The shower of beer rains down from the back during the best-loved songs, all fighting talk and bravado (Scooby Snacks and The Fun Lovin' Criminal). There are dry periods, notably during the slower tracks, late-night lounge lovelies from the new album, Loco, and the last one, Mimosa, but at the end of each song the same manly chant - "Hue-Eee, Hue-Eee" - fills the venue.
For those mystified by the Crims' pulling power (they sold out on both nights here) in the UK, a live gig explains it all. The band offer a fantasy of urban bad-boy antics, a mirage of rap culture. The FLCs are perfect for a generation of men who don't leave home until their late 20s. The crowd was young, mostly male, well-laundered and fed, and they wanted to be bad, just a teensy bit, for a couple of hours.
This relationship - pop band feed audience fantasy - is nothing new, but Huey, Mackie and Fast wear it well. Producing a big, bold sound between just the three of them, they fly through musical styles - heavy metal ("feel free to scream along if you like"), punk-tinged thrash numbers, hillbilly riffs (the perkily named Dickholder with which they open the show) and laid-back vibes. None is any more or less convincing, though it's a relief to get away from the pounding guitars for Love Unlimited, their Barry White tribute. For this number, as a mark of respect, the band's enormous mirrorball over the stage is lit by spotlight.
The FLCs bring larger-than-life charisma, passion (on the up-tempo numbers Fast pounds the keyboards like a muppet possessed by funk) and, in a 10-minute break, Huey's Acting School, in which he and a sidekick impersonate Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi as played by De Niro and Pacino. Huey speaks of drinking ("It took 13 beers just to get us up here tonight"), tells un-PC jokes and implores us all to cross our fingers. You cross and hope they won't do any more heavy metal, but it's not about the music. "Let's hope we all get laid tonight," Huey growls, as the beer begins to fly and the "Hue-Eee" chant starts to rumble.
• Fun Lovin' Criminals play Carlisle Sands Centre (01228 625222) tonight and Sheffield City Hall (0114 278 9789) tomorrow, then tour.
