I haven't been right down into a moshpit for years. The heat, the sweat, the elbows in the head, sitting under the nose of those on stage, the crushed feet. It was disturbing to get dejavu of a 1997 Faith No More concert while in the middle of a dance music gig surrounded by fans bopping and waving their arms through lasers instead of nuts falling on your head and/or jumping up and down, more or less on the spot...

The Metro has been renovated since my last trip there last year to see Fatboy Slim (average gig, that's a review I'll never bother writing). Some genius has replaced the previous lighting/mixing pit with two ugly igloos, blocking out a large chunk of the already small dance floor and restricting entry to the main front-of-stage section.

So when Underworld came on at 10pm they took me a little by surprise and the struggle to the front of stage took a few songs, The Metro being as packed as I've ever seen it with a very responsive and noisy crowd.

For those who don't know, Underworld are two people, Karl and Rick. Rick on the giant mixing desk, Karl on vox and guitar. Most music emerges from the desk with Karl jumping around the stage, making the most of the lights to highlight his latest pose. Occationally Karl would jump on the guitar and use it for anything from single note twangs, to a vocoder on "Two Months Off", to full on guitar vs. drum machine jams that excited the guitarist in me no end.

I can only see Underworld as band as opposed to a DJ or dance act, based on this gig and the Everything, Everything DVD they put on one hell of a show. Laser lighting blew everyone away and was used to excellent effect, obviously controlled by Rick and perfectly in time with the music. They're masters of crowd control starting everyone off with a nice simple beat, messing with their heads by playing the melody half a beat off and changing the song completely, Karl's crazy dancing, posing and guitar wanking, and the ancient art of drop the music to nothing, chanting wildly while the music builds and the laser light blinds until everyone is screaming their heads off.

For those who care, they played an excellent mix of tracks. Pearls Girl, King of Snake, various cuts off the new album, Cups, Push Upstairs, Born Slippy, the majority of which were remixed for the night, at first unrecognisable until the familar riff kicked. They ended on my new anthem to dehydration Moaner after being on stage for two and a half hours. Let's hope they record a gig from this tour and stick on their website, as has been their habit.

Wasn't that all Rolling Stoney. Sorry. It was a bloody excellent night, the biggest gig I've been to for too long a time. I've missed the massive concert rock spectactuar.