"Obviously this is Glastonbury weekend, are you fed up you're not there?" said Jarvis Cocker, pointedly launching into Heavy Weather from his excellent solo album.

The clamorous response suggested the South Bank - not Somerset - was the place to be. And when the screaming and shouting continued between songs, Cocker's status as an unlikely pin-up and national treasure became apparent.

"You think I'm 'all right'? Well, there's always room for improvement," was his witty reply to one female fan's controlled adulation.

As this year's Meltdown festival curator, the former Pulp frontman rounded it off himself with a wilfully chaotic set. And his commendable stewardship has seen Iggy Pop stagedive at the Royal Festival Hall and Pete Doherty performing Chim Chim Cher-ee from Mary Poppins. "That was something to behold," said Cocker of the Disney night.

So was this finale, though not adorned with star guests or highfalutinmusical concepts (apart from the baffling Czech gothic fantasy film with live soundtrack that preceded Cocker).

He did get the London Chamber Orchestra and a choir to add gravitas to a few tunes, including the twisted torch song I Will Kill Again, while former bandmate Candida Doyle played keyboards on a slightly tuneless From A to I.

But this was essentially An Evening with Jarvis: funny, entertaining and with an unpredictable, punkish energy that dragged you to your feet.

That was most evident during the murky glam rock of Black Magic, when he smashed a microphone stand, writhed around and, hilariously, emptied a bottle of water over himself.

There were no Pulp songs, but it didn't matter when you could experience Cocker crooning the xylophone ballad Baby's Coming Back to Me and - after two false starts - the moody Disney Time. "This has been quite an amazing week for me," he said.

Apparently, the only way to end it was with an unironic, air-punching cover of Eye of the Tiger from Rocky III, with Cocker protecting a dancing stage invader from the venue's bouncers.

At his own festival, that was a fitting moment of triumph for this gangly pop legend.