Bjork: still declaring independence

After her stunning show at Glastonbury last year, Bjork's first London appearances in five years have been eagerly anticipated.

It may be 15 years since she released her first solo album Debut, but Bjork's latest album Volta still sounds fresh and experimental; she's one of a handful of artists who can couple longevity with pushing boundaries, and still put on an inimitable show.

Bjork's entrance to the stage at Hammersmith Apollo is preceded by the all-female 10-piece Icelandic brass troupe Wonderbrass, who open with Earth Intruders. Bjork appears, looking suitably other-worldly in a hair piece woven into two shaggy horns jutting from either side of her head. As she dances about the stage - simply dressed with alternate red and green flags featuring a bird, fish, crocodile and frog - two flames flanking the stage shoot to the sky. The euphoric atmosphere is set.

It's not long before she brings on special guests. Malian Kora wizard Toumani Diabaté joins her for Hope, perching at her feet to wow the audience with an incredible instrumental.

Not long after another guest is announced, and on comes Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. He looms above Bjork's diminutive frame, but they manage to fuse their imposing stage presences for a cut-down rendition of duet The Dull Flame of Desire.

Although the majority of the set is new material from Volta, Bjork covers plenty of old ground with songs from Vespertine, Homogenic and Post, and the new and the old merge seamlessly into one solid set.

The most impressive moments come with the hard beats of some of her earlier hits. Army of Me unleashes green lasers, strobe lights and streams of silver paper into a thrilled crowd.

And later Hyperballad - the first verse of which Bjork barely needs to sing, the crowd knows it so well - turns into an all-out rave, with lasers dancing across the Apollo to the thumping beat.

But the dancy stuff is carefully interspersed with the ballads; the stark, magical Pagan Poetry and the pared-down Cover Me contrasting with the swirling crescendos of Bachelorette.

For the encore Bjork sings Jóga and the crowd accompanies her for the chorus "state of emergency" they sing resoundingly "is where I want to be".

She rounds up the show with Declare Independence - the song that got her into hot water after dedicating it to Kosovo and shouting "Tibet! Tibet!" at a recent concert in Shanghai - an outburst which China's Culture Ministry claimed "broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings".

It's certainly struck a chord since then. "Don't let them do it to you," she says, "make your own flag" - the crowd surges to the front near the stage and swarms left and right, fists punching the air.

At the end of the show, when the waves part, two unfortunates are lying on the ground being treated by first aiders. A state of emergency, perhaps, but they looked pretty contented with it.

Bjork plays Hammersmith Apollo again on Sunday night.

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