The most disappointing shows of all are those where one is desperately hoping that a band will succeed, but it just doesn't happen. So it was with Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, a group of West African survivors, who can count themselves lucky to be alive, let alone in the middle of a world tour, after escaping from one of the most brutal conflicts in recent African history.

All seven members of the band fled from their homes during the civil war in Sierra Leone, and found themselves living as refugees in neighbouring Guinea - where they were forced to move on again when their camp was attacked. But they managed to form a band, and their worldwide fame came as the result of an award-winning documentary about their plight.

The Refugees won a recording contract, with help from a batch of music celebrities, and the resulting album was both powerful and emotional. Sadly, they couldn't repeat the experience live. Instead of playing on their strengths - their sturdy and poignant songs about their experiences - they came on looking like a rather exhausted, rough and ready dance band.

The songs mixed African reggae and dancehall with bursts of highlife, drumming and chanting, but there were passages where they were wildly out of tune, and they seemed determined to repeat all known rock cliches. The greeting, "How are you feeling, London?" was followed by demands for world peace, including "peace in Australia". Mixed in with all this were occasional reminders of their remarkable history. In Living Like a Refugee they slowed down briefly to describe how it felt with "my job, my food, my bed, my language all gone". Then it was back to the unremarkable dance styles, with the once-poignant Refugee Rolling now a tribute to their own current success.