Appearing nonchalantly on stage after a 40-minute delay, the influential Eighties post-punk icons promptly disappeared again behind a cloud of smoke from an overzealous dry-ice machine.

Mixing old favourites with material from latest album Siberia (the band's tenth, including the McCulloch-less Reverberations), The Bunnymen punched out a set of high-energy, rhythm-based songs, the likes of which have seen them steadily carve out a place in guitar-pop history since their beginnings in 1978.

Lead singer Ian McCulloch demonstrated his own major influence on the image of Nineties indie band frontmen such as The Verve's Richard Ashcroft, Liam Gallagher and The Charlatans' Tim Burgess.

As with the alternating vocals of McCulloch - sometimes smooth and rich, sometimes a smoker's growl - guitarist Will Sergeant most often allowed his talent to blend in with the rest of the music.

Yet he occasionally let his trademark riffs burst to the forefront, as on former single Seven Seas and all-time favourite Villiers Terrace.

The biggest cheers of the night came with old hit The Killing Moon, a delicate example of the band at their songwriting best, and a surprisingly successful cover version of The Doors' Roadhouse Blues.

Retaking the stage for an encore, The Bunnymen played old favourite Lips Like Sugar, preceded by the beautiful 1997 comeback single Nothing Lasts Forever.

With a songwriting ability so strong and a lead singer who, almost 30 years on, can still command the stage and look good in sunglasses, Echo And The Bunnymen just might.