Ian Brown

"I-AN BROWN I-AN BROWN, I-AN BROWWWN?"

You'd be forgiven for thinking tonight's audience came straight from the football, as they stand their waiting for their very own indie messiah. Their man, who has also been freshly reacquainted with his Roses back catalogue. It's not a place for the fey of indie - the ratio of beered up blokes to womankind is around 50 - 1 and you will get trampled in the bar scrum at least five times before the end, but? it will at least be followed by a pilled-up fraternal hug. You can feel the love in the room.

From when the mystic knuckle scraper does appear to the strains of 'Solarized' onwards, it's as if he can do no wrong: it's like the inside of the sun in the Brixton Academy but nobody bats an eyelid to the fact that he's wearing two coats - one of them leopard skin. This is mainly because we're waiting for the golden peals of guitar tunes past, and when his band jangle into 'Sally Cinnamon' we party like it's 1989.

Always a reviewer's duty to make note of the man's singing, it mercifully looks like he's taken a night off the funny cigarettes as he's pretty much note perfect until 'Made of Stone', when only the mass singalong helpfully covers any lapses into bellowing. There's a slight thinning in the capacity crowd as he hits the solo material-heavy second half of the set, but songs like 'Golden Gaze' holds their own, despite being played back-to-back with 'Waterfall'. It doesn't all go to plan - if Noel Gallagher does appear when he's announced for 'Keep What Ya Got' he's got his inviso-coat on and let's be honest, Ian dances like your uncle; but when 'I Wanna Be Adored' finally ends and he milks the rabid applause you can't help leaving with a smile on your face. The song may be 15 years old but tonight, Matthew, he got his wish.