It's not just your facial muscles that get a work-out at an MBA gig. It's everything from your head to your shoulders to your knees and your toes. In fact, there were times during their headlining set at an intimate Kilburn venue where I had to light a cigarette just to steady myself.

The sacrifices I make for you, dear reader. Instead of gyrating with carefree abandon in the front row alongside crowd-invading dancer, the already legendary Erotic Volvo (who literally has to be seen to be believed), I'm scrawling down notes that will turn out to be unusable as they'll prove indecipherable. Whilst vainly fighting the urge to pogo.

Most of the songs come from impending second album, The Black Hole. It's difficult to pick out highlights, because the quality is so high there are few obvious lowlights. Still, 'The Story Of Love', featuring a riff lifted unashamedly from Gomez's 'Whipping Piccadilly', deserves a special mention. As does the George-Bush-baiting, and catchy motherfucker of a tune to boot, 'Evil'.

After playing an enthusiastically-received selection, the band returns for an encore. "It was inevitable, " announces Grandmaster Gareth in his Lenny-Beige-style drawl. Misty's sign off with the final track on The Black Hole, 'The Wising Up Song' – a typically experimental number that makes free jazz sound as adventurous as James Blunt. The overall effect is one of disorientation. For the duration of Misty's Big Adventure's stay on stage, Planet Earth seems a very long way away indeed.

(5/5)

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