Damon Albarn @ Sydney Opera House

As an artist and songwriter, Damon Albarn stands alone – and in more ways than one. Nothing about the former Blur singer’s latter-day career feels like the typical ‘frontman goes solo to cash in’ pattern followed by so many of his contemporaries.

Largely, it’s down to the range of genre-bending projects he’s launched since Blur’s Think Tank finale in 2003, from The Good, The Bad & The Queen to Gorillaz and this year’s debut solo record, Everyday Robots. By the time Albarn welcomes hip hop legends De La Soul onstage for tonight’s ‘Feel Good Inc.’ encore, the setlist is fair evidence Albarn was never going to get his kicks from playing shitty, soulless guitar ballads.

In the aftermath of the siege at Martin Place, this evening’s rescheduled show has become the first of a double header for Albarn and his band, The Heavy Seas. “We had a game plan that we were going to pace ourselves for this one,” he announces, “but we can’t do that.” Instead, the songs alternate between the faux-Cockney shoutiness that won Albarn so many friends (and enemies) in the early ’90s – even before his first verse, he insists the entire Concert Hall audience rises to its feet – and the morose thoughtfulness that characterises his new album. One moment he’s hurling water from a bottle at everyone in the front rows, the next he’s patiently ignoring the irony of the two dozen fans inexplicably watching ‘Everyday Robots’ (“We are everyday robots on our phones…”) through their mobile screens.

His four-piece Heavy Seas aside, Albarn also gets help from an in-house string quartet and the Southern Gospel Choir (all the way from Tasmania), who together contribute stunning passages to ‘Mr Tembo’ and ‘Heavy Seas Of Love’. Australia’s own Remi is up for ‘Clint Eastwood’, before the De La Soul cameo becomes the highlight of the show.

But all the while, there’s no forgetting Albarn’s roots. He plays solo piano versions of Blur’s ‘Out Of Time’ and ‘End Of A Century’, and even Gorillaz hit ‘Kids With Guns’ sounds like it’s lifted straight from Parklife. Occasionally, the enormous Opera House lights catch the shiny gold tooth in the middle of Albarn’s grin, and he looks just like the shy middle-class boy who made Britpop cool – only now it’s 2014, and he’s front and centre on one of the world’s famous stages.