REVIEWS

Irish Times writers review a selection of events

Glasvegas

Academy, Dublin

If there is one band guaranteed to remove any Christmas cheer from this year's seasonal atmosphere, Glasvegas are it. They may have just released a Yuletide-themed EP but don't be deceived by such misleading appearances. The four-piece who sauntered on stage at the Academy for their first Dublin headline show didn't smile and barely talked, and their gloomy intensity would send even Santa scuttling back to the North Pole.

Dressed entirely in black, and featuring a guitarist who could easily line out for the second row of the Scottish rugby team, Glasvegas are a no-frills group. Funny then that their whitewashed wall of sound suggests that everything but the kitchen sink has been thrown in to help form their crashing, seismic pop symphonies.

Adding extra dollops of reverb to the vocals and guitars, this short set showcased the finer elements of their debut album, released in September. It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cryand Geraldinewere full-on, fist-in-the-air anti-anthems that were greeted adoringly by the crowd. Displaying their obsession with Phil Spector, their customised formula for writing radio-friendly (if naggingly familiar) indie-pop tunes and their gift for recreating a world of Asbos and broken homes, street fights and regret-filled mornings after, the Glaswegians showed oodles of heart behind their obvious muscle.

The uncommunicative James Allan, a doppelgängerin look and gesture for Joe Strummer, exuded a passion that was returned in kind by the fans.

Ironically, Go Square Go, the story of the pressure on a youngster to brawl for his honour, prompted a mob-like chanting of the song's refrain, "here we f***ing go", that continued long after the band left the stage before their encore.

There were faults. Both Ice Cream Vanand Stabbedlacked the subtlety, and therefore the impact, of the album versions of the songs, as Allan's lyrics, delivered with a thick brogue, fell victim to the venue's acoustics.

But the final downer of Daddy's Goneensured that the misery-soaked evening ended on a high.

Considering their subject matter is so bleak, Glasvegas managed to leave behind a trail of positive energy. BRIAN KEANE

ConTempo Quartet

Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin

This concert genially combined an all-Romanian, all-20th-century programme with an atmosphere of celebration for the recent National Day of Romania. The Romanian ConTempo Quartet has been Galway's ensemble-in-residence since 2003.

Notably absent from the programme was Georges Enescu, Romania's most internationally recognised composer of the 20th, or any, century. And while the pieces presented here had composition dates of 1947, 1964 and 1974, the overall impression was of a much older, Romantic style.

The first of Doru Popovici's Two Byzantine Pieces, for example, simply but sweetly alternated hymn-like homophonic passages with short fugato-style episodes, both very melodic with hints of folk music. Four years after finishing this piece in 1964, Popovici was studying with Ligeti, Stockhausen and Xenakis.

Extracts from Paul Constantinescu's Concerto for String Quartet featured a long, lyrical cello solo in the Adagio, and a hugely energetic Finale, again with folk influences.

Similarly, Games Iby American-Romanian composer-conductor Sabin Pautza had a strong folk feel to it. Its tranquil moments offered the concert's most contemporary technical feature, namely a mix of harmonics and sliding glissandi which made those moments stand out as rather eerie. The alternating quick sections then took up the spirit of the title with playful energy.

In these pieces there was little to challenge the performers (nor indeed the audience), yet the players engaged with them with the kind of wholehearted commitment that in recent times has often been missing from other quartet concerts. The ConTempo painted a strong, appealing portrait of the 20th-century Romanian quartet repertoire and left me wanting to hear the rest of Constantinescu's concerto and what Popovici sounded like after being with Stockhausen for a couple of years.

The concert ended with what were announced as four encores: a selection of Romanian dances arranged for quartet by leader Bogdan Sofei, featuring what seemed like a million flying notes in his own part with oom-cha oom-cha variations in the others. All colourful and great fun, with his arrangement of Danny Boythrown in for good measure. MICHAEL DUNGAN