Nobody does what Sparks do. Their status rests primarily on a handful of supremely giddy singles and, quite probably, the fact that, after 35 years, they're still going, having just released their 20th album. The bulk of that catalogue will always pale next to the feverish brilliance of This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us and The Number One Song in Heaven, though much of it is good, too.

The touring band thud along, never quite giving Sparks's priceless legacy the sparkle and grace it deserves. First, there is the new album, played in order, then a break, then a slew of hits and other old songs. Ron and Russell Mael do their deathless double-act: Ron silent but cheeky, Russell part Peter Pan, part Tigger. It's still pretty funny, but you long for someone to write a bittersweet comedy about their life off stage.

The new songs are somewhat flat. They are barely even songs, rather extended linear pieces heavy on repetition and with little chromatic progression. Russell, who has one of the five greatest pop voices ever, speaks more than he sings. Lyrics are a nod and a wink - terse, wry observations about war, or girls; clever, but not much more. Best is Metaphor, about metaphors ("chicks dig them!"), which, gloriously, features Russell yelping "Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't mix them!" There are animated projections, too (Real Ron has a fight with Animated Ron - Real Ron wins), which feed the sense that it does not matter what's real and what isn't in this manic cabaret, which of the horrible synthesised string sounds Ron is playing and which are on tape. It's all terribly meta, and a little strained, and almost, but not quite, enormous fun. Nobody does what Sparks do. But that doesn't mean Sparks couldn't do it better.

· At the Lowry Centre, Salford, tonight. Box office: 0161-876 2000. Then touring