CELEBRATING 35 years not out, American performer Kelley Stoltz is too young to remember his foremost influences. Despite looking for all the world like a typically down-at-heel singer songwriter, this San Franciscan harks back to his city's golden age.

Appearing with a three-piece pick-up band, Stoltz's brand of garage pop owed much to Moby Grape and other lesser luminaries now remembered, if intermittently, and by obsessives, as nuggets from a lost age. As the sound of Buffalo Springfield hovered in the background, Stoltz showed a deft song-writing touch.

Birdies Singing, from his last record, Below The Branches, showed his grasp of structure and melody. Clearly not ashamed to let his art get in the way of a good tune, Prank Calls was one of the highlights of the evening, a ditty that was both witty and funny.

Stoltz was performing in front of an enthusiastic crowd, who had already enjoyed the crazed, never boring (seldom tuneful) Ambulance From Liverpool, and the proficient, exuberant and ultimately well- read Seven Seals.

Stoltz seemed almost exotic, with his droll sense of humour readily apparent. He nevertheless indulged in the kind of extraneous jams that gave his hometown a bad name.

The long The Sun Comes Through, segueing with Iggy Pop's Nightclubbing, saw him revelling in the showman's role, while the concluding surf instrumental by cult guitarist Link Wray displayed his musical chops for the world to see.