What's all the fuss about?

They're out en-masse tonight; Damon Blur, Miki and Chris Lush, Simon Suede and Loz Kingmaker, and half of My Bloody Valentine are floating around somewhere, too. "What's all the fuss about?", I ask myself.

Not The Candyskins, anyway. Hailing from Oxford, they seem to have rather an identification crisis. At the start they sound exactly like Adorable, which I can just about cope with, but after a few songs have degenerated to being The Milltown Brothers. Sad, really. If you ever have the misfortune of seeing them, watch the bassist for a bit of light entertainment. He's quite uncannily archetypal He tries so desperately to make eye contact with the audience and, oh yes, those basslines look sooo difficult, I must say. The expression on his face would suggest that he's having difficulty with them, anyway.

After watching that bland dross for half an hour, tears of joy spring to my eyes as Sheffield's finest take to the stage. Jarvis looks resplendent in a black flared velvet suit Candida's stylophone emits some of those delicious squirting noises and they're off!

Different sounds bombard us from every direction to give Pulp a fuller sound, far more imposing than on tape. Jarvis throws himself around the stage in a manner not unlike Jagger when he, too, was young and beautiful. Russel looks like a mad conductor and Candida, absorbed in her playing, nods her head serenely, smiling to herself at Jarvis' lyrics (which are generally about sex in one form or another) and the perfect popness of it all. New single 'Babies' stands out especially, with its wonderfully cheesey keyboards and strong(ly amusing) vocals.

Pulp are pretty much perfect. Catch - them now before word gets out and everyone wants a piece.