John Carpenter @ Liverpool Music Week, 28 Oct

While it would be a tad unfair to compare downtown Liverpool to dystopian New York, there's something undeniably John Carpenter-esque about the setting for tonight's show by the master of horror. A former Georgian circus on the outskirts of the city centre, the venue’s labyrinthine corridors and gothic balconies look the perfect hideout for any one of Carpenter’s cult creations, from Michael Myers to Snake Plissken.

Indeed, the prospect of seeing the 68-year-old film director in the flesh has brought any number of be-costumed devotees out to what turns into a glorious black mass in celebration of both the man’s films and their eerily electronic self-penned soundtracks. Right from the off there’s the distinct feel of an event about tonight’s proceedings and grins break out as a beaming Carpenter launches into the theme from Escape From New York, with fans cheering as the big screen shows Kurt Russell doing his thing accompanied by stabbing synths and pulverising drums.

Carpenter’s own enthusiasm is infectious and he's clearly revelling in the chance to relive the darkly obscure corners from his oeuvre. The likes of Assault on Precinct 13 and Big Trouble in Little China mix perfectly with the action as the director’s backing band – including his son and godson – produce a pummelling sound at least the equal of modern masters of the genre like Mogwai and Mugstar.

While the enthusiasm for the pieces from Carpenter’s recent Lost Themes collection is slightly muted when compared to his better known works, they're in no way substandard, with a similar mood of fear and tension purveying each soundscape.

Such is Carpenter and his band’s skill they even tackle the great Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to perhaps his finest film, The Thing, with its terrifying sense of claustrophobia mirrored by the skin-crawlingly tense images above. There’s laughs too when Carpenter and their band simultaneously don sunglasses for They Live’s succession of consumerist slogans and on-the-money mid-80s cheese, accompanied by some amusingly endearing dad-dancing from the horror master himself.

By the time Halloween’s immortal arpeggios ring out underlined by some truly bombastic drumming, Carpenter has confirmed that he is both a master of audio and visual. Don’t have nightmares.