Chrissie Hynde has long been both a rock icon and a committed anglophile. But for her appearance at the Meltdown festival, she's celebrating all things Swedish – as Abba's Dancing Queen segues into the country's national anthem, three screens above the stage display the Swedish flag.

The Pretenders mainstay's change in allegiance comes with her debut solo project Stockholm, and for her first UK show for five years, she focuses on her new record's polished pop-rock. She begins boldly with twinkling lament Tourniquet (Cynthia Anne), her defiant and dolorous voice ageless against her acoustic guitar.

Her style is just as distinctive as her sound. Wearing skinny jeans, white open waistcoat, she swaps between rhythm guitar and tambourine, while Ollie McLaren takes over Neil Young's guitar part on Down the Wrong Way and tennis legend John McEnroe's showy solo on A Plan Too Far. During set highlight You Or No One, red neon signs flicker into life, encircling the five-piece band in glowing concepts including Love, Fame and Forever. But Hyde is never more than business-like.

"We're getting through this new album then we'll do some songs you know," she says. These turn out to be selections from her favourite singer-songwriters, and with impeccable taste she glides from Neil Young's The Loner through to Jarvis Cocker's Walk Like a Panther, then Morrissey's Every Day Is Like Sunday. Her renditions are both respectful and unique.

It's only when she turns to her own hits, however, that Hynde loosens up. Talk of the Town has fans dancing in front of the stage, and during an ebullient Don't Get Me Wrong, the singer gets close to them for the first time.

"Why didn't you tell me you wanted the old ones?" she says with a knowing smile. Tattooed Love Boys from the Pretenders' 1979 debut sparkles and Hymn for Her is the singer at her captivating best. For Dark Sunglasses she's joined by Sweden's answer to PJ Proby, Zacharias Blad, as Hynde comes bang up to date and back to the country she loves.