fRoots

[Des Bowring]

Support act Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara would have been great without Adams, who sprang around the stage churning out leaden chords which were presumably meant to 'accompany' Juldeh's fine one-string fiddle work but completely dominated it. Dreadful. I would like to see Juldeh on his own one day.

After such a poor opening to the show I was drained of all enthusiasm when Tinariwen took the stage, but within minutes they hit a fabulous groove and stuck with it as only they can. Selected lyrics were projected on the screen behind them Karaoke-style and their charismatic stage-presence hid any doubts about exactly where they can go musically from here. For the moment, they were a very fine rock band, much more animated than in the early days, full of swagger and clearly enjoying themselves. Great stuff.