Although Irish by birth, guitarist Christy Doran has lived most of his life in Switzerland, so this concert marked his Irish debut. He plays in a jazz-rock style of sorts: highly experimental music with roots in Jimi Hendrix and the fusion music of the early 1970s (John McLaughlin et al). Doran's preoccupation is with creating unusual sounds and effects, using various pedals and techniques to achieve this end. He was accompanied by Ronan Guilfoyle on bass and the English drummer Steve Arg uelles.

The trio worked well together - Arguelles is a sympathetic drummer, while Guil foyle and Doran bounced ideas off each other with great confidence. The first tune, New Out- line, opened with an impress ionistic exploration of guitar sound effects. The music finally settled into a jazz-rock groove, without ever becoming predictable - rapid shifts of tempo and time signature made sure of that.

The guitar playing on Der Gruner Heinrich (a Doran tune) was phenomenal - Doran threw off phrases at ridiculous speeds, but never sacrificed clarity. However, the high point of the first set was Ronan Guilfoyle's Tenski. It opened with a highly imaginative bass solo which moved in all kinds of directions before settling into a lazy riff. This riff was then explored brilliantly by both Doran and Guilfoyle.

The opening tune of the second set was too directionless for my liking, but on the two pieces which followed (Arguelles's Hopscotch, then a lengthy guitar and drum improvisation) Doran's playing entered into new realms of virtuosity. Amazing music for its sheer intensity and sonic variety.