This is music that demands if not consumes every particle of concentration and in the end

This is music that demands, if not consumes, every particle of concentration, and in the end the dance was merely an irritant. If Twyla Tharp had one ounce of humility she would have cleared the platform of dancers and done nothing at all for the most sublime variations But no. The appalling squeak-squeak of leather dance slippers continued to assault the ear through moments that, musically, would have held us on the edge of tears. Did no one foresee this extraneous noise? It undermined the whole project, finally.

Yet Beethoven survived, thanks to the supreme artistry of the pianist. Demidenko delivered hammer blows and launched sky-rockets with equal mastery, and his tender playing would have melted the gates of heaven. If there was ever any kind of contest, Tharp was left at the starting post.The Islington Festival has been promoting another circus find from France in a petite big top on Highbury Fields. Last year it had a sexy trapeze act serving the audience beer on tap from the central tent pole. This year it has a raggle-taggle bunch of jugglers who based their hour-long show, Traboule, on characters observed in “Le Traboule” – Lyon’s labyrinthine cardboard city. There seemed some confusion over this title: my ticket was printed with the word “Trouble”, which was possibly just as appropriate.The appearance of four rattling, hinged structures made of scrap wood sets the dossers’ aesthetic: these are makeshift, mobile homes of four odd characters around whom the action revolves – a splendid Mohican, a nicotine-addicted dandy, a gibbering hypochondriac in grimy bandages, and a little guy who wants to be big, but whose attempts to make a grand impression amount to twirling toothbrushes round one finger.Fierce competition cues some terrific feats of stilt-walking on outsized splints knocked together from old pallets. A bizarre episode where each one metamorphoses, naked, into a fantasy insect had the girls behind me in stitches, on account of their homemade cod-pieces One appeared to have his member stuffed into a sock.

Anarchic, off-beat, immaculately skilled; Traboule shows that circus can still hold some surprises.`Traboule’: Highbury Fields, N5 (0171 689 0200) today. In a documentary filmed last year, Michael Stipe was asked why REM wouldn’t be touring their new album, Up “It’s not right for this record,” he replied, unhelpfully. “It’s not where we need to be as a band, out on the road, playing shows every other night.” A matter of months later, the band are out on the road, playing shows every other night. What’s, as it were, up?

REM’s line is that they did a few small-scale showcases to promote Up’s release and enjoyed them so much that they thought, why stop now? The more sceptical of my colleagues see the tour as a defibrillator pressed hurriedly to the chest of an album that is dying a commercial death.
My own view is as follows: who gives a monkey’s? REM can tour because they want to notch up the air miles as far as I’m concerned. Ingenious and idiosyncratic as their songs are, they’re also great for swaying along to in a big shed And Stipe is simply one of pop’s most magnetic front- men.