Atmosphere @ Voodoo Rooms, 17 Jun

Ushering in tonight's U.S hip-hop invasion, New Jersey's Kidz In The Hall (***) are a right nebulous duo; one minute they're all pseudo-thuggery with Neptunes-aping beats - Drivin’ Down the Block (with their Low End Theory tape in) - next they're chasing a Paper Trail and layering Illmatic flows over enough swinging '70s brass samples to make MF Doom's mask crack. It's a scattershot mixture, but arms flail in the air at the front while the heads at the back bob in hypnotised approval as the Kidz achieve what little crowd conquering a group given 20 minutes to warm up for Atmosphere can.

Sean 'Slug' Daley could easily be asking for a shower of Irn Bru bottles when he takes the stage with Atmosphere partner DJ Ant and fellow Rhymesayer Brother Ali to demand that the crowd "make some noise, you ugly Scottish motherfuckers!" But an obliging Edinburgh, joined by the highly vocal fraction of Glasgow in the house tonight, welcomes the Minneapolis MC like a returning brother, such is the bond forged by years of absorbing Slug's emotive lyrical travails. Selections from all corners of Atmosphere's prolific history are woven into the set; their recent Sad Clown EPs and the much lauded Headshots series are represented, but the showstopper comes when Slug stands jaw agape as young diehards chant verses to songs almost as old as them. Disappointingly, few tunes from latest LP When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold make the cut, possibly just because touring costs kept the rest of that record's personnel - including Tom Waits, never a cheap night out - at home. Atmosphere may never own a private jet, but they'll never want for a place to crash. (Dave Kerr)