Although they only split up six years ago, James's comeback is proving a hot prospect. An astonishing 35,000 tickets for this tour sold out in hours. At times the devotion is unwarranted: tonight's ragged opener, Come Home, sounds like the work of a band who haven't played together for 60 years.

However, it soon becomes apparent that this is not a regular reunion tour. Old hits are eschewed in favour of reworked obscurities and guitar-heavy new material. Reaching back in time for their first song ever written, If Things Were Perfect, and then performing a terrific number (Upside Downside), which is so new that vocalist Tim Booth reads the lyrics from a scrap of paper, shows the band's trademarks - uplifting songs about insecurity, disaffection and mental illness - have hardly changed.

The other familiar ingredient is the way James's songs tap into a nerve somewhere at the tingly bit of the spine, which gradually drains away cynicism about the comeback. With a shaven-headed Booth his usual shamanic presence - part rock star, part dancing character from a silent film - the effect is mesmeric.

Towards the end of the two-hour set, they unleash the back catalogue floodgates: Johnny Yen is angular and edgy and Gold Mother is remade into a trancelike mantra. By the time the audience sing every word to Laid, Tomorrow and Sit Down, this doesn't feel like a reformation, but a second coming.

· At Brixton Academy, London (0870 771 2000), tonight and tomorrow. Then touring.