Fantasy and freedom: Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales live in London

Recreating the room in the notorious Chateau Marmont that inspired their album at London's Barbican tonight (23rd March), Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales take the audience on a venture from fantasy to sure footing.

Taking to the stage in a bathrobe before taking a seat at a piano, Gonzales introduces the night with no uncertain amount of intimacy. Behind him, a screen depicts footage of Cocker checking in to the room, before the man himself walks on stage, suitcase in tow. Beginning with the album's opening title track, the duo paint the setting with a spirit so vivid it's almost tangible.

It's a testament to the pair's longstanding talent - and indeed to the Room 29 album - how similar the songs sound performed on stage to when played on record. Recorded for the most part as live, none of the record's nuance is lost.

Surrounded by all the usual furnishings you find in a hotel room (a bed, a cabinet, and chairs adorn the stage), the night is almost more theatre than it is concert. The dialogue is slick - almost too slick in places - but that's part of the nature of the project, questioning the reality of the fantasy that's being created before us.

What the audience are treated to on stage that perhaps doesn't come across quite as well on record is the character the musicians have created for themselves. Even in the more sombre compositions whimsical lyrics are met with laughter, and the between song banter between the pairing leans heavily on humour.

Ordering drinks and a string quartet from room service (both delivered to the 'room' by a bellboy), inviting audience participation through the mesmerising jangle of keys and later inviting one crowd member up on stage for a screen test, and with Cocker vanishing off stage to perform from inside a vintage TV set before having to be cheered back into the spotlight, there's no short of playfullness.

Underpinning it all is the talent of those on stage. Cocker is ever the frontman, pulling shapes across the stage. Gonzales is an understated master behind the keys, transporting the gathered into another world. The Kaiser Quartett bring a sure sense of majesty to proceedings. During "Trick Of The Light" Maya Orchin's serpentine dance is irresistably captivating, colour changing lights playing off her dress in awestriking tribute to the hand painted film cells that first broadcast the movements.

The enduring message here is the same as on the record. "It's better to live your own life than watch somebody else living theirs," Cocker told us in interview. But for a couple of hours, he and Gonzales invite the audience to leave all of that behind and escape into a world of their own making - just as long as they're sure to check out at the due time.