Thursday 19/07/07 Palladium @ The Scala, London

Remember Saved by The Bell? That early 90’s smash teen-comedy where sexually frustrated American students swapped saliva with each other more than they did English Lit notes at the back of the class. Well we do and so it seems do Palladium.

Tonight at London’s Scala the audience have walked into a time warp where Screech; his best bud Zach; the macho AC Slater, and rich heiress Lisa Turtle (there is another one, the drummer, but he’s more reminiscent of the flight attendants in Scooch) are alive and well and rocking, sort of.

Palladium could hide from this association. Instead, through a mix of fleshy basslines, spangley funk guitar and jazz-synth keyboard, they actively seek to embrace everything about it. Lead singer Peter Pepper (we’re not making that up, promise) is every bit the preppy, blonde haired ladies man of that TV show - only adorned tonight in a blue sequined top that would make David Bowie look underdressed. This is the stuff that, well, it’s the stuff that Nickelodeon is made of.

As they unleash debut single ‘Happy Hour,’ every bit like the raucous teenagers they actually are and ‘Midnight Service’ – which sees guitarist Rostas Fez (again, these really are their names) flaunt his afro-prowess on the guitar – it feels like we’ve been hit by a special Saturday morning double bill of our favourite TV show. Is that a good thing? Well if you like your music to sound like The Feeling on a growth hormone packed with helium (‘Hi 5’), then it definitely is. If, however, you like your music to sound like anything else, then you’ll probably be better off watching re-runs of the original on youtube. Like us.