Polish and precision win out as The Jesus and Mary Chain bring Damage and Joy to Manchester

Then, in November of 2014, they were playing their iconic debut Psychocandy in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth birthday. Tonight, they’re just three shows in to what will doubtless end up being a extensive tour to support their seventh full-length, and first in nineteen years, Damage and Joy. It was a prospect that still felt remote when they were out on that nostalgia trip. Frontman Jim Reid was reticent, terrified of ending up in a studio situation that would set him on a vicious collision cause with his older brother, William.

Happily, they ended up recording together and lived to tell the tale, however poor relations between the siblings had been in the past - a quick Google search will confirm that it’s scorched earth stuff. When they roll onstage and fire into “Amputation” in front of a near-capacity Manchester Academy crowd tonight (25 Mar, it feels polished and slick, a million miles away from the feral aggression that coursed through their Psychocandy set a couple of years back.

But then again, so it should. That particular track might lead off Damage and Joy, but in actual fact, Jim recorded it under his own name a decade ago, and has played it with the Mary Chain ever since they first reconvened in 2007. If you’re going to take issue with anything they do tonight, it would have to be that they sound a little bit too clean, a touch too measured. Nobody’s expecting a return to the wildman behaviour of the eighties, when their shows would routinely descend into riots after fifteen, twenty minutes, but there’s an efficiency to this run through the catalogue that’s slightly unbecoming.

That said, it’s hard to care when the repertoire encompasses this many gems. “Some Candy Talking” - pop perfection. “Snakedriver” is scored through with genuine rock and roll verve. “Just Like Honey” remains a gorgeous paean to The Ronettes. Plus, the new cuts that are included sound smooth - “All Things Must Pass” takes on a towering profile live, and “Always Sad” hits home a thumping reminder of how poignant the Mary Chain can be when they want to. After years in the wilderness, it feels like they’re finally back tonight; a little more robotic than we might have hoped, but plenty pristine and - crucially - very loud.