Supertramp

It's been a long strange trip for the 'Tramp (as aficionados fondly refer to them). From students' favourites in the mid-1970s to mums' and dads' memories in the late-1990s, there can surely be nothing as irritating as a reformed superannuated rock band with as little personality as this bunch.

One interminable piano-driven and brass-injected jazz/ funk "number" followed another, collectively the epitome of ponderous, portentous, and pretentious musicians masquerading as a bona fide rock band. There was, inevitably, a whole lotta parping going on, but not much else.

The most lucid, compact song played during the band's set was Breakfast In America, a ho-hum song that at least has a tune. The backdrops poorly echoed the surreality of Pink Floyd, but more crucially placed Supertramp firmly in the timetrap of their biggest success - a stadium-populated era lacking in genuine emotions or artistic integrity.

This was the band's debut gig in Ireland, despite having been around collectively and individually for the past 25 years. All things considered, it is quite likely that we will never see their like again. Fingers crossed, eh?