Ideally, this intriguing show should have started in a village square outside Naples and then moved to some seething basement in Paris, London or even Algiers. Two very different exponents of global fusion from across the Mediterranean came head-to-head in an inspired double bill, and though a concert hall such as the Barbican was the wrong setting, it had at least brought them together.

The headliner, Rachid Taha, may be from Algeria, but he came on like the last rock'n'roll hero. A scruffy, hunched and shambling figure, he had a sense of danger about him that echoed Gene Vincent or Ian Dury. He has lived in France for years, mixing rock influences with his North African roots, and developed a pared-down, no-nonsense style with the immediacy and attack of early punk. He won new followers this summer with Rock el Kasbah, a tribute to Joe Strummer in which the familiar Clash riffs are seamlessly mixed with Arabic influences.

Taha played it early in the set, for his own songs are just as good. There were North African ballads interspersed with crashing guitar chords, as in Barra Barra, Bo Diddley-like riffs driven on by hand drums and keyboard electronics, and patches where he moved back to early Algerian influences.

Easy-going dance songs such as Ya Rayah allowed the occasional lute solo before the rock riffs kicked back in. He looked a mess, forever swapping hats and dark glasses, but this was a magnificent set.

It was a good night, too, for the portly Enzo Avitabile, the Italian session saxophonist and veteran pop star who has found a new lease of life since joining up with the traditional Bottari wine-barrel beaters who now provide his percussion. The hefty tub thumpers looked remarkable, sounded like a thunderous, clattering machine, and transformed his easy-going blend of jazz, world and rap into hypnotic dance music. He was a tough act to follow, and a reminder of the strength of the new, globally influenced European music scene.