Supporting Jorge Ben was Curumin and his band Zomba. Curumin draws from a similar set of pots to Jorge, some funk, some reggae and of course some samba. Unlike Jorge Ben, who has no need of covers, Curumin playfully adapts songs as unlikely as Madonna’s ‘Like a VIrgin’ to his needs and, on the whole, he pulls it off.

The first half of Jorge Ben’s set he pretty much thrashed through. The Brazilians danced along anyway of course and others (including the singer) saved their powder for later. Like going to a rock concert, if you know the numbers it is great and if not… except in this case I did know the numbers and they blended into each other all the same.

Fortunately, and the last time I saw him play, he did the same, about half way through he switched. The songs came louder, clearer and bolder and the party really started (I think it was somewhere around the massed mini-tambourine bloco-Afro samba section but definitely before the beauty contest). A string of pretty girls from the audience came onto the stage (so far so Jorge Ben) and danced around, which was nice for everyone and then he started handing our sashes and it all kind of dragged and even got faintly embarrassing.

But it soon switched back to the music and then, after a bit and a few encores, it was over. It was a long night of music, a few bits dragged but there were enough great moments to save it.