The main attraction was Republica, after months of speculation about other prospective acts and the week's deliberation on the conformation of Republica, they were finally here and at 10:00pm they strolled on to the hallowed stage.Republica are now a streamlined three piece of lead vocalist Saffron, guitarist Jonny Male and keyboardist Tim Dorney, together with a live drummer they are more tightly controlled than the six piece that I saw at Glastonbury in 1997. The Republica of 1997 was the band that was tipped for greatness everywhere but a quiet spell left them forgotten and in the cold.

The release of the album "Speed Ballads" propelled them back to the public but the fame had not been the same, but we still know who Saffron is. And this crowd has not forgotten either as they open with one of those early hits "Drop Dead Gorgeous" and follow up with "From Rush Hour With Love". Decked out in a blue Chinese style top and black combats together with studded bracelets and chains, Saffron is every part the rock chick who is desired by both sexes, males for her obvious sexy good looks and the girls for her incredible hair colouring and rock chick status.

As she often shouts "Come on you F***ers" to the receptive crowd, the rare moshpit that has established itself at the front of the stage bays for her blood, in a nice way you must understand, they play through a host of album tracks from both albums including some stand out tracks "Bloke" and "Kung Fu Movies" but the obvious highlight comes with the song "Get Off" where Saffron declares "I wanna get off with you", believe me darling, the feeling is mutual between all of us. The sound in the Dive is some of the best I have heard in a long time, eclipsing the usual tin pot PA sounds found in so many of Worcester's live music pubs. Eventually "Ready To Go" is played and to the crowd's pleasure too, as to be fair, we hardly know any of their songs at all.

Republica play a one hour set with an encore of "Holly". Republica's music is fairly individual as they mix punk grooves with echo beats, how many bands can pair influences of The Clash, X-Ray Spex and Blondie with modern beats? The sound that Republica is fairly common now but on their dawn in 1997, only Garbage were as similar.

Since they hit the big time, Republica have worked with the likes of the Lightning Seeds and The Prodigy as well as Saffron's constant appearances at film premieres and fashion shows. These days they are more of an underground act playing a tour of Universities including appearances at Oxford, Cambridge, Aberdeen and Southampton, Republica seem ready to launch themselves back into the big time, and a very impressed crowd here would verify that too. review by Dan Raywood

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