Of all the 1990s indie bands trading in tours for the nostalgic, Black Grape must be one of the most surprising. Disbanded in 1998 when notoriously chaotic singer Shaun Ryder opted to sack everyone, there were reasonable grounds to suspect this semi-reunion might have been incoherent.

In stark contrast to the beer-hoisting swagger of a packed and adoring crowd, though, Ryder - sipping a bottle of water - appeared to have achieved the improbable trick of reversing the ageing process, his dry poetry and ranting lyrics irrepressible against tight funk and baggy guitars.

Alongside gravel-voiced wordsmith Kermit Leveridge, Ryder has signed Black Grape to revered label Creation for a 20th anniversary celebration of It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, an album whose legend they did hugely entertaining justice to here. In The Name Of The Father, in which the former hedonist namechecks bongo poo-poo and Neil Armstrong's testicles against some faux-exotic grooves and a rap interlude, remained effortlessly anthemic, while his lambasting of celebrity culture, Kelly's Heroes, sounded positively prophetic.

Ryder's remarks between the hits, alas, were almost entirely indecipherable. But on this form, his forthcoming tour with former crew the Happy Mondays will be triumphant for the man synonymous with Madchester.

Four stars