Back in 1996, before they had become British folk celebrities, Steve Knightley and Phil Beer boldly hired the Royal Albert Hall, and astonished the music industry by filling it with devoted followers. Now they were back for the fifth time, celebrating their 25th anniversary in the company of a 30-piece choir and an impressive array of guests. Comparisons with Clapton were inevitable, “but he doesn’t hold raffles”, said Beer.

This was far more satisfying than their last appearance here, for they achieved a delicate balance of folk-club intimacy while staging a complex, varied show. They started with a theatrical treatment of Widecombe Fair, a spooky Dartmoor story that featured Beer on fiddle, perched high above the stage. Then they were joined by double bass player Miranda Sykes for a lengthy set in which Knightley’s vivid stories of West Country life were mixed with traditional songs and constant changes of musical direction.

The bravest section came in the first half, with new choral settings for Centenary, their album of first world war music and poetry, now featuring Devon’s Lost Sound Chorus, and with Jim Carter’s powerful reading of Siegfried Sassoon’s To Victory, followed by the bleak song Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire. Later, they switched to Americana, with fine dobro work from Phillip Henry on Katrina, and banjo from Canadian Leonard Podolak on The Coo Coo Bird. The finale, of course, included the singalong attack on bankers, Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed.

• At Curzon music festival, Clevedon, 21 May. Box office: 01275 871 000. Then touring until October.