Slowdive @ Arts Club, Liverpool, 28 Mar

These are heady times for the many ageing shoegazers who pack out the Arts Club – this is the first visit in over two decades from original scenesters Slowdive.

With new records from Ride and The Jesus and Mary Chain imminent, and comebacks from Lush and Swervedriver still fresh in the memory, this once-derided genre is back in favour with critics and fans alike, with Slowdive's small but perfectly formed back catalogue the latest to demand reassessment as they return to the fray.

Back in the early 90s, the Reading five-piece were often unfairly seen as a cut-price version of Creation label mates My Bloody Valentine. Since their orginal split in 1995, however, Slowdive's stock has been on the rise – not least due to the fact that core members Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead have both continued to make fine records with Mojave 3, Minor Victories and various other projects. 

Just hours before this much-anticipated gig, the band confirm details of their new album, but it's with a rerun of former glories that they open preceedings: the ambient haze of Avalyn, followed by early single Catch the Breeze. As the band begin to find their feet, the power of both Goswell and Halstead's voices comes as a shock, especially given Slowdive's critical reputation as sophoric bores, and when the hirsute Halstead unleashes his Kevin Shields-patented box of guitar effects, the Proustian rush is undeniable.

When the Sun Hits sounds suitably huge, while other classics of the genre such as Souvlaki Space Station and Alison seep their way into your concioucessness with all manner of spectral chords, tinkling piano and cascading drum fills gluing the space between Goswell's crystal clear sighs. She remains a compelling frontwoman, coming across as Adele's tipsy auntie as she berates those in the crowd filming her every move. 

With Slowdive anxious for this reunion to be more than a nostalgia-fest, new track Sugar For The Pill revolves and twists its way around a hypnotic Halstead riff before Star Roving barrells along with a sense of momentum that belies the band's age. Throw in their gloriously droning cover of Syd Barrett's Golden Hair and a three-song encore that includes another startlingly catchy newbie (No Longer Making Time) and you potentially have one of this year's most suprising and satisfying returns.