London Hammersmith Odeon

BASICALLY TWISTED 'Fucking' Sister are about freedom. Dee 'Fucking' Snider's sole purpose in strutting about a stage caked in garish make up, larger than life, if not simply gross, is a demonstration of the individual's ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and achieve the desired goal.

"We're just headbangers who got lucky," yells Snider, in respect of the gulf between Twisted Sister and a legion of other HM-ists, present and past, who might claim a more divine right to be on stage and famous.

Twisted Sister may be sick muthafuckers but they're ordinary sick muthafuckers. At their best they boil down their message into ear crackers like ‘I Wanna Rock’ and ‘We're Not Gonna Take It’ – songs where the title explains all and the content, save the choruses, is instantly forgotten.

We know and they know that their shout of individualism is simplistic and full of contradictions (if only because it's delivered to one of rock's most conformist audiences), but this is hardly the point. Their field is narrow but they plough it with passion and vigour. They are massively laughable but it's painfully hard not to laugh with rather than at them.

As Snider himself might comment "Fuck you and fuck him and fuck her and fuck them and fuck everybody ... I WANNA ROCK!"

I see his point. So give him space and er ... play it loud, mother.