There are two basic flavours of rock and roll music in Japan at the moment. There are the garage bands, just out of their teens with their floppy haircuts and mod suits, clutching a vinyl copy of "Nuggets" to their chests for all it's worth. Then there are the rockers. Usually older and more influenced by punk and 1950s American rock and roll, greasy quiffs and blue suede shoes proliferate, as do rabble-rousing monologues by the charismatic vocalists. If you're a regular visitor to these reviews pages then you'll know that I prefer the first kind, but a quick look at Vice Cream as they take the stage puts them firmly in the second category. And they're pretty good. They look cool, they've paid the requisite amount of attention to their suits, they're as tight as hell, and it's always impressive to see small bleached blonde albinos of dubious sexuality stagediving the first band of the evening.

Funny isn't a very punk sounding name, but the vocalist is wearing a Damned t-shirt and ripped jeans so maybe there's more to this than meets the eye. First impressions aside, Funny are a pop group with melodies and guitar solos in abundance. It's an energetic performance but nothing here ever strays too close to the edge and the audience seems to be crying out for something a little more abrasive.

Burugakisu Chanpesuki are much more of a punk band in the 1970s sense of the word. They look like total freaks, with a tall, gangly guitarist and that albino creature from earlier on vocals, and the music that they offer up is brilliant and thrillingly shit in pretty much equal measures. They open with a thoroughly disrespectful take on the blues that has more than a touch of Wayne/Jayne County And The Electric Chairs to it, and they mix more straightforward punk with some battered and bruised reggae. If they have a clue what's going on, then they do a good job of hiding it, and it sounds great.

Missile Kyodai are basically rockers, but their red boiler suits help them on the way to transcending their niche. They enliven the somewhat confused audience that Burugakisu Chanpesuki have left them, with their straightforward, no-nonsense crowd-pleasing rock and rollery and make good theatre out of their thirty minutes. If we're going to pick holes in them then the professionalism and sheen is perhaps a little too blinding and leaves one wondering if there actually is anything underneath.

The Meatballs, on the other hand, leave no doubters. The audience is mental, the albino boy is back on the stage again and nearly gets himself into a fistfight with one girl in the crowd, and U-ji's guitar bleeds rock and roll throughout. The powerful, relentless drums that introduce their first song recall something of 1960s American psych-nutcases The Monks, but their music covers the whole spectrum of rock and roll, from Buddy Holly, through 60s beat, glam rock, 70s garage, punk, and back round to Eddie Cochran, making them the second band I've seen this week to close a riotous set with a cover of "Summertime Blues". -Ian Martin, Sep.12.04.