Just walking in through the door you can immediately tell that The Glam's "Yamai-ni Rock" event is going to be something special. The lights are low, the decks - courtesy of guest DJ Shokichi - are spinning, the already sizeable crowd is chattering excitedly, there's an air of anticipation, and a tension like this can only be alleviated by the power of rock and roll.

Randy And The Pyramids are first out of the traps, with a slowly unwinding opening song that is as psychedelic as their name and their trousers suggest. While some of the songs could stand a little trimming, they keep attention from straying thanks to a sharp, unpredictable new wave element that weaves in and out of the music. Their closing number builds and builds around an insistent beat that gives some idea what a more positive, less paranoid Clinic would sound like. The tone is set for the rock and roll fun that the rest of the night has in store. Good work, boys.

Exploding all over the stage like Junior Senior fronting The Undertones, Do The Boogie are a scissor-kicking, shape-throwing, air guitar-provoking punk rock monster. The sheer volume and energy of their on-stage antics would upstage The Hives, and they set the front row's feet tapping and arms flapping, when they're not running for safety from guitarist Kei Akitani's potentially lethal stage dives.

A brief interruption to proceedings now as an extremely embarrassed and slightly drunk Clear And Refreshing writer is dragged onstage to explain in mangled Japanese about plans for a creative community to support musicians and bands in Tokyo (keep your eyes on this space for more details). The audience's patience and warm response is rewarded by the arrival, dressed to kill in matching boiler suits, of The Positives. They play a mixture of epic indie rock and heavy-as-fuck garage blues. What unifies everything they do is the wired zeal of the delivery and the insidious effectiveness of their riffs as they panel-beat their guitars into blissful submission.

Despite organizing tonight's gig, The Glam opt to step back from the headlining slot, taking the stage with casual, moody, shoeless confidence. No sign of fatigue from vocalist Misaki, despite having spent the whole night flolloping around in front of the stage, like one of those dancing sunflower toys, as they kick off with a short, to the point, power burst of Beatles harmonies that's the closest they get tonight to actually sounding glam. While there's nothing in their songs that you haven't heard somewhere before, it's rare that we've been lucky enough to hear it all in one place. The explosions of saw-toothed guitars scream and battle with the thundering bass and drums, like a domestic dispute in a grenade factory. All the while, Misaki with her disinterested, half-sung, half-spoken vocals, and unflappable bassist Tomonii hover above the fray like the emotionally desensitized children watching from the balcony. Drummer Kyoujyu is the quiet authority in the background keeping the violence in check, unfalteringly bestriding the stop-starts and changes in tempo. That out of this chaos can come such harmony and beauty is testament to their skill as both songwriters and as musicians.

Finally then, if a band like The Glam are going to take the support slot on their own gig, then it's got to be for a pretty special reason. Cue Ato. The curtains open to three strangely dressed young men pounding out a krautrock beat as the microphone stands empty in the centre of the stage. Suddenly from the back of the room bursts a velvet jacketed Sid Vicious in a giant polka dot kipper tie who snatches the microphone from its stand and starts screaming into it, all the while jerking about like an epileptic, staring out everyone in the room, one by one, and grinning like a lunatic. While communication with the audience is mostly limited to screaming in their faces, their riotous showmanship, coupled with the fierce, untamed post-punk energy of the music has us entranced, and when their set finally detonates and they swoop offstage, the clapping and foot-stamping of the breathless crowd is rewarded with a ferocious encore. If you ever get the chance to see any of tonight's bands, then grab it with both hands, but for fifty or so people in Koenji tonight, we had the supreme good fortune to see them all together. -Ian Martin, Jun.20.04