tUnE-yArDs @ Scala, London

“The next song", which turns out to be a rapturously received ‘Jamaican’, “might sound funny”, Merrill Garbus tells the audience; because she’s lost a nail. So, “er, can someone lend me a plectrum?” (They do).

The audience involvement and (frankly unnecessary) modesty in between songs set the tone. Beforehand, she’s still able to walk around the stage checking equipment unbothered by the audience. But when she takes to her ukulele and drums – backed, eventually, by a bassist, another guitarist and two further drummers, all of them sporting facepaint in a way that suggests someone is a big fan of Adam Ant – the transformation in her and the audience is astonishing.

Each impassioned cry of the punky “Do you wanna live?” gets an emphatic “Yes!” back from the audience. The call-and-response turns the crowd from observers into participants – it’s like watching a preacher whip up her congregation. But her manipulation of a sweaty Scala feels like something she enjoys rather than calculated. When her eyes bulge and she holds the note for an age at the end of ‘Real Live Flesh’, she looks as lost in the tune as we do.

As she builds up the looped vocals, reminiscent of old blues recordings, in the hip-hop flavoured ‘Gangsta’, the combination of craft and excitement that builds the tension is astonishing. Garbus is the sort of performer who makes many other worthy acts look slightly dull. And makes her next visit to London something you should clear your diary for.