Star rating: *** For an ensemble that has played together only a handful of times, The Treacherous Orchestra managed to draw a huge crowd to the ABC on Saturday night. Word about this 12-piece supergroup is clearly out.

Star rating: ***

For an ensemble that has played together only a handful of times, The Treacherous Orchestra managed to draw a huge crowd to the ABC on Saturday night. Word about this 12-piece supergroup is clearly out.

Whether the curious got entirely what they expected is less certain. The TO is not a session band peddling floorfillers, and opportunities for dancing were few and far between. Instead, compositions drawn from across the group were delivered in very sophisticated arrangements, with regular changes of pace and dynamics. In terms of ability, a jazz group like Mingus Dynasty would be a reasonable comparison, although the Mingus Big Band is much more free.

With John Somerville directing proceedings from the accordion, this was prog-folk of great accomplishment played with studied nonchalance, but, even on surprising material like Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal, perhaps just a little too clever for its own good.