What a gig. I dragged an ageing English muso from my work along to this gig, knowing it was already sold out over a week ago, expecting to get in and have a good time. What i didn't expect was the Datsun's to headline (as the tour is actually the Hellacopters with Datsun's support) and to play a show that truly blew the ears off the we-wanna-rock London crowd. For warm-up, a group called The Gaza Strippers, came out and on each song were joined by one or two members of the two main bands. A guitar solo from a Hellacopter there, bass and guest vocals from a Datsun there. An unusual way to get things started, but the early arrivals seemed happy enough with it. Then came the Hellacopters. And they do have a catchy rock tune or 2, and they do play very loud, heavy and tight. A bit like Van Halen a bit like Thin Lizzy and a little bit like Fu Manchu. No irony apparent. As far as the genre goes, they are a pretty hard act to follow. So when the Datsun's arrived on stage to a heroes welcome from the at-risk-of-breaching-fire-act Astoria crowd, and belted out the most passionate set of generation-less rock'n'roll most people are likely to see, they quickly dismiis any thought of not living up to the hype. And i mean hype, they are probably the most talked about band, especially from a live perspective playing in the UK right now, you can't look at any media without a mention of them, Jools Holland, Q magazine Best songs of 2002, Kerrang, MTV2, John Peel show, cover of NME for F**cks sake. But whent hey play a set like this (althoug it is probably the same set of songs they have played for the last year or two, i.e. most of album plus a couiple of new ones, and 'Thank you ladies and Gentlemen' to finish) you can see why. This might sound cliche' but, screaming guitar solo's, snarling vocals, punk rough drum beats, and riff-a-rama has never sounded so good, and when Phil leaps from the 8ft High Marshall stack in classic 70's rock pose stye and lands on his kness never missing a note of his solo, you do believe these guys just absolutely love playing this music. And the passion is infectious. It is an understatement that this band is making it big, and it is due to their live shows, but i have to ask, of all NZ bands why this one, i mean in terms of originality, these guys don't have a scratch on HDU, Shihad, Salmonella or even HLAH (a true great Kiwi band, some of the best live fun ever). In my opinion it coems down to three things, 1 is the aforementioned passion and believe in what they are doing and live shows that shamelessly flauts this, 2, hard work, 3 relatively accessable/radio friendly songs - all around 3 minutes long and catchy and a fourth has to be simply right place/right time. They are not jumping on band wagons, they have been doing this for years, but right now rock is back, especially in the UK. Anyway, enough of my shit. Good luck to them, they deserve everything thay get. Long Live the Datsun's.