Although there were a few skinheads, Ska's association with racism, hooligans and fascism was not in evidence at the Concorde 2, host of the Brighton Ska Festival.

Apart from, that is, the appearance of two police officers, who spent a lot of time at the front inspecting headliners Too Many Crooks.

The officers must have decided the headliners were crooks in name only and wandered off in search of trouble elsewhere, dragging somebody at random out of the crowd and taking them outside to be searched.

Meanwhile, the stage-diving began. Sadly, landings were not cushioned by countless moshing hands and there will almost certainly have been some serious bruising the following morning.

However, the crowd was peppered with a few individuals whose enthusiasm almost made up for a disappointingly sparse audience by leaping around very energetically.

The band looked elated to be on stage again in their home town at their first gig for a year.

Dave Cook (vocals) grinned broadly throughout the whole set while Alan Perry (sax) slapped himself repeatedly and delightedly on the side of the head as the tempo grew more frantic for We're So Happy.

Sweat was flying off the band and the audience alike for Kiss and Get Up as the inexorable pull of the ska beat had everyone bouncing.

The girl in stripy tights played the ska groupie to a tee - complete with can of beer in one hand, fag in the other and two fingers up in the victory sign as she bobbed and jostled among the band members on stage.

There was disappointment for fans of Ska'd For Life, who did not turn up, but Stoke's Ruff Kutz and The Splitters from Leicester brought with them their own faithful following.

The best hair-do of the evening went to Ruff Kutz's lead singer. Despite an energetic set, there was not a hair out of place in his impressive, foot-high pink Mohican.

The shades-wearing brass section won the prize for the best Madness lookalikes.

Most of the The Riffs' numbers were covers - I never imagined House Of The Rising Sun could be so transformed but sound so right put to a ska beat.

It was the fifth Brighton Ska Festival and although it was not packed towards the end I suspected many of Brighton's ska fans arrived early and left promptly in time to put the kids to bed.