Heineken Rollercoaster Tour

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Heineken Rollercoaster Tour 2003 arrives in Castlebar tonight for the final show, and after Waterford, Cork, Tralee, Dublin, Maynooth, Sligo, Carlow, Athlone, Limerick and Galway, everybody appears to be present and correct. In good nick even.

Formed just over two years ago, Limerick band Woodstar are a strange yet potentially beautiful creation. Theirs is quite a strange sound for an Irish band. Up to now, few bands would celebrate and embrace a rural, ethnic vibe, in a similar fashion to the way some American bands do – but of course there is no cool Irish equivalent to Americana. Whatever, Woodstar’s experimental attitude seems to be working anyway, with songs like ‘Dumb Punk Song’, ‘Time to Bleed’ and ‘Amphetamine Lights’ all sounding very fresh and exciting.

Turn are a great little band. With new member Ian Melady (ex-Skindive) filling the vacant spot left by bassist Gavin Fox, the band sound as tight as ever. Tonight, all of their mini-classics are given good airings: ‘Too Much Make Up’, ‘In Position’, ‘Anti-Social’, ‘Beretta’. Encouragingly, ‘Summer Song’, their most recent recorded output, is a high point.

The Frank & Walters came out of Cork in the mid-’90s, when the country’s Second City was rock’s hottest hotbed, with The Franks and The Sultans of Ping, causing serious damage to the British charts. Songs like ‘This is Not a Song’ and the frankly anthemic ‘After All’, bring a cheer of familiarity from the crowd (most of whom wouldn’t remember the Franks’ halcyon days, with Top Of The Pops appearances amongst their achievements). Frontman Paul Linehan’s droll presentation makes for some surreal moments, but overall the Franks prove they can still cut it with the best of them with new songs such as ‘Change My Way of Thinking’.

Overall it was a nice package, the three bands complementing each other nicely. Roll on next year!