There is an enduring innocence to Numan that is charming and limiting. While everyone from the pop divas Sugababes to the superstar DJ Armand Van Helden has sampled his innovative early hits in recent years, the man himself sticks steadfastly to the doom-laden techno-rock formula that has sustained him for more than a decade. A more calculating careerist might have exploited his credibility as the founding father of British electro-pop by hijacking the DayGlo dance beats of the Nu Rave scene.

Which would be shameless opportunism of course, but at least it might have enlivened some of the angst-ridden bombast that filled Thursday’s set. The tracks from Numan’s most recent album, Jagged, could certainly use a sprinkle of pop sensibility. In a Dark Place sounded graceless and bloated, while the goth-metal thunder of Haunted soon outstayed its welcome. Adolescent emotional catharsis is just about acceptable in a 25-year-old bedsit rocker, but mildly preposterous from a 50-year-old father of three.

Thankfully, Numan included classics from his early Tubeway Army period. A heavily electronic Down in the Park mustered an icy grandeur that none of his recent material could match, while a muscular rearrangement of his signature tune Are “Friends” Electric? inspired a mass singalong among Bristol’s assembled Numanoids.

It was clear that this is what most of them came to hear: communal alienation anthems for dogged devotees who have followed the maverick rocker for decades. Numan’s small but significant place in pop history is assured, but he could afford to steal a little more inspiration from his younger self