After the shock departure of lynchpin drummer Bill Berry, they reeled like a man who'd been mugged in a meadow. Subsequent albums flailed for balance and the tours to promote them suffered from their flabbiness.

It's the third time in five years they have played Lancashire County Cricket Club and maybe Manchester's patience is running out. Despite being half-closed-off for renovations, the place is barely full and ticket sales were reportedly sluggish.

Support acts the Guillemots and Editors both suffer poor sound, fighting to be heard through a swirling breeze.

But REM's latest album, Accelerate, has been hailed as a return to form, stuffed with more of the punchy pop anthems which made the band what they are.

And so it seems, as they bound onstage at 8.30pm sharp, punctual as a convention of OCD headmasters, and race through opener, Living Well Is The Best Revenge, then hark back to their early career with These Days from 1986's Life's Rich Pageant.

Michael's voice is pure and strong despite diving about the stage like an electric eel and maybe it's anger they needed as this is a highly politicised set.

There's a rare outing for anti-Bush anthem, Ignoreland, which Michael introduces with the statement: "We're American – and we really, really, really hate our government."

And there's a special mini set-within-a-set, in celebration of Manchester's Gay Pride taking place the same night, which kicks off with another early classic, Pretty Persuasion.

It's a show packed with early and rare gems, such as Seven Chinese Brothers, and a beautiful semi-acoustic reworking of Let Me In. Thus, it's all the more disappointing when Michael announces: "A special song. We've not played it many times and not really rehearsed it," and it turns out to be just Mr Richards, one of the better tunes from Accelerate.

Behemoth ballad Everybody Hurts has gone from the set but I confess I long for them to play Nightswimming and Finest Worksong and am gutted when they don't.

The monster hits come thick and fast as they draw to the close, with Drive, Orange Crush, Losing My Religion, The End of the World and Man on the Moon jostling for space.

Time will tell if REM emerge revitalised. But tonight was certainly a shot in the arm.

Judith Dornan