Kamasi Washington @ QMU, Glasgow, 5 May

After the percussional (and costume) experiments of Onyx Collective (bells, chimes, beads, shells etc. feature alongside the saxophone and double bass), Kamasi Washington and co. strut onstage full of pomp and pride. The band take little time finding their groove, responding to Washington's militant opening notes and quickly building the song from the ground up, culminating in some furiously cosmic keys and Patrice Quinn's spiritual exaltations.

This formula is vaguely repeated over the course of the night's six or seven cuts, with each player being given the chance to run wild at least once, demonstrating the versatility and raw skills that this band have to offer. Washington's saxophone is fierce throughout, but his lungs really take a battering to make beauty from chaos on Truth, the closing song from last year's brilliant Harmony of Difference. Double bassist Miles Mosley shines on a rendition of his own song Abraham, playing in a slap bass style and generally making such an unwieldy instrument look like a toy. Washington's father, Rickey joins the band for most of the show, peppering songs with flute and clarinet. And trombonist Ryan Porter looks about ready to faint after his labours on Fists of Fury.

The band has always been a tight, funky outfit, but the change that's come over the group in the last couple of years is best exemplified through Fists of Fury. Despite the humourous Bruce Lee-indebted title, it's a scathing, yet uplifting call to arms, Washington's most explicitly political statement yet. 'Our time as victims is over / We will no longer ask for justice / Instead we will take our retribution,' Quinn intones repeatedly, entwining her voice with the steadily rising crescendo of the music. Despite its assertive and sometimes abrasive nature, Washington's music is always rooted in peace and love, that the fight for justice is something that will bring people together rather than divide them. As he says to introduce Truth; "diversity isn't something to be tolerated, it's to be celebrated." From the momentous reaction of the audience in the dangerously overcrowded QMU, it's fair to say they agree.