THE AUDIENCE were going mad for it when Liam Gallagher took to the stage last night.

The former lead singer of the legendary Oasis has been keen to shake off the link to his former band since their acrimonious split in 2009, but playing at the place which is rumoured to have given the band their name made it a difficult task.

As a huge fan of Oasis I was ecstatic at the prospect of seeing Liam rock the stage in Swindon, an intimate venue Oasis would never have dreamed of visiting.

But if I closed my eyes during the intro to Millionaire, then opened them to look around at the audience with their sheepskin coats and Mod-inspired hairstyles, I could have been back in the late 1990s when Oasis were in their prime.

Liam still has his Mancunian swagger. Wearing a green duffle coat, he looked more than comfortable on stage with all eyes focused on him – something I think he has enjoyed all his career.

He and the other band members – guitarist Gem Archer and guitarist Andy Bell (both former members of Oasis), joined by drummer and percussionist Chris Sharrock, who played with Oasis during their last tour in 2008, before they broke up – helped send Beady Eye’s debut album, Different Gear, Still Speeding, to number three in the UK charts.

The die-hard Oasis fans at last night’s gig – mostly men in their 30s and 40s – didn’t seem to miss Liam’s older brother, Noel, Oasis’s chief songwriter who walked out on the band in August 2009.

Between each song came the chant of ‘Liam, Liam, Liam’, to which he simply replied ‘Swindon’.

He belted out the big hits – The Roller, Four Letter Word and Bring The Light – all songs showing the band’s transition from 1990s Brit Pop and their attempt to put their own stamp on things.

Liam has never hidden where his musical influences come from and they are more than obvious in the song Beatles and Stones which, judging by the reaction it got last night, is sure to be a hit.

Liam acknowledged that “I’m the last of a dying breed” in the song A Beat Goes On, but looking at the thousands who packed into the Oasis, that breed is still going strong.

Whether Beady Eye stand the test of time has yet to be seen, but if those old Oasis fans and all the new Beady Eye ones have anything to do with in, the beat will go on and on.