It’s Saturday night. It’s the final weekend of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Clubby beats play, building atmosphere before Tune-Yards take to the stage. “London!” shouts Merrill Garbus before letting rip with some rim shots, laying down some distorted uke and the sound of ‘You Yes You’ fills the hall (including a delightful synchronized jump with bassist Nate Brenner).

Tune-Yards have been putting out whacky, danceable tracks for around 20 years. The fandom is happy-go-lucky and initially the seated environment of the Royal Festival Hall may not be the best vessel for an audience who want to dance. However, two decades of tour-hardened audience work teaches you plenty and soon Merrill is shaping the hall into a Tune-Yards party. “Okay, are you going to sing tonight!?” she asks, and soon has the audience singing “How big is the rainbow” in four parts. The hall simultaneously takes this as their cue to dance and the Southbank suddenly feels more like a festival stage. The good vibes are infectious and after a final chorus, held note and swell, Merrill pronounces RFH “the best singers all tour”.

High on this praise, the assembled masses are treated to crowd-pleaser ‘Gangsta’ which includes a segue/mashup of Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’. The performance of their most-streamed track (‘Water Fountain’) buys some space to perform one of their newest. ‘Oh Child’ is taken from EP Tell the Future With Your Body which only arrived into the world in September 2025. “I’m not here to sing you lullabies / I’m here to ring the bell / You can hear the main ringing, hear the rising, hear the swell” sings Merrill before the repeated, wailing refrain “Oh, child / Oh, child / Oh, child”. This newer work is a blend of the creative flare we’ve come to know along with a pronounced sense of urgency and message. Indeed, while a Tune-Yards live performance has always been blessed with unusual sounds and sights, there is something more primal about the guttural noises, something more possessed in the eyes and something more peaceful in the bits in between.

Before closing the set, Merrill tells us that Tune-Yards came about because “weird songs were coming out of me”. While the times that we live in may be challenging, she goes on to affirm that “I still want to be on the earth to play weird songs for you” which then leads to a rapturous reception for ‘Bizness’. And if you fancy a dance party on a Saturday night or a relentlessly varied sound world, Tune-Yards are still very much one of the best bands in the business.

Part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. The 2025 festival runs 14-23 November — explore full listings here.