With much the same sprawling thicket of hair he's had for 30 years, guitarist Pat Metheny sustains a reassuring youthfulness for his legions of fans worldwide. But if Metheny in his improbable 50s remains the king of the jazz circuit, he's also found time to write a raft of lasting melodies, score movies, collect Grammys and devise the spectacular Orchestrion one-man-band machine with which he visited London earlier this year.

But the Pat Metheny Group, with three of its four current members (Metheny, pianist Lyle Mays and bassist Steve Rodby) going almost all the way back to its three-decades-old beginnings, is still the midwest guitarist's hottest ticket. While it cruised through its bulging songbook at the Barbican with barely a pause for applause, senior citizens tapped their toes and ecstatic young converts in the stalls air-drummed percussionist Antonio Sanchez's fills and hits.

Metheny, Mays and Rodby have played this music countless times, but the old prairie lilt, laidback grooves, Jarrettesque piano parts and subtle electronic orchestrations still work like a charm.

From the coaxing riff of the opening Phase Dance, through a fast account of the romantically wistful James, and on to the timeless synthed-harmonica melody of Are You Going With Me?, Metheny never betrayed the sense of going through the motions he must sometimes feel. He was a shade less secure on solo ballads, but filled the hall unaccompanied with the chime and clamour of the Pikasso harp-guitar, spun gleamingly fresh phrasing over Sanchez's unwavering fast shuffle on Last Train Home – and after 90 straight minutes unleashed the young drummer who has so rejuvenated his much-travelled songbook for a dazzling solo display of controlled ferocity before the finale.