Warwick Castle dates back to the 12th century and is a popular attraction packed with historical artefacts. The best-known tunes of Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr date back to the 20th century, and their set lists at this enjoyable outdoor show – blessed with genuine summer weather – were packed with historical artefacts too.

If only opening act The Waeve, fronted by Graham Coxon and partner Rose Elinor Dougall, had read the script and thrown in a few Blur tunes, opting instead to concentrate on material from their own two albums. Despite going on less than 30 minutes after the gates opened, the tight outfit drew a decent crowd who could hardly fail to have been impressed by tunes that sounded stronger, heavier and (whisper it) proggier on stage than on record.

The bar set, Johnny Marr – I’ll skirt round the adjective that appears on his tee shirts and even a tea towel at the merch stand – duly hurdled it with ease, with a perfectly pitched set primarily made up of tunes from his solo albums and gems from The Smiths back catalogue. He also found time for an Iggy Pop cover (The Passenger) and cracking version of Getting Away With It from brief 1980s side project Electronic, but tunes written with Steven Patrick Morrissey undoubtedly drew the most phones, biggest cheers and loudest singalongs. Those lights will never go out.

There will always be Noel Gallagher fans who only come to hear Oasis tunes (Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want indeed), and while he undoubtedly remains a prisoner of that past – and the constant calls to reunite with his sibling – to his credit he ploughs on regardless, albeit with a nod to tunes he wrote 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago. Do you need a moment?

That acknowledgment has become more significant in recent times – and certainly at these type of bigger gigs – with the show seeing an almost precise 50/50 split between High Flying Birds (HFB) and Oasis material. But if the set list was a game of two halves, then so was the performance, Gallagher effectively playing a HFB show followed by an Oasis one rather than weave (sorry Graham) old tunes in among the new. It’s a risky venture when the crowd is stacked with fans impatient for the oldies but worked well in Warwick, where the audience appreciated the likes of If I Had a Gun..., AKA... What a Life! and Dead in the Water almost as much as Talk Tonight, The Masterplan and Half The World Away. The latter were all B-sides back in the day, but Gallagher and his huge backing band brought their A game to all three, as well as Little By Little, Whatever and finale Don’t Look Back In Anger.

The title is either prophetic or a moot point but Gallagher senior seems as relaxed as ever with his lot – the dour humour of his between song banter, particularly when admonishing fan requests, is still great value – and while the tunes might no longer have the anger or energy of his youth, some may very well Live Forever.

4 stars
Reviewed by Steve Adams at Warwick Castle on Sunday 21 July.