Sean and Dolores Keane

With Dolores a national icon for the past 15 years and younger brother, Sean, a fast rising star, this was always going to be…

With Dolores a national icon for the past 15 years and younger brother, Sean, a fast rising star, this was always going to be an evening of good songs and great singing. What was perhaps surprising, in hearing the two performing together and in separate sets either side of an interval, was the subtle but essential difference in what each had to offer vocally, presentationally and in terms of material. Some of the duets were more compelling than others but when the match succeeded, as on Kieran Halpin's strident, dramatic Like Sister, Like Brother - allowing Dolores's windswept, declamatory style and Sean's higher and more lonesome tones to make something greater than the sum of the parts - it was a triumph.

Promoting her Greatest Hits collection, Dolores, using a largely piano-based division of the revolving pool of musicians, delivered songs such as Caledonia, The Island, and Teddy O'Neill with typically robust good humour. The reception for Sean's own set, with two guitars (including the animated Robbie Oversen) and string bass accompaniment, was extraordinary. With the appearance of effortless control, he moved the whole show up a gear. Emigration, peace and love gone wrong are themes which dominate Dolores's repertoire, and while Sean explores similar territory, he also casts a wider net, taking great pop, country and blues songs, and making them distinctively his own. Alongside Martin Hayes, Sean Keane could be regarded as one of the truly great Irish musical discoveries of the 1990s.