Definitely, maybe time to take a rest, says Noel

Noel Gallagher said last night he is bored with Oasis and is looking forward to taking a long break after the band's world tour has ended. In an interview with The Irish Times before last night's sell-out concert at Dublin's Point Theatre, the guitarist and composer of the band's hits said:

"I think everybody's getting a bit bored with Oasis. I know they're getting bored with me and Liam (Gallagher, Oasis singer and Noel's younger brother). I think it's time to give it a rest, give the fans some time off from us."

Gallagher was reluctant to predict the future of Oasis, but stressed that he had no intention of breaking up the band; however, he didn't envisage the group releasing another album until sometime after the millennium.

Last night's concert was the first of three sold-out gigs at Dublin's Point Theatre, and 8,000 loyal fans gathered to watch the Manchester/ Irish band in full flight.

The stage set featured a high, brightly-lit dome, under which stood a giant clock, a giant telephone box and part of a Rolls Royce. The band were loud, confident and extremely competent and bad-boy Liam behaved impeccably throughout, asking the audience, "Have you been good? Well, that's nice to hear". The show climaxed in a blazing rendition of All Around The World, a ten-minute epic anthem which featured a locally-hired brass section.

Noel rejected claims that Oasis's current album, Be Here Now, was a letdown. But he admitted the band would never scale again the commercial and critical heights of last year, which saw it selling more than 10 million copies of its second album, What's The Story (Morning Glory?), and playing to 250,000 people at Knebworth.

"It's not as exciting any more, it's more like work. It used to be exciting when we never knew if Liam was going to show up, but it probably wasn't exciting for the fans who had paid money to see us.

"This may be the first time Oasis have ever completed an entire world tour, bar one date in Paris when the truck drivers were on strike."