Three years after his motorbike accident, Marc Almond showed that neither a near-death experience nor turning 50 could mellow him. "I'm not feeling this, it's too ****ing corporate for me," he snarled after a few songs. "The sound's so ****ing clean, the lights are too ****ing bright."

Almond obviously thrived on this dramatic tension. But following his tantrum, the venue actually served his defiant torch songs rather well.

In the wrong hands, certain lyrics could have been clumsy: Eighties song Ugly Head revisited school bullying and the confessional Lonely Drag (But I'm Alive) acknowledged his hedonistic past. However, there was an honesty and self-awareness throughout.

Almond only made a full comeback this year and was frustrated with his singing, storming off at one point - to the consternation of his band.

He can still struggle to remember lyrics because of his head injury and informed us he'd had a cold. Despite his high standards, the show was never short of passion, especially on covers of Bowie's The London Boys and Bolan's Life's a Gas.

When he returned, he thanked the fans who sustained him over the twoand-a-half-hour set. They were rewarded with a rousing Tainted Love featuring a brass section and there was an emotional singalong for Say Hello Wave Goodbye.

Almond still clearly identifies with the outsider status of his youth. But this versatile, commanding performance suggested he's become a national institution.