If you didn't visit the legendary New York nightclub Paradise Garage in the early 1980s, go and see Hercules and Love Affair. The New York-based band are in thrall to the club's late DJ Larry Levan and, if you closed your eyes, their throbbing, joyous disco sounded like a reincarnation of his famously funky sets.

Even with eyes open there was little to see at the start. A near pitch-black stage was illuminated only by a pair of murky blue lights for the largely instrumental opener, Classique, a hip-shaking fusion of horns, house beats and bass. Who was doing what became no clearer during the lengthy second song, You Belong. Eight folk filled the stage, but half of them spent more time shuffling their feet than playing. Having musicians at all felt fairly pointless - there was little that a decent DJ couldn't have come up with on his own.

Clearly, the band's founder, Andy Butler, agreed. At the end of You Belong he instructed his cohorts to start the song again, ostensibly so the live CDs on sale after the show included the better version. “We gonna be like robots - just for you,” purred the singer, Nomi, a towering transsexual in a short, sparkly dress and knee-length, high-heeled boots. The crowd booed, but an infinitely superior second take soon had them dancing.

The rest of the set only improved. I'm Telling You was superb Latin house led by trombone and trumpet players, featuring the vibrant vocals of the spiky-haired Kim Ann Foxman, a lesbian jewellery designer on the side. Often, it was hard to tell where one song ended and another began, though it hardly mattered. On their eponymous debut album, a minor UK hit earlier this year, the group mix disco with downbeat tracks, mostly fronted by Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. With Hegarty absent, it was Giorgio Moroder-esque 1980s disco all the way, with only the former single Blind standing out.

Essentially, this was a DJ gig gone live, but the songs sounded much better than on the record. OK, most sounded the same, but people probably said the same about Chic once.

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