"This is the closest we've ever been to the charts", quips Graham sardonically, indicating the stacks of LPs next to the temporary stage set up in the Virgin Megastore. Then Urusei Yatsura launch into the giddy pop rollercoaster that is "Strategic Hamlets", and you wonder why everyone's favourite lo-fi popsters have not come a damn sight closer.

Playing to celebrate the launch of the new-look NME, Urusei Yatsura look a little awkward standing there under full shop lighting, exposed to the inquisitive stares of little old ladies passing by the front window. But they knuckle down, playing off the inadequacies of the venue and showcasing some particularly fluffy and day-glo tunes, such as "Kewpies Like Watermelon" and the wonderful "Hello Tiger". Sonic Youth, Shonen Knife, The Monkees and Nirvana all thrown together in one great plastic pop package, Urusei are a rare breed of lo-fi band: one with a sense of humour. Not for them the sub-Trainspotting meanderings of Arab Strap, or the studied chin-stroking seriousness of Mogwai. Urusei Yatsura instead bounce around on luminous spacehoppers, grinning cheesily and shouting at each other in Japanese that they learned from dodgy manga comics.

A short set (well, it was free after all), but one filled with enough delights to make it memorable. At one point, the world's smallest moshpit even gets underway but soon ceases as they threaten to knock over the stand of Full Monty videos. Incongrous surroundings, but ones in which the surreal candy-coated tunes of Urusei Yatsura seem to fit perfectly.

As we troop out the store, picking up our free copies of the NME on the way and looking for chances to nick things (there were none), the store staff begin dismantling the stage and putting the singles back. I try to swap the Run DMC single for "Hello Tiger", but they stop me. Maybe one day...