The sense of feverish anticipation that Morrissey still generates before each live performance, record release and even interview is a remarkable testament to the cult of personality that the former Smiths singer continues to command more than 15 years into his erratic solo career. The start of his latest British tour in Salford on Tuesday, the first of four shows in his native Manchester, fortuitously coincided with a chart-topping slot for his fine new album, Ringleader of the Tormentors. Arriving to tumultuous applause, the old curmudgeon almost looked happy.

Closing in on his 47th birthday, and now based in Rome, the Dirk Bogarde of Britpop should be basking in the sunshine of his biggest success since the Smiths. And yet he seems increasingly uncomfortable in the spotlight these days. His body language in Salford was peculiar.

Where once he sang about the pain of being acutely shy while gyrating around the stage with wildly exhibitionistic abandon, he now hymns the transformative power of love and newfound sexual confidence through gritted teeth and sour grimaces.

For the first half of the show, he constantly flapped his hands at the audience as if wafting away an unpleasant smell. He still has that old Morrissey magic, though. Those laugh-out-loud, cry-out-loud lyrics and that swooping, swooning voice still dwarf virtually everyone else in British pop, from grey-templed peers to young pretenders. Thankfully he has also tightened up his band of trad-rock plodders. The addition of the dynamic young Texan guitarist Jesse Tobias clearly lent an extra kick to the Salford set, notably on the muscular I Just Want to See the Boy Happy and the anthemic To Me You are a Work of Art.

A smattering of former Smiths classics, including Still Ill and Girlfriend in a Coma, sounded crisp and powerful. Time-honoured solo favourites such as the heart-swelling ballad Trouble Loves Me also hit the bullseye, while bitchy quips about Bono and Radio One brought hoots of reverential laughter. The Morrissey personality cult in full effect.

Even so, the Salford show was more about scattered peaks than sustained excellence. Maybe it was the sterile venue, or the singer’s guarded performance, but the urgent emotional connection of his best work was only vestigially evident. Morrissey remains a unique and priceless figure on the cultural landscape: it is just that the prosaic reality sometimes falls short of the poetic legend.

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