OASIS made a welcome return to Manchester over the weekend, with Noel Gallagher making a shock admission.

"I'm getting too old for this," he declared, pausing for a split second before strumming the first few chords of Oasis's latest single, Little By Little.

Noel had been anxiously looking out at the mass of bodies packed into Lancashire County Cricket Club, who were jumping up and down and chanting the name of his band.

Yet, while his remark was most definitely tongue-in-cheek, some in the music business would agree with him.

At the age of 35, he's certainly no spring chicken -- he is a veritable old-timer in an industry that is becoming younger by the year.

But the 50,000 or so Liam Gallagher-lookalikes on the cricket pitch at Old Trafford told a different story.

For them, Oasis's recent "best live band" accolades were spot on

We had the heart-stopping concerts at Finsbury Park in London a couple of months ago, but this was even better.

Oasis were back home for two spectacular gigs -- and yesterday the crowd were loving every minute of it.

That's because Oasis are back to their best. Their latest material may not be as good as their first two album classics, Definitely Maybe and What's The Story Morning Glory, but they have perfected the art of performing live and selecting the very best anthems from their now ample back catalogue.

Never mind that the set see-saws from rousing ballads such as Stop Crying Your Heart Out to the full-on rock of Columbia, the fans watching the show are just as unpredictable: one minute they're throwing bottles at each other and the next they're swaying in unison and clapping their hands like grannies in the Stars In Their Eyes studio.

What the crowd appreciate most of all are the songs they can sing. And sing they do.

Noel is often criticised for his lack of stage presence, looking like he's been frozen on the spot, while Liam is accused of failing to interact with good-natured fans and appears to prowl around like he's just killing time.

But the thing is, neither has to do much since the ground work has already been done. They belt out songs they wrote months and years ago -- and the crowd sing along. Simple.

Classics such as Morning Glory, Cigarettes and Alcohol and She's Electric are met with frantic dancing, which mainly consists of jumping up and down on the spot while grabbing hold of the nearest person to avoid toppling over.

The more sedate Don't Look Back In Anger is greeted with a huge amount of arm waving.

Hits from their latest album, Heathen Chemistry, also hit the spot. Hung in a Bad Place, in particular, drives the crowd wild.

Afterwards, the fans either trudged home satisfied they'd had a brilliant night -- which included strong support from ex-Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft -- or they went to sleep under the nearest burger van.

Either way, for the fans who made it to Old Trafford over the weekend, both nights will be remembered for many years to come. Roll on Liverpool in December...