ZEPPO WHELANS, Dublin. 18/06/2002

Without a 'hello', 'goodbye' or 'how are you' Zeppo opened up their first number. A little banter was more forthcoming after they had settled in, but these are talented musicians more engrossed in their playing than chatting to the crowd. Fear was their second number and a much heavier sound than the first, with Metallica type screaming/singing. Not to my taste, but there always seems to be a market for it. By the fourth though, tones of The Sex Pistols, (Anarchy in particular) and even that overplayed blink 182 single were evident, add to that a keyboard / synth vibe along the lines of Howard Jones and the Pet Shop Boys of the eighties and some weird and wonderful things were happening. Back to Heavy Metal for the fifth, but for their sixth they found their originality again for more brilliantly bizarre collaborations of sounds with whispers of fairground rides and much, much more. Their third last was their best in my mind with everything thrown in together for a cocktail strongly mixed with equal amounts of uniqueness and talent. In this one song U2's Joshua tree featured, there was a sexy jazz club feel, and a decent dollop of The Doors. It was great to hear such original stuff, if only I didn't have listen to the heavy metal stuff I'd have been engrossed throughout. But then that's just me. (Although the biggest clap of hands were for my favourites too!)

Review written by: Ron Healy and Deirdre Murphy --

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