Tiger Lillies @ Usher Hall

The Tiger Lillies' operatic and virtuosic gypsy folk sensibilities lend themselves well to commissions, especially to the music of Monteverdi – father of the opera and subvert. But they are also known trouble makers, and putting them on the Usher Hall stage in front of "serious" music fans could be risky. Playing with baroque ensemble Concerto Caledonia, they begin with an epic and ethereal retelling of Orpheus's descent into the netherworld to retrieve his wife Eurydice. It's a passionate (rare in early music recitals nowadays) performance, with tenor Keith Lewis providing a stunning counter to Martyn Jacques's depraved falsetto. After the interval, however, the Tiger Lillies really let loose, playing their Songs of Love & War album which is a cycle of short, mostly accordion-led, gypsy cabaret (although still in collaboration with Concerto Caledonia) songs which leave most of the audience outraged. Told with a sick but sharp sense of humour, these songs deal with the futility of war, human longing and existentialism in a particularly colourful and grotesque way. Some might call them puerile and crude, but their power lies in their (superficial) simplicity, and there is something wonderfully entertaining about virtuosic musicians playing a piano with a dildo and screaming expletives at a "respectable" audience so unaccustomed to being offended. But despite this, the Tiger Lillies prove once again to be a ferociously intelligent band that does not need to rely on cheap shocks; they just do it for a laugh, and create possibly a more fitting tribute to Monteverdi than a thousand harpsichord recitals. [Ali Maloney]