First off, it has to be said; in't the Maze fucking skill? It only seems like yesterday that it was doomed to become another victim of the currently depressing trend of taking anything good and interesting and turning it into another place for students to foul up. Luckily, Tamsin from Reigate and her ilk had to find somewhere else to leave their Capital One bills on the floor, and if there was a God in Heaven, there'd be statues of the Save The Maze committee all along Mansfield Road...

On a weekend that was absolutely rammed with quality events, it was good to see proper Reggae putting its face about for a change. Just like Hip-Hop, the genre is suffering a serious lack of quality control in the land of its birth, and it's up to the UK to repair the damage. Over at the Social, the Highness Sound System were, as the kids say, running tings. Across the way at Rock City, Skindred were demonstrating that Welsh people could lively up themsen just as much as anyone else. But the main event was right here in the back room of the Forest Tavern...

Moonbuggy are the latest addition to the Notts scene, and a very welcome one too; mining the rich vein of late-70s instrumental skank without falling into the trap of sounding like the theme tune to Pigeon Street, they've already run into the dilemma all decent Reggae bands have to face; an audience who are so hyped up on the music that they want to nip out for a spliff with an ear cocked against the fire exit. The only downer they put on the event is the fact that we're going to have to wait 9 months in order to see them in the open air, where they belong. Check 'em out the next time they're about in town; they're very good indeed.

Pama International are on a mission to drag Reggae out of the chatty hands of Ragga-Muppets like Sean Paul and the like, who sound to anyone over 30 like Jim Davidson doing his impression of Chalky. How do they propose to do this? By going all the way back to the early 70s, the era where Rocksteady was tipping into the full-blown dread of Roots, and scratchy little labels from Kingston 11 combined to produce some of the most accessible and imperishable Pop music ever. Their latest CD, The Trojan Sessions, is the first recording in over 20 years to come off of that hallowed label, with guest appearances from the likes of Dawn Penn and Dave and Ansel Collins. Serious pedigree, in other words, and you couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive about a live experience shorn of such talent.

All fears are kicked in the bollocks and shoved down Mansfield Road about two seconds into the first song. In Lynval Golding (whose only previous appearance in Notts was a walk-on at a Pogues encore at Rock City in 1986 with Neville Staples), you have the rare opportunity to witness - at extremely close hand - a member of one of the top 5 bands this country has ever produced (and no, I'm not talking about the Fun Boy Three). Sure, he looks more like Saxa (The Beat's elderly saxophonist) these days than the lairy young rude boy who bellowed "Bernie Rhodes knows, don't HARGUE!" on Top Of The Pops 27 years ago, but he's turned into an evil guitarist and the leader of a shit-hot band.

Seriously, if Pama International were any tighter that night, they would have snapped, and taken out the eyes of the first three rows. In Finny, they have a lead singer who looks like Terry Venables' moddy little brother with a stage presence that oozes charisma,  even when he's trying to light a mangled-up fag. And they have LEE PERRY'S BASSIST, for fuck's sake, who must be very grateful for the brief holiday from whatever planet his gaffer is on. The music - tune after tune of bounce and verve that seduces everyone in the crowd from student boys to middle-aged skinheads - is so infectious that you want to cuff every one of your mates round the head for not having the nous to be here.

By the encore, when Lynval fiddles with a harmonica, everyone in the Maze knows what's coming next. When the opening bars of A Message To You Rudi kick in, everyone loses it en masse. I dunno what you've seen over the last 10 months, but unless something major happens in town over the next 9 weeks, this was the gig of the year in Nottingham, and an absolute coup for The Maze. Bands of this calibre should be too big for places like this (as a matter of fact, their next gig is at the legendary Dingwalls), and every muso and gig-goer in town should be grateful they live in a town where places like this exist. To paraphrase The Specials; I will dance in this club right here, all the girls are nice and the beer tastes just like beer.

Pama International played at The Maze on Saturday 21st October 2006. They were fucking mint.

www.pamainternational.co.uk
www.myspace.com/nottinghammaze

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