The Vaselines @ ABC, 12 Dec

"The last time we played in Glasgow we were paid £12.50 and two tabs of acid." This is the Vaselines' first official gig in their home city for two decades, and everyone is acutely aware of it, from the crowd, who greet the band with a reverential hush, to founding members Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee themselves. Musically, everything is in place: Frances's harmonies are still giddy and naive, while Eugene's guitar creates the depth of sound which gives songs like Slushy their unique maudlin rainy-afternoon quality. Yet the pair are no longer impudent youngsters - he looks like John Lithgow, she looks alarmingly like my best friend's mum - and tonight is somewhat akin to watching your parents do a really good Vaselines at karaoke, right down to the studiedly smutty patter. It's endearing and amusing, but relatively absent of the sweat and the feeling of communal ecstasy you'd expect from a Vaselines show in their heyday. [Gillian Watson]