And why should you vote Jello? Anyone who ran for governer of California demanding that all businessmen wear clown suits can't be all that bad. But anyone who came expecting a night of punk rock classics from the ex-singer of the Dead Kennedys would have been disappointed. No drumkit, no guitars, no stageset - just a man and a microphone. And a mouthful of venom. 3 hours plus of political diatribe, incisive political commentary, and an information powerhouse on two legs. All dressed as a county sheriff, straight out of the Dukes Of Hazzard stylee! yee haw!

From his entrance on stage dressed in sunglasses and a religious smock via some of his mroe well known spoken word material such as "Assclowns in Toyland" and "Die for oil, sucker" to the closing 'Become the Media' mantra, Jello Biafra comes to the UK for a rare - and welcome - visit. Exhaustive and exhausting, you get the impression he could stand on stage for hours and hours more, just to cover all the topics racing through his brain; there's things he just touches upon in a mammoth talk about US foreign policy, the quagmire of Iraq, the Californian energy Crisis, The split of the Dead kennedys, myspace, and so much more its exhausting just to list them, not just listen to them. But value for money? Three hours for £15. Fantastic value for money. You might not get lasers, inflatable bunny rabbits or video projection - but what you get is heartfelt passion, political diatribe, and an insight into a one man demolition of the current American right wing politics - "George Bush: Lust For Glory" if you like.

It being Birmingham, we get a metal contingent of the show - jello sings fragments of War Pigs (whilst down the road, a reformed DIO-era Black Sabbath playing to 13,000 people don't sing it...) and asks the crowd if there's any of Napalm Death here. He regales us with stories about James Maynard of Tool being censored on myspace, of Buzz of the Melvins getting pro-Bush campaign literature, of his own battles with an endless assault of junk mail and political marketing - and then showing us the 8x10 glossies of George Dubya Bush and Ahnuld Schwarzneggar to prove it. He bashes on a fake gong to make points... all whilst resplendent in a cop's uniform. He goes into tremendous depth about how KBR - military contractors paid $28 per meal per soldier three times a day to supply food to troops - left American troops so undernourished one commander physically drove his troops 200 miles to ensure they got fed and don't die of starvation. He ravages diebold and electronic voting fraud, quotes Noam Chomsky, laments the state of punk reformations (with particular venom kept for the Germs - now touring with some actor from ER on vocals ).He spends an hour outlining the history of Iraq, barack Obama, and the Military Comissions act. He reserves special treatment for the no fly list to be extended to include Elton John and Paul McCartney on grounds of musical crimes.

Make no mistake - this is a one man information powerhouse on a mission, taking political hectoring to a whole new level. For a man how on his 8ths triple spoken word album - roughly thirty hours of material - there is some repetition that is familiar, mostly taken from the recent release 'In the Grip of Official Treason'.

ut with a breadth of material this wide and expansive, you can't help but feel there's just much more fascinating things under the surface if only we had the time. Anyone familiar with any of the multitude of spoken word releases will certainly know how much this guy can talk - after all, the last spoken word album was four hours long - but not neccesarily familiar with how much better it comes across on stage, rather than on CD where it is stripped of visual presentation, and body language.

If there is any failings, it is how some of the information is presented incompletely despite the vast running time and comes across as nothign more than mere hectoring, preachign top a audience already converted and politicized, which will never have the same impact as a Michael Moore in a multiplex. The only other issue is the automatic assumption that everyone there is similarly left leaning political activist with an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure 70's and 80's Bay Area punk rock. Minor Quibbles aside, tonight is an engaging, fascinating, enlightening night, one that educates and entertains. And just for sheer value for money alone, its well worth it.

Jello Biafra - more punk than a mohican in a moshpit, and living proof that middle age doesn't mean minimum wage. A Punk Rock Classic... and not a guitar in sight.