THE team behind this American jazz-pop pageant are out to prove a simple point: the world may be awash with state-of-the-art, multimedia entertainment, but there really is no substitute for the kick-in-the-pants vitality of live music.

Cyberjam delivers on that promise, up to a point. The young musicians and dancers generate more energy than a hundred instalments of Pop Idol. But like its marching-band precursor, Blast, which ran at Hammersmith a few years ago, the show is undermined by its sheer wholesomeness.

There is no need to pay too much attention to the “cyber” reference, which turns out to be the loosest of frameworks for a series of high-voltage horn and percussion instrumentals, ranging from the good-humoured kitsch of Bohemian Rhapsody to more subtle numbers by Pat Metheny and bandleader Don Ellis.

If “jam” implies spur-of-the-moment flights of fancy, the enterprise is actually organised with ultra-sharp, massrally precision. Sometimes even the perspiration begins to look choreographed.

With its modest array of geometric figures and flashing lights, the set is functional at best. The musicianship, though, is enthralling. Trumpets sway, drums hurtle across the stage, clarinets execute nimble dance steps and even the lumbering tubas acquire a sprinkling of pixie dust.

The climactic number, Swing, Swing, Swing (apparently written by John Williams for Steven Spielberg’s longforgotten farce, 1941) unites all the elements to dazzling effect as the players roam among the audience.

The second act also features the liveliest reworking of the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations you are ever likely to hear, with a trombone in an unlikely starring role. Earlier, Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo à la Turk receives equally inventive treatment.

The rest of the music is curiously bland, and the choreography has a habit of falling back on synchronised baton-twirling whenever there is a lull in proceedings. The performers all carry it off with enormous zest and professionalism. Music teachers take note: one sure way to win over teenagers to playing a wind instrument would be to bring them to see these players in full flow.

Cyberjam is a winner in that respect. The nagging thought remains that the spectacle would be a lot more compelling in a Main Street parade.

Box office: 0870 8901110