Hadouken! @ London Astoria, October 10

Is there a more terrifying sight than 2,000 pissed-up 16-year-olds pogoing like Sex Pistols fans during the summer of '77? That's the reaction that Hadouken! – a quintet of devastatingly trendy teenagers who formed in Leeds last summer – provoke when they launch into 'The Bounce', tonight's opening number. With its blistering beats, kaleidoscopic keyboard lines and chanted taunts of "Don't give up the day job!" it sets the tone for the rest of this brief, but undeniably barnstorming, live set.

Hadouken!'s brand of combustible new rave is as subtle as Elton John’s approach towards home entertaining. The keyboard lines are crude and rudimentary; the drums run the gamut from frantic all the way to frenzied, and the array of juddering basslines on display tonight could give a lily-livered sort a hernia. The crowd, most of whom appear to have walked straight off the set of Skins, are enthralled, tearing into the big audience participation number 'Superstar' with relish.

But Hadouken! are more than just rabble-rousing racket merchants. The rapid-fire vocals of 'Liquid Lives' show off the exuberant performance skills of frontman James Smith, while new single 'Leap of Faith' suggests that the teenage five-piece might just be able to hone their musical formula. By beefing up their guitar riffs, pushing them towards nu-metal territory in the process, Hadouken! have essentially popped a couple of shots of export-strength vodka into their standard bottle of Smirnoff Ice.

After just 40 minutes, and without offering an encore, Hadouken! depart the stage to euphoric applause. Tonight's performance burns as brightly and as transiently as the glow-sticks brandished by the group's fans, and if a couple of songs threaten to break into 2 Unlimited's rave staple 'No Limits', nobody seems to care. Ultimately, the Hadouken! live experience is not unlike being run over by a truck ten times in quick succession, but finding that - praise the Lord! - you've emerged unscathed every time. Maybe Heroes isn't such a load of mumbo-jumbo after all.