Friday 25/10/02 Twiin Babies, The Clear, The Mojave Collective @ The Zanzibar, Liverpool

It was blowing a gale outside and threatening to rain on me so the UV filled Zanzibar was seemingly like heaven, although I'd worn black again. Damn.

Twiin Babies are a five piece with an eighties goth rock influenced sound, who manage to balance originality whilst honouring their roots - although perhaps at times a little too strongly. A more funky beat you could dance to came through in later songs, but it felt a bit awkward and rushed. They gave a nod to The Cure with a 'Boys Don't Cry' outro, which had splatterings of two-minute instrumentals throughout.

The Clear were similarly derivative, however, instead of forging their own sound, they managed to perfectly crystallise mediocrity. Don't get me wrong, instrumentally each member of the band was spot on and few mistakes were made excluding the high-pitched feedback problems with their singer's acoustic. It just felt as if their sixties sound had been done before.

Vocally I was also unimpressed. Backing vocals were weak and vague, whilst the lead tore my eardrums apart. Matters didn't improve when a song was dedicated to John Leslie, something I've seen done one too many times recently. Fortunately to distract me from inevitable boredom a potential fight began to brew as one member of the crowd began to drunkenly stumble into other people.

After a short wait The Mojave Collective came on stage - the first band of the night to exude real confidence. Playing the tightest set, there was little internal communication necessary, as each member of the band knew his parts well.

Having listened to their recorded samples during the week I was unsure how the Collective sound would translate live. Contrary to my fears the songs were upbeat and lively. As a member of a dwindling Friday night audience you were made to feel part of what was going on onstage and for the first time that night I felt like I really wanted to dance. With time running out their set was cut short. Their final song was an admirable farewell with a quiet self-confidence rather than an egotistical "we are great" finish.