Every so often, Morrissey pops back to the old country from his adopted home in California to commune with his British fans.

Rare visitor: Morrissey
It's a tribute to the enduring bond that exists between the be-quiffed Manchester-born singer and his followers that he is still able to pack the Albert Hall for two nights despite the fact that he hasn't released a new record for five years.

On this, the first of those two shows, the fans gave no indication that they were disappointed by the 90-minute set delivered by Morrissey and his sprightly four-piece band.

But there was none of the seething tumult that has accompanied his appearances in the past; hardly anyone screamed, and the usual stream of stage-invaders - those entirely benign creatures who are bent on nothing more sinister than cuddling their idol - was reduced to a mere trickle. Perhaps his fans are just getting too old for that kind of thing.

The songs were drawn almost entirely from Morrissey's career as a solo artist, with a few new tunes thrown in, the best of which was a swirling thing called The First of the Gang to Die. (A new album is rumoured to be in the pipeline, but don't hold your breath.)

There was also a fabulous rendition of that glorious song about the excruciating dullness of "the seaside town they forgot to bomb", Everyday is Like Sunday. In between, Morrissey displayed none of the truculence of which a High Court judge once complained when he was a witness in a case involving royalties from his former band, the Smiths.

He chatted loquaciously and wittily and had a gentle dig at the crowd for not cheering the new stuff loudly enough. All good fun, but hardly earth-shattering. What people wanted, of course, and what they knew in their heart of hearts they weren't going to get, was a wall-to-wall celebration of Smiths songs.

Morrissey did, however, dig out There is a Light That Never Goes Out (from The Queen is Dead) for the solitary encore, at the end of which he took his shirt off, chucked it into the crowd and sprinted off stage for the last time.

Suddenly, the place came alive. We had seen more excitement in the last five minutes than in the whole of the rest of the show.