Tuesday 29/04/03 Fonda 500, Athlete @ Academy, Liverpool

If you thought the world of quality showmanship stopped turning when Har Mar Superstar got shingles last week, think again. For the hole left by the diminutive egomaniac's absence is being filled by Fonda 500, the best thing to come out of Hull since, er, whatever the last good thing to come out of Hull was. There's no slinky disco though. Just a ton of kitsch pop rock, laced with wonderfully half-arsed keyboard parts lifted from a Super Nintendo and a frontman who performs the entire show with his face obscured by a wooly hat and panda ears. Whoever this mystery bloke is, he's a right funny ****er, and with retro chic songs like 'Betamax' and 'Rollerdisco', he manages to whip up the closest thing you can get to a frenzy on a rainy Tuesday night in Liverpool. And, what's more, he does it all without getting off his seat. Absolutely slamming and bloody brilliant.

And so it is with great regret that we say goodbye to our chirpy Northern friends as prissy pop quartet Athlete take the stage. And how banal they sound in comparison. Tight, though. Very tight indeed. I tell you what, those boys can play in time, bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, all together, all tight as you like. Rock solid. Vocals too, and at the same time as all that other stuff. Seriously. That's bass, drums, guitar, keyboards and vocals, all together, all in time, all four of them, together. And not one mistake. And backing vocals, did I mention them? Backing vocals and theremin, together with the guitar and bass and drums and vocals and keyboards, all together, at the same time, four people, as one, tight as you like, a unit, a complex mechanism if you will, playing instruments through amps on a stage to people in the audience. Look out for them - they're very, very tight.

Photos by Sakura Henderson :: sakura@gigwise.com