Amid the current trend for comebacks, Ian Brown is a reunion refusenik: he's missing out on a potential fortune by declining to get The Stone Roses back together.

He didn't stint on the classic tunes by his former band, though, opening with a joyous I Wanna Be Adored.

Brown's simian gait - he's known as King Monkey - and wayward vocal were also very familiar, while his survival instinct is remarkable. The World Is Yours is his fifth album and his entertaining conspiracy theory lyrics remain intact.

But the Mancunian has clearly mellowed. He stopped the show at one point to teach us his dance moves, and he requested a round of applause for the band and his "little boy" watching upstairs.

Brown's voice is always a problem: on some songs, he croaked like a man who'd recently emerged from a general anaesthetic, obliterating his band's electro-funk grooves.

Overall, though, Brown overcame his lack of vocal eloquence and made you realise that he's released a run of fantastic singles, from the sleepy euphoria of his debut My Star to the squelchy Golden Gaze and the current track Sister Rose.

He tampered with another great single, The Stone Roses' Fools Gold, replacing the lyrics with those from his new album's title track.

But such was the devotion for Brown, the great survivor just about got away with it.