Waterford's Waterloo

Honestly, kids these days: it's the post-gig party on the Rollercoaster tour in up-for-it Waterford and back in the hotel after driving the tour bus into the swimming pool, trashing the room and ritually sacrificing some locals, there's nothing for it but to get out the acoustic and play some Beatles songs in time-honoured fashion. Brendan from Revelino is a bit brilliant at this, and Paul Woodful helps things along by playing an acoustic Glam Tarts set (All The Young Dudes never sounded better) but when someone shouts up a request for Up The Junction, shoulders are shrugged and "I don't know that one" is muttered all around. Is this the future of Irish rock music?

There's always a worthiness to these sort of "let's support up-and-coming bands" tours but once you get over that, it's all a good laugh. The total shebang is being underwritten by a beer company and while I'm with Gramsci on the whole commodification of culture lark, in the short term mine's a pint of lovely, refreshing, and reasonably priced Heineken beer. Playing to 12,000 people over four weeks, it's very much a student venue-type gig (just how many RTCs can there be in the country?) and after kicking out the jams in Sligo and Letterkenny, this year's cast of The Nude, Mesner, Revelino and Abbaesque hit Club LA (as in the city, not the band, I think) in Waterford.

The youngsters in Nude (average age 19) are on first each night. From Donaghmede, they've just released their debut EP to coincide with the tour. Besides the always-difficult opening slot, they have to contend with a near-empty floor and struggle valiantly with a bizarrely positioned stage - which is about 12 feet above the ground for reasons that never become apparent. Dundalk noiseniks Mesner follow, and with their crashing guitar sound, they sound on first hearing like a Louth version of Sonic Youth - but, shrugging off their influences, they display a commendable ability to go for the unexpected and the lead singer certainly knows a thing or four about fronting a band. File under "interesting". There's a sort of a "thing" about the headlining act on the tour. Nominally Revelino top the bill, but the last band on is Abbaesque - if you see what I mean. The reasoning here is that after three original acts, the audience want a disco-type finale to the evening. Either way, Revelino played exceedingly well. They always remind me, although not musically, of that other great Dublin band, Bawl: they can both play really well, both write great songs, both should be doing far bigger things than they're doing now, but crucially both need a big hit single (look what it did for Chumbawamba) or some other form of music biz intervention (like Chris Evans's home phone number) to bring their sound further afield. Playing with all the relaxed intensity of a Teenage Fanclub and the possessors of some marvellous melodies, Revelino mix and match from their first two albums and also throw in loads of new stuff off the third album which will be out later in the year. There's a very good reason why The Beatles and Abba are the two most "tributed" bands in the world, and it becomes apparent the moment Abbaesque hit the stage. You can go the cheesy, kitsch, ever-so-ironic way with Abba or you can serve it up straight as it was tonight and this knocks Bjorn Again back to Australia. Paul Woodfull, Glen on guitar and "Agnetha and Frieda" on vocals raise the roof with their warmly affectionate take on so many Jukebox classics. It's a blast and a half.

The Heineken Rollercoaster tour pulls into The Foundry Bar, Carlow on the 17th; UCG, Galway on the 23rd; The Gallery, Limerick on the 26th and The Jolly Mariner, Athlone on March 4th.

Exciting new Dublin band D'Angelus play Eamon Dorans next Thursday night (9 p.m.) while tomorrow night in the DA Club, young contenders Saville (were they really on Top Of The Pops?) tread the boards . . . Mark Eitzel is still troubadouring around the country and you can get him at Sir Henry's, Cork tonight and The Empire, Belfast on Saturday . . . Now booking: Morrissey's favourite band, Cornershop, play The Red Box on March 7th, while the mighty Massive Attack have added an extra gig at The Olympia on March 15th . . . The Hope Collective are putting on Belfast hardcore band, The Kabinboy, alongside Residence and Blackbelt Jones at the Fusion Bar in Townsend Street tonight - it's £3 in and it's all going to the Zapatistas . . . Bye Bye Carl Wilson.

Don't forget the column's E-mail address is Sleevenotes@irish-times.ie