Gogol Bordello @ Manchester Academy, 14 December

Writing soberly about a Gogol Bordello live show – one taking place at Christmas of all times – feels a bit like getting a cat to use interpretive dance to describe the latest Beyoncé album. You might (unintentionally) entertain a few people, but it’s never going to quite compare. Still, tonight's show is one of such magnificence that it must be documented somehow, providing the context shaky phone footage can’t convey.

Before Eugene Hütz and his riotous troupe storm the stage of the Manchester Academy, there's support from Man Man. Their 70s-inflected psych prog-pop feels suited to the occasion, and the skeleton suit-cladded group from Philadelphia occasionally dip into reggae and other genres; but they’re a bit gentle for the job of getting the crowd in the mood for Gogol Bordello.

It’s been a strange sort of year for the self-styled gypsy punks – the release of new album Pura Vida Conspiracy was overshadowed by their former guitarist suing singer Hütz for alleged embezzlement from the group. However, if there is any tension it doesn't show as tonight they launch into frenetic album opener We Rise Again. Rip-roaring violin and accordion battle the metal-infused chug of Michael Ward’s guitar, the glorious racket acting as a chaotic clarion call that sends much of the venue’s audience into a joyous meltdown of flailing limbs and frantic pogoing.

As though Hütz himself was not enough, the band features Pedro Erazo and Elizabeth Chi-Wei Sun as additional invigorating cheerleaders, buoying the crowd further as they fly through bracing newer numbers such as Lost Innocent World and Malandrino as well as older classics Wonderlust King and the inimitable, absolutely rollicking strut of Start Wearing Purple. Gypsy weddings are all well and good, but gypsy-punk Christmases are the stuff of legend. [Michael MacLennan]