There was a brief pause last night when Noel Gallagher simply stopped singing and absorbed the moment as the crowd rattled out Don't Look Back In Anger in perfect harmony inside a giant circus tent on the Town Moor. It may have been the day of the Blaydon Race but Gallagher had other anthems in his thoughts, and not one Geordie minded on a glorious night in Toon.
With the Jubilee behind us, a national treasure took to the stage in a tent with a backdrop of cows and grass, and reeled off the best of the High Flying Birds and seven Oasis bangers including Wonderwall and Whatever - and the thing is, it was absolutely sensational.
The Geordie masses chanted "Toon, Toon - black and white army" to the semi-approval of the former Oasis star with sons and daughters held aloft on the shoulders of mams and dads as the Rock N Roll Circus genuinely hit the heights. As one roadie back stage put it: "Nowhere can party like Newcastle can they?"
We'd already had an exceptional set from Walker lad Andrew Cushin who walked on and off stage draped in a black and white flag and cheekily posed in front of Noel's Manchester City crested changing room before declaring that his appearance at the gig was his "most prestigious" of his career so far. Cushin watched on from the front of the stage like the rest of the Tyneside crowd in sheer awe of Gallagher as he belted out the classics.
The Charlatans delivered the great night they'd promised in last week's exclusive interview with the Chronicle with a storming set that included The Only One I Know, How High and Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over. Before Gallagher entered the stage the crowd were warmed up further by Australian duo Confidence Man.
The Chief arrived on stage at 8.44pm last night with the crowd already jumping as he entered the arena. He played High Flying Birds hits Fort Knox, Holy Mountain, Keep on Reaching, It's a Beautiful World, She Taught Me How to Fly, Wandering Star and Rattling Rose.
Gallagher himself admitted that his aim wasn't just to churn out the hits these days but made it clear that the price of the ticket (with some fans paying up to £80 for VIP tickets) demanded he must. However, he was never in danger of letting the fans down, with some seeing Gallagher in the flesh for the first time ever.
We all know Oasis own the 1990s and beyond but it is remarkable to see how many kids were on hand to pay homage to the Manchester rocker. Although, given the back catalogue of era defining classics to his name, should anybody really be surprised?
Putting aside Oasis for a moment, Gallagher's High Flying Birds Stuff stands alone as excellent in its own right, or at least that felt like the case when the emotive We're On Our Way captured the post-lockdown mood beneath the big top last night. But then came the flurry of hits that most fans had paid the money for.
Little by Little was followed by Importance of being Idle before 1994 top three hit Whatever (a track which amazingly never even made an album if you ever wanted to understand the true class of Oasis) really got the crowd going. Gallagher pretty much took a breather as the crowd serenaded him with his own anthem Wonderwall before Half the World Away and Stop Crying Your Heart Out rounded off the bulk of the set.
The encore included three songs If I Had a Gun and What a Life! before the grand finale of Don't Look Back in Anger. After the show, a privileged handful sneaked back stage access to meet Gallagher.
It may have been a muddy field, the weather hadn't exactly been good - but we'd been in the company of greatness on a never to be forgotten night.
