The Kills @ Albert Hall, Manchester, 29 Sep

“It’s worrying, because you always think that what he does on stage can be inherited and passed down, and then when you actually see him, you think actually, maybe it can’t.”

Earlier this summer, Jamie Hince talked about having seen Iggy Pop play in Paris, and expressed his concerns that perhaps once he’s gone, that rock'n'roll stage presence will die with him, and become something from a bygone era. After all, he reasons, you’ve either got it or you haven’t.

Of all the people on the planet to be wringing his hands about that particular topic, it’s quite ridiculous that it would be Hince, given that he gets up on stage every night with somebody who, beyond any doubt, possesses all of the same qualities that make Pop’s shows so special. This is the opening show of The Kills’ first UK tour in over five years and Alison Mosshart appears hell-bent on making up for lost time.

Even by her own standards, she's a walking study in rock'n'roll drama tonight; snarling, snapping, prowling, all quiet menace one minute (Kissy Kissy; Black Balloon) and vicious punk rocker the next (Impossible Tracks; Fried My Little Brains).

Mosshart is the consummate performer, and Hince is the perfect foil; having had to relearn how to play the guitar during the making of June’s Ash & Ice, he spends most of the evening fixed with an endearing grin, the posing sneer of old replaced with childlike glee. Between them, the duo’s sheer force of character more than makes up for a slightly lopsided set list on which the most stirring new cuts are the slow burners: Echo Home, all doomy atmosphere, and That Love, which has Mosshart solo on the acoustic.

This is the biggest Manchester show the band have ever played by some margin and the happiest they’ve ever looked, too. Hopefully that’ll mean a swifter return next time around.