In a changing world, it's reassuring that Stereophonics still produce reliably stodgy meat-and-potatoes rock. However, the band's frontman, Kelly Jones, has embarked on a solo tour that may yet change all that. Allying his guitar and gravelly vocals to a keyboard and string quartet, Jones says this is what his songs sound like "before they get recorded and turn into a racket". Once you get over the fact that he sounds like a fusion of Axl Rose and Billy Bragg, the format puts the spotlight on his forgotten strength: his lyrics.

Opening song Suzy tackles the star/groupie relationship with unusual sensitivity: "We never said goodbye. Do you think we should have or is it better this way?" The song comes from Jones's solo debut, Only the Names Have Been Changed, on which every track has a girl's name, suggesting that Jones is (gasp) a rock star who shags girls.

Jones entertainingly both plays up and shoots down this persona. He tells how one song was written in an Amsterdam hotel room, but adds: "Actually I was alone. It was a shithole." Katie, he tells us, refers to a girl addicted to sex with strangers; Rosie is a heartfelt thank-you to a nurse. However, Jones can still be thunderingly prosaic: Violet addresses the Suffolk prostitute murders with "Whodunit...?"

For the encores, he tackles Stereophonics hits. Dakota and Local Boy in the Photograph sound terrific. However, it's reassuring to find that, even when stripped down, Just Looking and Maybe Tomorrow are still horrible rock gruel.

· At the Opera House, Manchester, on Sunday. Box office: 0870 401 9000. Then touring.