. The jacket even flies across the crowd to drape itself over the microphone. A tambourine skims the air the other way into the audience; seems like a fair enough exchange! Wake up Ulster, the Gallagher brothers are back in Belfast. We're watching a Lancashire band with an aggressive, cocky singer and a way of strutting and snarling that lights up the crowd more than the arc lights, a quieter and more mellow songwriter, softer, trying for a little of the limelight that 'our kid' has always hogged. You've loved the new album and heard a drummer whose name is Starkey. It's hard not to think of the Beatles. That's especially the case for those of us who were never lucky enough to see the Fab Four, but Lennon and McCartney's 21st century dopplegangers are onstage, as swirling sounds with more than a nod to Paul, John, George and Ringo dominate the 10,000 punters who have come from across the Province to punch the air and sing along with their heroes.

Some singers try to be cool; Liam Gallagher doesn't do trying; he just is. If John Lennon were still alive, he'd want to be Liam Gallagher.

Liam asks: "Is anyone here from Yugoslavia" and instantly we all crave to be. He tells off a small section of a potentially quite aggressive crowd for pushing about a bit: "It's Christmas; there's no need to be fightin' lads" and he dedicates Live Forever to another hero: "This one's for Georgie Best". He has the mostly male crowd in the palm of his hand, as they are from the moment the band comes on stage, for the first night of two sell-out gigs, with an electric edge of danger to them. That's rock and roll.
Oasis' first visit to Belfast saw them playing the Limelight to a small and select crowd, as they got their first number one. Now they are solidly sold for two nights at the Odyssey, as the venue celebrates its fifth birthday and we wonder how we functioned before the first class venue came into being. Northern Ireland is definitely on the musical map. Tickets are changing hands for £75 at the door, on the promise of the best band in the UK being back in form again with new album, Don't Believe the Truth, fulfilling its living-room promise.

New tracks including crowd pleaser Lyla and Importance of Being Idle blend seamlessly with songs that have mellowed and matured into classics: Cigarettes and Alcohol; Don't Look Back in Anger; Morning Glory and the operatic hymn that is Champagne Supernova. And the crowd sings along to every line, managing to punch the air and drink pints simultaneously. Respect! Rock 'n' Roll Star opens the encore and finally Oasis' polished take on The Who's My Generation sends thousands of people, who weren't born when it was first a hit, home happy.
At one point Noel has asked if it's anyone's 'first time'. If it was, what a baptism! Don't listen to the armchair critics who wrote them off recently; just ask the tens of thousands who'll sing every note perfectly on their short December tour that's already been to Cardiff and Glasgow, with Dublin to come tomorrow and Thursday. Mad for it Manchester siblings; you ain't ever gonna burn my heart out.

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