Showbusiness personalities who announce their intention to retire rarely stick to their plan. But few performers have ever looked less retired than Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay-Z. The 36-year-old record company mogul and leisurewear entrepreneur from New York, who supposedly gave up his life as a hip-hop star after the release of The Black Album in 2003, returned to the London stage on Sunday amid a searing blaze of white light and a thunderous blast of bottom-end noise. Head enclosed in a diamond-encrusted hoodie, he slouched to the front and barked out the self-aggrandising message of What Else Can I Say? with the authority of a man who has risen from the rough quarter of Brooklyn to international rap royalty.

“I’m from the streets where the hood could swallow a man/ Bullets’ll follow a man,” he declaimed in U Don’t Know, during which he was joined by his shadow for most of the show, the rapper Memphis Bleek. Plumes of flame shot up from the floor around the perimeter of the stage, a theatrical trick borrowed from the world of heavy rock. The link was further emphasised by the ensuing 99 Problems, in which Jay-Z’s aggressive vocal was spliced to the riff from AC/DC’s Back in Black, a combination that harked back to the historic collaboration between Run DMC and Aerosmith.

Unlike many hip-hop acts, Jay-Z paced himself and his material with a sure touch, while nevertheless falling back on various stock ploys, including the usual shouting contests — left versus right side of the hall, the ladeez versus the fellas — which must surely be reaching the end of their shelf-life by now.

The visual images on the screens at the back were tremendous, and Jay-Z was never less than watchable as he led the way through a greatest-hits show in everything but name. A roll call of deceased hip-hop stars — including The Notorious B. I. G., Tupac Shakur, Jam Master Jay and others — were accorded a moment of respect after a verse of Jay-Z’s biggest hit, Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), had been given a rather peremptory airing.

But the high point of the show was the moment Beyoncé Knowles came into view. She had more than a touch of the young Tina Turner about her as she strutted the stage in high stilettos, belting out a magnificent duet of Deja Vu with Jay-Z. The two are said to be planning to get married, which will be fine, as long as neither expects the other to retire any time soon.

Point, Dublin, tonight; Albert Hall, tomorrow