Sugarhill Gang, Subclub Birthday Week, Sub Club, Glasgow, 5 Apr

Two members of the Sugarhill Gang is better than none. Even before the Subclub opened its doors in 1987, the Gang would have had legal trouble appearing all together in Scotland, so we should be glad to see any of them here at all tonight. They manage to rinse out a whole gig of fun from only a few tunes, leaving not a grin-less face in the place. We're treated to the dreaded 'new stuff', but thankfully it's a shortlived detour. Going straight from a track nobody knows into a cover of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five is a crowd saver, delivered just as the novelty of their new-school offering starts wearing off. Sugarhill may well have some good ideas to show us, but nobody seems too convinced this is the time or the place. It's clear that everyone is here for the same reason; the whole night is a look back at the past, a slice of fun. When they stick to serving up that recipe, Sugarhill are dynamite. [James Blake]