As anyone who can really remember the 1960s will tell you, the real story of the decade was about the Rutles and the other lot. Asked whether the Rutles should ever reform, the other lot's Mick Jagger famously commented: "I hope not." And yet here, for the first time in years, is the "Living legend. A legend that will live a lifetime, long after lots of other living legends have died."

In reality, the Rutles are, of course, the spoof Beatles led by Python/Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band star Neil Innes, whose 1978 All You Need Is Cash rockumentary is as funny as Spinal Tap. However, of the original Pre-Fab Four, only the singer-guitarist Ron Nasty (Innes) and the drummer (Barry Womble, aka John Halsey) remain ... just like the Beatles. Sadly, the costume department obviously ran off with the moptop wigs and wacky outfits after the film. If it's disappointing to see a Rutles band dressed like blokes from the pub, the absence of visual tomfoolery focuses the emphasis on the songs: from the mythological Abbey Rut and Let It Rot albums, and imaginary films A Hard Day's Rut and Ouch!

There are people - many of them here - who argue that Innes's meticulous parodies are actually better than Beatles originals. It certainly shouldn't be forgotten that the Rutles took pop into areas it had never been and, frankly, would not want to go again. Hold My Hand derives from the notorious Hamburger period and the "psychodelicatessen" Piggy in the Middle from the time when they began "taking tea", which led, tragically, to other substances including milk and biscuits. By the time Innes asks the crowd to "rattle yer jewellery", comedy and reality are an irretrievable blur; Oasis's Whatever steals not from the Beatles, but the Rutles' How Sweet To Be an Idiot. However, in normal clothes and removed from celluloid, these Rutles seem more like a tribute to themselves.

· At Bristol Fleece & Firkin tonight. Box office: 0117-945 0996. Then touring.