Yesterday Mrs Bagrec and I made our way to The Windmill in Brixton, a terrifying looking estate pub that's turned itself into quite a fashionable little venue.

We were there after being tipped off that one of the acts, "Double G and the Traitorous 3" was in fact somebody a little more well known.

I did have nightmares about who that "Double G" in question might be- but as George Galloway is still safely locked up in a house where "The contestants are sad, vulnerable people. That's why it makes it even more disgusting to see Channel 4 taking advantage of them in order to raise its viewing figures" (Socialist Worker, Aug 2000), I knew I was safe.

No, the GG in question here is Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, making his first live appearance since 1980. More in a moment.

I have to say I had a great night, it felt like being dragged straight back to 1979, the music played between the acts was unfailingly marvellous (dub reggae, rare-groove, a few odities like Joe Meek) and played at a volume which didn't loosen my fillings. The audience was a real mixture; a fair few grey-hairs like me, but lots of people who can't have been born last time Scritti Politti played. I supped horrible beer at a faster rate than I should and enjoyed myself.

Then the first band were on- a group from Manchester called I Had an Inkling, who were great- disjointed free funk (think a more beefheartian Big Flame with a bit of Red Crayola chucked in) Horribly young of course, but extremely inventive and, I suspect, right up rhodri's street. The drummer alone was astonishing. They had a 7" for sale too, which in my excitement I forgot to buy. Damn!

A bit more cool DJing followed and I met up with Lindesay (my tipper-offerer), and the tiny place got more and more packed and the excitement increased.

The new Scritti Politti (I'll call them that for ease) took to the stage in a shambling self-effacing manner, and kicked off the set with Green singing along to an electronic backing track (his lyrics on a music stand, see, I'm not the only one who forgets his own words). He's bulked out a tiny bit now (as we all tend to) and sports a goatee, which is a distinct improvement on the Emo beard he was wearing a few years back- but the voice (surprisingly from that frame) is still as sweet, high and entrancing as ever. The first track, it had to be said was not that much of a departure from the Scritti sound of the last 20 years, but things became much more interesting when the band kicked off. They're a young group- a second guitarist (Green was also playing guitar), a girl on bass and backing vocals, a drummer and a bloke on keyboards and maracca.

The new stuff is marvellous- there's no return to the rampant experimentalism of the 70's, but there is a more guitar "rock" ish sound (reverb-y and tremolo-ish), even a country tinge in places. What it wasn't, in any sense, was "eighties".

Lyrically too, Scritti continue to be interesting- with an atheist anthem that went along the lines of "Jesus doesn't touch me".

Not surprisingly, they played no old stuff. We didn't mind. I'm really looking forward to the new LP.

Feeling on a high, and slightly worried about getting home easily, we left for the bus before the headlining band came on, so if the Shortwave Set are any good, I'm sorry I missed you.

Waiting for a bus, and still feeling all 1979, I bought a couple of cans of Red Stripe for the journey home. There was a period when this stuff seemed rather exotic to us punks in Teesside, you saw Johnny Rotten drinking it with rastas in trendy London clubs...
It was of course, pretty vile.