Former Oasis frontman and general rock‘n’roll star Liam Gallagher’s summer run of shows is completed at Cardiff Bay’s open-air venue Alexandra Head, where he is met by an enraptured, bucket-hatted, beer-fuelled crowd. Pastel, The Charlatans, and DJ sets from Huw Stephens and Paul Gallagher precede the headliner.

Following a montage of Gallagher performing over the years, overlayed with words such as ‘godlike’, ‘legend’, ‘icon’, and ‘omnipresent’, the vocalist enters dressed in a camouflage rain mac, to the sound of the crowd chanting his name.

Gallagher kicks off his Cardiff set with three Oasis hits: Morning Glory, Hello, and Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, raising the already high energy at Cardiff Bay. Between songs, Gallagher jokes with the crowd – “Do we have any Oasis fans here?” he asks at one point – and the rest of his setlist oscillates between Oasis tracks and his solo work. Favourites from the latter canon deployed include 2017’s Wall Of Glass and recent numbers C’mon You Know and World’s In Need; the audience, meanwhile, are warned to “get to know” his new album, because “it rocks”. It seems most here don’t need the prompting, already familiar with his current music as they sing along with arms raised.

Cigarettes And Alcohol prove another unsurprising crowd favourite, and smoke flares go off as Gallagher addresses Slide Away to “all the love birds”. His performance of 2019 track Once, co-penned with Andrew Wyatt, is a moving moment, with a sea of Gallagher fans joining in on the emotional lyrics.

The end of Gallagher’s set in Cardiff is teased in the form of highly anticipated Oasis treasures Supersonic and Wonderwall – “the worst song ever” in his, surely insincere, words – followed by a bolt from the stage. A swift return, as demanded by chanting fans, brings an encore performance of Oasis’ first ever top 10 single Live Forever and …Morning Glory closing track Champagne Supernova, a huge seller in its day and still one of Oasis’ most loved tracks 27 years later. Suffice it to say it leaves the crowd satisfied as they flood out of the arena in high spirits.

Liam Gallagher, Alexandra Head, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 15 Sept

words EVE DAVIES photos EMMA LEWIS