If you remember the last time Prefab Sprout had a public profile, you're probably an elephant. That was 10 years ago, when Margaret Thatcher was PM and critics were raving over an ambitious concept album called Jordan: The Comeback.

Then Paddy McAloon, the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist, went off to sit on a hill near Newcastle, and the record label resigned itself to producing best-of compilations. The only blip came in 1997, with the all-new album Andromeda Heights and a lip-synching appearance on the National Lottery Live.

So there was a lot riding on this gig, the first date in the first tour since 1990. That McAloon has a sense of humour became clear with the opening number, a 12-year-old ode to nostalgia called I Remember That. Within minutes, he'd also proved he's still an awesome performer. His elfin days are gone - the white-streaked beard makes you think of an OU lecturer or, in his own words, Captain Birdseye - but he still has the voice of an angel seduced by worldly pleasures.

Backed by brother Martin on bass, Neil Conti on drums and Jess Bailey on inaudible keyboards, he led us through 30 tracks in over two hours, from Prefab's first single, Lions in My Garden, to the forthcoming release, Where the Heart Is. There was passion, power and no hint of boredom or overfamiliarity: he can still produce what he called "the shiver of the fur".

Hearing all these songs together, it was striking how often McAloon has written about the passing of time, the mutating and maturing of character and emotion. Of his twin icons, Elvis and God, one went from sexy young rock god to bloated hamburger junkie, the other from omnipotent thunderbolt-chucker to beardy old hand-wringer.

It was an evening to bring a lump to your throat, as much for what McAloon didn't sing as for what he did. Where were the new songs, composed since 1997? When Andromeda Heights came out, he claimed he was writing a song almost every day. There was no sign of them, nothing to suggest he might one day re-emerge as one of Britain's smartest songwriters. The show closed with A Prisoner of the Past, with its line "I'm a ghost to you now." A smart nod to McAloon's rich past - but perhaps too close to the truth.

• At Cambridge Corn Exchange (01223-357851) on Wednesday, then touring.