LOOKING back it seems quite apt that brothers Liam and Noel chose to call their band Oasis. It was at one point, of course, entitled Rain and had there been a downpour on that superlative Saturday night of rock 'n' roll then that too would have been fitting. Yet as any hint of drizzle was about as far removed as any chance of Robbie Williams turning up to perform a few supporting numbers, Oasis -- according to the dictionary, a fertile spot in a desert -- truly lived up to their name. Today's music scene is a mish mash of boy bands, teenage girls and dancers-cum-singers-cum-cover artists.

But in this sparse land of empty, shallow nonsense are a band that, while being admittedly non-prolific over the past few years, have certainly made up for that with some of the most anthemic, catchy and spine tingling tunes known to man.

Want proof of their success and their popularity? One only had to sit and soak up the atmosphere from within the stadium.

An argumentative couple from Newcastle sat in the West Stand -- where incidentally it was quite difficult to hear what Liam was saying between songs -- and continually blamed each other for what seemed like the whole of the world's ills.

But once Oasis stormed into Go Let It Out they stopped their quarrelling and stared, then sang and then commented that they were seeing "the best band in the world".

While it is difficult to quantify who is the best -- one man's cup of tea is another man's Britney Spears -- there was no mistaking that Oasis' gloriously successful attempts to rock the Reebok was working.

And even before the whole thing was under way there was that air of expectation.

Asda was awash with fans dressed in anything from the £14 T-shirts on-sale at kiosks around the ground to Manchester City tops.

One didn't need to even look at their dress sense, though. To spot an Oasis fan at the Middlebrook retail park, a good eye for supermarket carrier bags splitting at the seams with cans of beer was all that was needed.

It must have been a culture shock for the hordes of shoppers. They are used to football fans milling towards the futuristic structure that is Bolton Wanderers' home.

They're not used to people relieving themselves in supermarket sinks or playing the beautiful game of football in the car park -- if music must take pride of place within the Reebok then it appears the soccer must find a new home.

Thoughts of whether Liam and Noel would both turn up, of whether Liam would mention Patsy, of whether the band would display that delicious arrogance that made them so famous were not in anyone's minds.

The atmosphere in the stands was one of pure enjoyment as fans soaked up every guitar-play by Johnny Marrs' Healers and every mistake by Shaun Ryder.

"Who are you?" they chanted at a bloke who had decided to scale the heady heights of a speaker stand, putting a temporary halt to the concert. Liam shouted obscenities at the man before he was bungled away fighting by the security bods.

"Yeeeaaaah!" they screamed as Liam rolled off his tongue the name of yet another old Oasis favourite from a selection which included Cigarettes and Alcohol, Shakermaker, Live Forever, Acquiesce, Stand By Me and Rock 'n' Roll Star.

And how they sang along to every single word, jumped up and down to each beat and air guitared through all of the instrumentals.

The joy on the faces made it is easy to see why football has insisted on calling its seating areas stands.

Who would sit down while such eternal quality songs as Don't Look Back In Anger and Wonderwall were being blasted at top volume?

Not I. Not the crowd. This was something special.

It was Oasis in Bolton for the first time. It was Liam and Noel together at their absolute best.

And it was the band's songs performed with the tightest guitar playing yet.

Would the crowd want them back? Were they mad for more concerts at the Reebok?

Definitely. And there's no maybe about it.