IT'S hotter than their native Texas, high-voltage rock'n'rollers Young Heart Attack (YHA) triumphantly inform the York rock faithful, midway through their sweat-drenched set.

But however hot the sweltering night or the famously sweaty and intimate Fibbers stage, it doesn't faze YHA, whose set is pure exuberance and energy from the word go.

While on their mighty debut album, Mouthful Of Love, their influences are writ large - the grinding Seventies rock riffs of AC/DC, The Who and the Rolling Stones cross-bred and re-energised by the chaotic energy of American punk rock past and present - live, YHA make it all their own.

Co-vocalist Jennifer Stephens - alleged sometime girlfriend of Justin from The Darkness - barely stops grinning all evening, while managing to simultaneously radiate effortless cool, sing like the B52s' Kate Pierson and bash a tambourine into submission.

Curly-maned mainman Chris Hodge screams like a head-on collision between Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey in their prime, while unlikely lead guitarist Frenchie resembles a geography teacher stuffed into a denim waistcoat, saved from ridicule only by his undisputed Hendrix-like fret-mangling ability.

From opener Mouthful Of Love, through mighty singles Tommy Shots and Misty Rowe, to their main set-closing cover of MC5's Over And Over, they manage to even out do their excellent studio album, Stephens' vocals adding a pop edge to the riotous rock energy.

Forget the transit of Venus - last night saw rock's current hottest property blaze their trail across York with a show that can only be described as astronomical.

Updated: 10:10 Wednesday, June 09, 2004