Heineken Rollercoaster Tour 2003, University College Dublin: , Gosh, haven't been in the UCD student bar since, ooh, some time in the last century.
We're back in the old haunt to catch the annual rock 'n' roll circus, featuring three top Irish acts, a DJ and any number of mad-for-it students and rockheads.
This is the Rollercoaster's 10th anniversary jaunt and, true to tradition, the Dublin leg proves something of an anticlimax following crazy, crazy nights in Cork and Tralee. Time was when UCD students had nothing better to do than hang around watching rock bands, but judging by the rather modest turnout, it looked as if Dublin's student body had higher options in mind.
The slackers who turn up are treated to three very different bands from three parts of the country.
First up are Woodstar, a six-piece from Limerick whose musical horizons stretch all the way from Mungret to Malibu Beach. The influence of US acts such as Mercury Rev and Sparklehorse is evident in songs such as Suicide Way, Sorry Skin and Time To Bleed, but Woodstar have broken free from the obvious comparisons to craft a rather thrilling sound of their own. Dense waves of guitars and keyboards crash on a rock-solid shoreline, making for an exhilarating splash of noise exemplified in The Last Sad Verse Of A Dumb Punk Song. Soon the Cranberries may be supporting them instead of the other way round.
Turn are the most popular turn of the evening, and it isn't hard to see why. Even if you are unimpressed by Ollie Cole's geek-cool presence on stage, you can't fail to be moved by the trio's powerful, slice-and-dice approach to pop music. The crowd is certainly moved - straight into the moshpit. Turn's cause is helped by the fact that their music is on heavy rotation at rock pirate station Phantom FM, but when you hear perfectly pitched rock anthems such as Summer Song, In Position and Another Year Over, you wonder why they're not played to death on national radio.
The headline act on Rollercoaster is usually a tried-and-trusted favourite; this year it is perennially quirky Cork trio The Frank And Walters. When this audience was still in primary school, the Franks were enjoying their time in the sun, scoring UK hits with After All and This Is Not A Song. Their novelty value wore off quickly, but Paul Linehan, Niall Linehan and Ashley Keating have bounced along regardless, bringing their muddly, cuddly pop tunes to the kids. Today's stop: Sligo.
By Kevin Courtney
The Visit
Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire
A new western alliance, currently on an extensive tour, dropped in to the Pavilion Theatre for a one-night-stand. It comprises Sean Tyrell, singer-musician from Clare; Mary O'Malley, poet from Connemara; and Little John Nee, actor-author from Donegal. Together they offer an entertainment of light and shade, humour and sadness, in a most effective collaboration.
Tyrell opens the proceedings, playing his guitar and singing in a rich, melodious voice songs of peace and love, a WB Yeats poem set to music and much more. He is an accomplished artiste, and his numbers are infused with nostalgia inherent in their Irish roots and in themes such as emigration. By the end, he had so conquered the audience as to lead them in a singalong version of Goodnight Irene, just for aberrational fun.
O'Malley recites her poems, eclectic in their sources and effective in their ability to communicate. Such pieces as Hormones, Billie (I presume Holiday) and The Forge plant images and thoughts in the mind, often startling in their woven creativity. Her understated delivery allows them to convey thoughts and emotions without distraction.
Nee has been around the theatre circuit for a long time, and it shows. He is generally in comic vein here, with songs, such as She Is Sitting In The Kitchen, Shaving Her Legs, and stories, as of the jazz Donegal farmer or the pugilist Irishman in Glasgow who never sold out: everything he earned from fighting, he spent on drink. Nee has the common touch, charming his listeners into active co-operation.
The magic, and there's a deal of it about, is in the combination of the three entertainers blending their themes and personalities. Keep an eye out for them.
By Gerry Colgan
