Midway through the Bunnymen's first British gig in ages, Ian McCulloch finally loses patience with a heckler. "We're not playing The Puppet!" he snaps. "We played it once and it was crap!"

"Crap" is not a word often associated with the Bunnymen. Their third single, from 1980, remains the only misfire in a glorious heyday that – while they avoided the huge success of U2 and Simple Minds by splitting up – still fascinates younger, doomy bands from Editors to Coldplay. Here the band show why, delving into the darkest corners of their labyrinthian catalogue for an atmospheric Going Up, a troubling The Disease and an apocalyptic All That Jazz.

They could trade on their past all night, but they are also showcasing a new lineup and album, The Fountain, which was recorded, incongruously, with the man who produced Busted. McCulloch wears a big coat that makes him look as if he's embarking on a spot of mountaineering, and the new pop direction is hindered somewhat by his repeated requests for a spotlight to read the lyrics of the cheeky Do You Know Who I Am? As his mood gradually turns from grumpiness to supreme confidence, the expanded six-piece band show their full potential. The Killing Moon is note-perfect, Mac's echoey voice revelling in the lyric: "In starlit nights I saw you, so cruelly you kissed me." He wrings every drop of emotion from Nothing Lasts Forever, cheekily rewriting Lou Reed to sing: "Take a walk on Merseyside."

"Thirty years and we're still here," he chuckles. You can't help noticing that the heckler has shut up.