It's to the credit of their better nature that The Minutemen never sued but Liars, driven by powerful tribal drums delivered with vigour by a man in a skirt, chanted, mantric vocals from a towering Australian rock shaman and various random noises courtesy of the other guy, they hold the venue rapt if a little confused for half an hour. It's a compelling and sexy art racket and the kind of support act to make most headliners shiver with fear and rage but then a little competition just adds frisson to a relationship, right?

"Tokyo, our favourite city in the world!" or words to that effect. Typical rock platitudes, everyone knows them for what they are, it's all part of the game but when the pink tutu-with-ripped-fishnets clad singer then goes on to dribble her way through a dozen or so variations of "Tokeans, Tokyish, Tokyorns in a vain search for the word "Tokyoites", fall over and announce "I'm ok mum" before the spotlight shines into the balcony where her parents are indeed sitting, then run offstage to snog boyfriend Angus from Liars leaving her band playing the same riff over and over for a length of time that could encompass entire Strokes albums the chances are that you're watching Karen O, singer from none-more-New-York garage revivalists the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Ok, sounds great, so what's the catch? Do they mean it? Or is this another example of affected, slightly annoying, raised-eyebrow ironic retro garage (stop giggling at the back there The Datsuns)? No problem there, they definitely mean it, whatever "it" is it's delivered with passion, energy and most importantly a sense of immediacy and currency that plants the music very clearly and assertively in the Now. Also working in their favour is actual musical skill, largely in the hands of guitarist Nick Zinner whose wired delivery, frequent chord changes and general quiet-man-big-noise demeanour provides a structure and friction to the music that with Ms O's wild careening could so easily be lacking. So this was the best gig ever and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are going to take over the world?

Maybe. But not yet. The self-assurance/arrogance that kept great early EP tracks like "Bang" off the album "Fever To Tell" holds true here and leaves long, repetitive, one-note gaps in the already over-long set. "Date With The Night" is still the only other truly A-Grade song they have (and the crowd went crazy when they eventually played it) . Also, while the interplay between Karen O's frenzied vocals and Nick Zinner's edgy guitar gives a great energy to individual songs, the overall set lacks variation.

I think I can handle a certain lack of tunes as long as the band can wire my arms and legs to the national grid and make me jerk like a diabetic on a sugar drip. So basically, buy the single, see the gig?

Conclusively: Yes Yes Yes. -Ian Martin, Oct.18.03