Galway Advertiser 2000/2000_02_17/GA_17022000_E1_068.pdf 

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ID Y U H A T A . O ER H T

College bands battle it o u t again...
by Keith Barrett
with the chorus. This was the best display of crowd partici pation on the night, although all in all Socialite didn't shine bright enough to take the spotlight from the winners, Finbar's Tractor. Picture the Happy Mondays. Now picture them with more energy (as if all of them were like Bez) and then knock about 15 years off them, and give them a ridiculous name. There you have it - Finbar's Tractor. Hailing from Sligo, and on the go for about four years, it was completely obvious that these lads knew what they were at. They were tight, they knew exactly what to do, and-they could then put the extra attention and energy they had onto their stage show. With a dedicated lead singer who is in no way afraid of an audience, the band are in your face right from the very start, and there wasn't a lull in the set once. After Finbar's Tractor left the stage, the judges (myself, Tommy Loughlin from Judas Diary, Roisin Ni Fhearra as TG4, and Black Magic Orchestra frontman Garrett Phillips) retired from the designated area to a back room to compile the scores. Now, each judge had completely different scores, due to completely different tastes. While notes were scribbled and figures added up, the live camera feeds were being prepared for the announcement of the winers. Then out we came, and auditor of the NUIG Music Society Brian Barry vanished into the crowd with the score sheet. We took our seats, and watched as the students of the college went through various 'on location'shots through the likes of Back to the Future and Reservoir Dogs, with the scores being totalled and displayed. After this it was just a matter of finishing up our beverages, trying to get Kerouac off the judging area where they were badgering Tommy and Roisin as to why they hadn't won, and then off home. Another year down, and another great production from the heads at the music society in NUIG. Top class once again, and well done to Paddy Jordan for the work he puts in over and over, not just here but also running the Paddy's Bar com petition. In fact, well done to the entire crew on the night, who looked after the judges and made sure the showranas smoothly as possible.

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ell now, for some reasons I missed the chance t o | reiew this when it first! emerged, although as it's getting a | big push of late with him playing] here recently, I'm doing it now. And it's excellent. No two ways about it. The variation from ! can be as subtle as a minor sound, or a complete overhaul and tempo 1 piece. From the outset Play is interesting, using an aged sound on the vc through to mellow-moving music. What I'd heard about Play a book. It has a definite start, a body, and an end. Iji It isn'tas in your face as some of his other material, which works the ss&of gritty sounds like they were played off an old i real life to the music. The wide range of vocal samples is als^^mgfessive, ranging from biblical sounding deeply bass-resonatingiaa lyrics to sad, lonely, and depressed words that form perfect harmony with the Seeing as Moby plays all the instruments, his achievement here is quite amazing. This is definitely one for the long term, and one which deserves you cntion.
RATIWC: 9 . 5 / 1 Q

AH, THE Star Challenge. Now in its third year the NUIG college battle of the bands has grown from strength to strength, and with die five bands who played on the night, it's obvious that the talent hasn't slipped. Kerouac opened the evening's entertainment, a young band playing energetic rock with some really interesting numbers. While they had one hell of a lively guitar player, the rest of the band were very slow to move about, and while the guitarist gave it all, the overall picture painted was too still for a live act. At the end of the day, what the judges, myself included, were looking for was an act that had what it took to justify being signed, so stage presence is almost as important as musical ability. To their favour their tunes were good, interesting, and def initely easy to listen to. For them to hang up their instru ments now would be a great shame, but work is definitely needed, although they have potential. Coincidence played this gig last year, and made it to the finals. It's evident that they have completely developed over the last year - they are tighter, their music is chunkier, and they aren't as rigid on the stage as they were. Their music is a mishmash of Pantera meets Metallica meets Radiohead - heavy with milder rock influences and some melodies thrown in to boot One of their tracks made use of a bass and drums intro, which was excellent, and it was a bit of a surprise that they failed to take the title. Laura Cullen, a solo artist, took to the stage with just her self and her guitar. While she played on relentlessly, due to the noise from the crowd it was nigh on impossible to hear her voice where we were positioned. What we could hear though was really good, like Sheryl Crow, and she paid hom age to this by playing a cover of a cover - "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns 'n' Roses. While she played her heart out, it's difficult to say whether or not the music suited the event she played in. She seemed drowned out in the level of noise from the crowd, and to expect a few hundred drunken students to keep it quiet for a half an hour was never going to happen. And then there was Socialite. There was a bit of commo tion when these weren't announced as winners, but cest la vie. With music that, to me, comes from the same vein as - The Crocketts, they played lively and actually very good music - highlighted by their "Horse Tranquilisers" number, which saw a good response from the crowd as they joined in

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C WD R D O E HU OS E A RO F GW TL E TA
release with all b-sides andf 'previously unreiease m a t e r i a l ' ? Usually t l reason material isn't released because it's c r a p , and usually when it is released it's because the artists need cash, or have an album in waiting with the record company after they split upWell, whatever the reasoning behind Afterglow, the fact of the natter is that everyone predicted this to be rubbish. Well, it's not Having said that though, it's not fabulous either, but considering the instant negative aspects an album like this has when it hits the shelves, it fares well. The album succeeds in having a form of atmosphere through it. like you can almost feel the embarrassment the band might have felt when the songs were dusted off and thrown into light after, in some cases, 15 years. There are some tracks that are bad, some good, some very bad, and some very good. Whteher or not this will have mass appeal is debatable, but fans of Crowded House will no doubt love this to bits. And. just for those fans, there's a second CD, winch is an interview with Neil Finn. There you go.
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No major gigs for Galway?
With shock gasps of anticipation all round, the Heineken Weekender, the Bud Thud, and the good old Big Day Out have been cancelled. It's not clear why these events have may be some salvation in the form of ' summer. The Arts Festival may be the the Arts Festival, which took over what only event with decent music for was the Big Day Out and broke it foreseeable future to come to Galway. down over three days. Aside from KB that there's very little to look forward

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