After declaring that he would leave Anfield, and then changing his mind, Gerrard showed no sign of relinquishing his grasp of the summer headlines - slotting home after just seven minutes as The Reds failed to run up the rugby score that some had predicted.
There was a sense of inevitability when John Arne Riise cut inside ominously and fired a low ball across the box.
Anthony Le Tallec and Fernando Morientes took touches, but it was captain Steven Gerrard - buoyed by the very voices that had been left angered by his decision to go and mollified by his about turn - that was in the right place to slot neatly home for the opener.
It should have been two six minutes later; Gerrard clean through but not quite capable of beating Ged Doherty and Morientes surprised by the goalkeeper's spritely recovery to clear the rebound off his feet.
If the Spaniard was under any illusion that he was in what amounted to a pre-season match, an awful challenge by Phil Baker reminded him that the Liverpudlian-dominated TNS side were not merely awaiting the chance of a post-match souvenir when shirts were swapped.
Mike Wilde was given a chance to warm debutant Jose Reina's hands when Xabi Alonso clumsily presented him with the ball, and Morientes gave a note of warning with a header that was only narrowly over.
Seconds later and the second goal finally came, Gerrard again on hand to canter clear of the defence before calmly lobbing Doherty to double their advantage.
The TNS keeper produced another fine reaction save when a mis-hit Riise shot was headed towards goal by Le Tallec, and denied Morientes for a second time as he was put clean through with a flowing move.
Two goals was never likely to appease a crowd hungry for goals after the summer lay-off - however truncated it may have been - and the slow start to the second half did not help.
Bolo Zenden was handed his competitive debut to try to mix things up but it failed to fire Liverpool, and only the arrival of Djibril Cisse finally brought some bite.
The French striker was given a wide role and immediately injected pace, unlucky not to keep the ball in when his cut-back for Le Tallec was converted.
Morientes had two quickfire chances, denied by a fine challenge from Michael Jackson for the first and not finding the target with the second - but the final word belonged to Gerrard - already worming his way back into the affections of a Liverpool faithful that may not tolerate another summer such as this.
The captain was given far too much space and, with the crowd already rising to celebrate, dispatched a low drive accurately into the left hand corner to seal his hat-trick.
They may not be dancing on the streets of Total Network Solutions after this defeat, but they gave a good account of themselves and once more the Kop were left saluting a player that can quickly become their hero once more.