BLINK/REVELINO

Looking back on it, just because it was the Halloween weekend wasn’t enough reason in itself to have expected fireworks from Revelino. But having read Colm O Hare’s enthusiastic review of their debut album in Hot Press and having been a fan of the band in their Coletranes days, I expected more.

Maybe I just caught them on a bad day, but Revelino actually seemed bored. They may be one of the few ‘new’ bands on the Dublin scene creating a buzz, but they’ll have to offer something a bit more incendiary if they’re going to get the place on fire.

In contrast, Blink exploded onto the stage in a blaze of light and energy and then proceeded to run gleefully through most of their acclaimed album A Map Of The Universe. Frontman Dermot Lambert has a fine instinct for establishing a rapport with his audience, all members work their arses off and they rarely let the smile slip from their collective mask. The best tunes were generally the most familiar, ‘Happy Day’, ‘Going To Nepal’, ‘Ed’s Got A New Car’ and ‘Is God Really Groovy’ in particular shining true, and if their current hit ‘Cello’ is less menacing live than it is either on record or in its dramatic video, its comparative lack of punch is more than compensated for by the seductively balladic ‘Snow (Be Precious)’, a real gem that sounds like it could open more than a few doors to the American market.

It’s a pity that none of Lambert’s otherwise admirable cohorts can support him with the odd bit of harmony, if only to add some vocal light and shade, and their small-club grounding has tended to create the impression that they are playing almost exclusively to the enthusiasts in the front rows. But Blink are still arguably the first Irish band to become serious world contenders in the pure pop division, and their impeccable use of contemporary dance elements has more than a touch of the cute hoor about it.

Okay, so maybe Ed doesn’t really have a new car, and perhaps they are not actually going to Nepal either, but Blink’s quirky lyrics have a crazy surreality to them that transcends literal meaning, a fine tradition as old as pop music itself. When Little Richard said, “Tutti fruity, all rooty”, he just might have had bands like Blink in mind.

• Jackie Hayden