Probably the best thing about the surge in new bands which the world has experienced in the last couple of years is the way that, rather than providing a strict template of adherence like Madchester, Grunge, Britpop and Punk, it has brought out the best that the musical heritage of each place involved has to offer. New York brought us brilliantly skewed, sleazy punk with disco undertones, Detroit provided thundering garage blues, Liverpool delivered 60s tinged psychedelic guitar pop, London chipped in with its own style of scuzzed-up council estate rude boy punk and the suburbs and satellite towns just went right ahead and did what they'd always done. Take the grey skies, the green fields, the fights outside the pub, the late buses, the hopelessness and the beautiful dysfunctional eccentricity of small town life and turn it into indie music heavily influenced by The Kinks, David Bowie, XTC and The Smiths. Ladies and gentlemen, here are British Sea Power.

But first, ladies and gentlemen, here are The Delays. It's impossible to overstate the influence of Guided By Voices on modern guitar music, the way that they wedded the sharp, angular guitar sound of post-punk groups like Wire to a timeless, melodic sensibility which recalls the sixties but could be from any age. The unnerving shiver down the spine as the band hits a chord change which you were never expecting but which you now realise you've known since before you were born. All of that is here coupled with a handful of great haircuts, a choirboy lead singer and an insistent beat which brings new dignity to the long-lost music journalist's cliche "toe tapping". If they capture this sense of warm-but-icy, wired delivery on their forthcoming album then they've got a winner.

So, a tough act to follow but if British Sea Power are worried about it they don't let it show. Marching onto the newly foliated stage they immediately set the crowd jumping, filling the small venue with enough electricity to power every air conditioner in this icy December Tokyo. Another five minutes of their jerky, hyper-tense, starey-eyed stage manner and the crowd are getting uncomfortable, when the guy in the World War 1 army helmet starts stomping around the audience banging a drum in their faces they are outright scared. And enthralled.

You probably already know the classics now, the video for "Remember Me" currently getting wall to wall airplay on MTV Japan, but also "Apologies To Insect Life" is vital and tight and "Fear Of Drowning" is heart-wrenching. What direction the songs take from here is anyone's guess but they have the imagination and the musical talent to do whatever the hell they want.

There is no encore, they dispense with gentle, nostalgic, sing-along album closer "A Wooden Horse" midway through the set and climax by taking the already epic "Lately", stretching it to breaking point and kicking the shit out of it. Guitarist Noble playing from the top of the speaker stack and carrying singer Yan around on his shoulders, multiple instrument swapping, the methodical dismantling of the drum kit, headbutting the cymbals. They urge the crowd onto the stage and one guy is brave enough to take the challenge but when Noble jumps on his shoulders he simply crumbles under the weight of all the sheer, high density rock bliss and runs away in terror.

Gig of the year by the way. -Ian Martin, Jan.06.04