Emotions were running high as Jarvis Cocker, the curator of this year’s Meltdown Festival, announced the return of “a legendary band”, and there, striding on through the inevitable clouds of dry ice were the Reid brothers, Jim and William, followed by a new gaggle of hired hands: the drummer Laurence Colbert (formerly of Ride), Phil King (formerly of Lush) on bass and the guitarist Mark Crozer.

William, looking a little bigger and fuzzier than before, strapped on a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar with its volume set on the brink of feedback, while Jim, as malnourished and feral as ever, assumed the default rock-star position behind the microphone as they began with Never Understand.

JAMC defined the genuinely alternative ethos of Eighties indie-rock, and you suspect that their old selves would have viewed the prospect of reunions, sentimental or otherwise, with considerable suspicion.

While there was little sign of the animosity between the brothers from East Kilbride that originally broke up the band, there was nevertheless a cagey, and occasionally uncertain, feel to this performance. Jim screwed up the beginning of Snakedriver, and they had to start Just Like Honey three times before he located the correct key and entry point for the vocal at the same time. Around him, the other musicians played, at times, with faltering, furrowed concentration.

But the songs, with their New York influences ranging from the Velvet Underground to the Ramones, held up well. From the slow menace of Sidewalking to the speedy dancefloor rush of Between Planets and the traditional rock’n’roll chug of a new number, All Things Must Pass, they retained the ability to set nerve ends tingling.

And so passionate was the response of the audience – which included the group’s former drummer Bobby Gillespie bouncing around in his seat in Row K – that the show gradually gathered an irresistible momentum despite the technical vagaries of the performance itself. Ending with encores of Syd Barrett’s Vegetable Man and a suitably death-affirming Reverence, they strode back into the mist.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010