Band

Nicholson and Brando face off in Arthur Penn's uneven western

Will Oldham-influenced alt.country from Brooklyn

Upbeat debut from Chicago-based four-piece

Fine if sometimes obscure music-making from fiery Scots legend

The reunited US college rockers get startling heavy at what may be their final UK appearance

Lou's Velvets and solo works hand-picked for posterity with direct input from interested parties

Sparks ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON FRIDAY MARCH 21, 2003 If geeks had their own political party, they'd probably be able to organise their conferences around the same time and place as the next Sparks gig, thus ensuring a 100 per cent attendance. That's how London's Festival Hall feels tonight, anyway. Sparks fans make your average Trekkie look like Elvis—that's young Elvis, of course: although even old, fat, shit Elvis wouldn't look so bad beside a myopic thirty something in a lurid "Lights Out Ibiza" T-shirt.

What it means to be in a rock band, or have a career, seems to have melted and fused into something older and freer for Jon Langford. The Welsh leader of original Leeds punks The Mekons lives in Chicago these days, and plays with The Waco Brothers, The Sadies and The Pine Valley Cosmonauts too.

Saucy street-funk from the dream-life of Riley

Simmering sophomore outing from New York alt.country trio