Spirited out of the studio

Otherwise, his current Acoustic Mainlines tour is as daring as the 41-year-old has ever been used to hiding himself in the studio among elaborate washes of sound, and on stage beneath roaring squalls of guitar, here he had just a keyboardist, a string quartet and three gospel singers, and room at last for his magnificent songs to breathe.

A near-death experience may have prompted this re-evaluation of the way he works. Two years ago, some time after the lacklustre garage rock of last album Amazing Grace, Pierce was hospitalised with double pneumonia and had to be revived twice by doctors.

But here he was, looking healthy and allowing his voice to be exposed as never before, a rich yet vulnerable instrument that somehow made a perfect connection with the powerful, trained pipes of his backing singers.

He touched on his recent troubles on new track Death Take Your Fiddle, a bleak folk song that sounded as if it could have been written a hundred years ago. Though even without white tunnels on death beds, Pierce has been talking to God throughout his long career, his limited lyrical palette often sounding as if it comes from the Fridge Poetry Set: Drugs and Jesus Edition.

Here he played Lord, Can You Hear Me? and a gorgeous, stripped-down Walking With Jesus, and even gospel classic Oh Happy Day. In this intimate setting even the songs about girls sounded deeply spiritual. With such a beautiful, revitalised sound and the good health to be able to perform it, Britain's most withdrawn star must have been secretly overjoyed to be back in the spotlight.

Spiritualized: Acoustic
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Green, W12 8TT