Frogs, lice, flies, boils - the 10 plagues visited upon Egypt revisited the Barbican in song form last night, swirling inside a venue that, by happy coincidence, is built over an old plague pit. Before a clip of the film Exodus - last year's Margate recreation of the Israelites' flight from Egypt - a house band led by David Coulter played dark, dramatic sounds on everything from strings and piano to glass harmonica and the eerie musical saw. All that was missing was dry ice.

Such itchy undercurrents set the scene for a maverick cast eager to put their live spin on 4AD's Plague Songs collection. Here was MC Spooka Tobza & Jackapella, rapping through the explosive opener, Blood. Fife folkster King Creosote and his self-penned Relate the Tale, told from the perspective of a frog and sung while facing the 20-strong Sense of Sound Choir. Country music's very own White Stripes, The Handsome Family: "We have the pleasure of bringing you Lice," said Rennie Sparks, fingering her banjo.

Flies had the choir buzzing over ambient backing. Death of Livestock, written by Laurie Anderson, was delivered a capella by folk legend June Tabor amid pin-drop silence. American Sandy Dillon, a sort of female Tom Waits (two of whose session musicians were in the band), did a vaudevillian Boils. There were Hailstones courtesy of name-to-watch Daniel Knox. Locusts from mbira-picking MySpace queen Imogen Heap. An admirably demented Darkness by 67-year-old vocal experimentalist and national treasure, Phil Minton.

And then, finally, Rufus Wainwright. Cinched into a black trenchcoat, strumming an acoustic guitar, singing Death of the Firstborn in mournful, pitch-perfect tones with backing vocals from Heap.

There were modern plagues in the second half. But it was the Biblical plagues, the Old Testament afflictions, that really made this an unparalleled evening of pestilence.

• The film Exodus will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 9pm on Monday 19 November.