Wednesday 05/02/03 Electric Six @ Masque Theatre, Liverpool

This is my first time in the Masque theatre and it's rammed and I love it, even before anyone's played a note. It's got character, it's just the right size and it sounds great, so I'm happy. Very happy. And Electric 6 should be happy too. With 500 beaming fans waiting eagerly for their arrival it couldn't have been made much easier for them to turn up, play a blinder and justify the inordinate amount of hype they've received over the last month.

The band arrives larger than life itself to howls of delight from the capacity crowd, and it doesn't take them long to settle in. Electric 6 have a simple plan - look slightly crazed whilst kicking out 45 minutes of heavy disco-rock, throw in a tune at the end (a cover of 'Radio Ga Ga'), and leave before anyone has time to realise what really happened. Singer Dick Valentine, sporting a seedy, slick-back Hannibal hairdo and a single black glove, scores high on the weird-yank front that the English seem to love so much and eventually has the crowd (well the first few rows) joining in with his hand waving games. With a combination of jerky beckoning gestures and awkward dance moves he manages to play the part of affable fool and rock hero simultaneously, which is some achievement.

Unfortunately no amount of tomfoolery can make up for the lack of depth in their set. Having pushed it as far as they could before throwing in their one hit, Electric 6 nearly fall foul of the publicity that has generated such high expectations. You get the impression that they know it too. As the ice cool front shows signs of melting 30 minutes in you can almost see Valentine thinking "Just shout loud enough and act kerr-azy enough and no one will notice." That said, 'Danger! High Voltage!' never sounded better, perhaps because everyone wanted it so bad, but probably because this was how it was meant to be heard, big and loud, like an American tourist.

Photos by Sakura Henderson