Tinariwen, Union Chapel, London, 29 November 2012

The band opened with a haunting, droning acapella song before the full band in acoustic form kicked in. They somewhat overestimated our rhythmic talents and repeatedly encouraged the audience to clap along to the polyrhythms. Most of us initially resisted, rather than ruin their beautiful music, but then became caught up in the music and clapped out a simple steady rhythm.

The show wasn't very acoustic, with only one acoustic guitar on evidence. I don't think anyone will have asked for their money back, though. I found myself completely lost in the hypnotic rhythms and melodies, and they seem so fleeting and immediate because I can't 'hum' any of the tunes in my head.

There was a really stunning near-solo song towards the end of the set, with a whole blues band conjured up from, at least to start with, one guitar, played by the bassist left-handed but with standard, right-handed stringing, giving it a really exotic, but bluesy sound. They then played a run of storming foot-tappers to end the main set.

The encore opened with two songs played really effectively with just an acoustic guitar and a drum before the whole band came on for a really rousing finale. A really fun gig. Ca va bien!