After an interval, Rachid Taha took over. An Algerian raised in France, he wandered on in a purple shirt, grey beret and shades, looking like a cross between the actor Vincent Gallo and a raffish Dickensian ne'er-do-well. His band take the traditional "rai" sound and smash it headlong into sweaty rock and roll, best exemplified when Hakim Hamadouche's mandolute battled it out with the lead guitar on Bent Sarah. It was a hearty racket and won two encores, despite the crowd looking totally worn out.

-Thomas H. Green