With gruelling tour schedules off the agenda, Blur gigs have reached rarity value, so when the British band returned to Dublin's Point Theatre last night it was almost like a homecoming.

Their current album, 13, forms the bulk of the band's set, becoming a sort of post-rock opera onstage, with Tender as the overture and No Distance Left To Run as the faltering finale. In between we get the manic punk energy of Bugman and B.L.U.R.E.M.I, the trundling brilliance of Coffee & TV, and the clanking, epic noise of Battle.

Three swirling discs form the optically-challenging backdrop, as Albarn delivers the bitter words of 1992, and guitarist Graham Coxon shaves off the sparking riffs of Chinese Bombs and Advert. Bassist Alex James lets his cigarette - and his floppy fringe - hang loose as he slouches over his bass, but drummer Dave Rowntree stays rigid as he powers the thundering beat of Popscene.

When the band leave the stage after the downbeat No Distance Left To Run, the audience seem a little bemused, unsure of whether this is simply an interval or the end of the set. They're reassured by the familiar, chunky riff of Beetlebum, the gnarled chords of Country Sad Ballad Man and the cinematic double bill of To The End and This Is A Low. The real crowd-pleasers came in the second encore, however, and Boys & Girls, There's No Other Way, Park Life and Song 2 brought everyone back to the halcyon days of Britrock.