In June this year, Detroit pranksters Electric Six crammed the traditional pop rise, fall and rise again into one bizarre moment when they split up and reformed within a week. Out went band members Disco, the Rock 'n' Roll Indian and Surge Joebot, and in came men with even more preposterous pseudonyms poking fun at pop's po-face: the Colonel, Johnny Na$hinal and Frank Lloyd Bonaventure. The reason for the reshuffle was given as "temperamental differences" and showed that the Darkness are not the only band tapping into the public's enormous appetite for satire.

The Darkness are pure pantomime, but Electric Six have a little more going on. When Six singer Dick Valentine illustrates a line about the US government with a Hitler salute, he makes a point as potent as their song Naked Pictures (of Your Mother), which, despite its snigger-inducing title, mocks US foreign policy.

The ideological mischief works because Electric Six are a lot of fun. They make their entrance one by one, each more immaculately dishevelled than the last. Valentine is transfixed to comical immobility by a banner reading "I love Dick", while his gift for mocking the establishment is not hindered by a resemblance to Paul Burrell. It takes some guts - and a fine sense of irony - to deliver an a cappella song about death to an audience of young people, and the band provoke a surprising amount of cheers for a song about "logging on to the internet pretending to be someone else".

The Danger! High Voltage! hit aside, Electric Six's turbo-garage sound doesn't always have the songs to match, and a cover of Queen's Radio Gaga recognises the weakness while making a point about mass propaganda. Valentine thanks the crowd and the band, and in his finest moment praises "George Bush... for going home".

· At Manchester University tonight. Box office: 0161-832 1111. Then touring.