Whenever seminal bands play small venues, there's an overwhelming gratitude that dispenses with the desire for greatness. But when the band is REM, such blind trust is a dangerous thing.

After last year's greatest hits album, In Time, the hope of a sublime selection of classic jangly pop songs is tangible. It's quickly dispensed with, however, as the angst-ridden anthem Animal melts into a tiresome trawl through the shuffling introspection of latest album Around the Sun and a smattering of obscurities, and it becomes clear that the band are looking to please themselves.

"Peter reminded me this is only the second time in 18 years we've played this song," Michael Stipe tells us. "If I ever had a pretentious bone in my body, it was when I titled this." The song is Swan, Swan, Hummingbird. The fact that Stipe looks and acts like a Batman villain - he is dressed in a suit and skinny tie, with a blue stripe painted across his eyes, and throws performance-art moves beneath a flickering screen of images - disavows his humble words. Sinewy and graceful, his expression is deadly serious; his hips are forever poised on the brink of a burst of frantic wiggling. Unfortunately, they don't get nearly enough chances. Instead, Stipe restricts himself to sultry moves through the sludgy melancholia of The Outsiders - which even scratchy guitar notes from Peter Buck can't enliven - and bouncing up and down like a jockey through the insistent rhythm of Seven Chinese Brothers.

When REM choose to indulge in a few crowd-pleasers, it's a teasing glimpse of perfection. The dry humour and disco romp of new song I'm Gonna DJ is brilliant, Orange Crush is bruising and emotional. Imitation of Life is utterly joyful. Even a couple of anti-Bush songs sparkle with heartfelt feeling in among the self-indulgence. There's no doubt REM have earned it, it's just a shame a few others couldn't join in the fun.

· At Sheffield Arena tonight. Box office: 0114-256 5656. Then touring.