First up was Manchester's contribution, an improvisational outfit called Fingathing. Pairing a champion hop-hop scratch dj with a classically trained double-bass player, augmented by a live video mix of dvd and onstage cams, they were very well received by the crowd. Inspired by comic-book imagery, they defined themselves as 'supahero music' and included a wacked out version of Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' in their set. I've put up two clips so you can get a good look at them, Tony Wilson got up on stage and, after paying tribute to Ruth, introduced the next band - Inouk - who turned out to be, in fact, from NYC. Apparently under the same management as The Bandits, or so I was told, Inouk feature extremely good-looking american boys, rockin rhythms, and ambitious harmonies. One can see these guys could conquer the UK faster than one could say, well, Walker Brothers. Unfortunately I screwed up on recording the vocals so no vid on them I'm afraid. Headlining, and representing Liverpool, were the aforementioned Bandits. Formed in the aquarian boggie idyll of Glasto 2000, these guys have gone on to becone the godfathers of the 'acid-scouse' scene that has spawned acts like The Coral that are currently tearing up the UK. Upbeat country rock with a psychedelic undercurrent, they had really good songs sung in an engaging lilt, and very obviously, great chemistry. I was particularly impressed 1) by the keyboard player's genuine Terry Razor era Clash shirt, and 2) by the echo guitar solo in 'Once Upon A time' (clip below) which well evoked classic 60's Liverpudlian beat instrumentalism.