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Blowing Up The World, Dextra, Uber, Label Eamonn Doran's - 06/07/2003

The long-awaited launch of the first Irishunsigned compilation cd ?Scene Unheard? started somewhat tamely in Eamonn Dorans as Donegal band ?Blowing Up The World? struggled with a low level of appreciation from the audience, which comprised of a large guest list of friends, family and invited media. Being first on a line-up in a town that you are not from is always a hard job. However, ?Blowing Up The world? won themselves some new fans because of their obvious talent, their enthusiasm, and those vocals ? so reminiscent of ?The Police? in their better days.

They gathered momentum when they played their track on the CD - entitled ?After Midnight? - which set the stage nicely for DeXtra who, as usual, arrived with a bang as lead singer Declan Grange grabbed the audience from their seats and shook them around for a while. The Ballymun band took time out from their high-tempo, high energy set to lull the crowd with ?Feelin? Blue? - the song they re-recorded especially for ?Scene Unheard?. This also gave the poor over-worked photographer an opportunity to catch Declan Grange in a rare non-moving pose. The largely rock-orientated audience showed their appreciation with much applause as Dextra rocked Doran?s with their very own crowd pleaser ?Ross and John? to finish.

Uber brought a well-deserved and much needed change of pace and style with their unique and intelligent electro-rock sound. The crowd, those who know real music when they hear it, held on to their seats as Uber blasted out ?Obecal? - an almost prog-rock song looking at the future in the fantasy world of ?Hallelujah Land?. The track ?Howendaya? was also an unusual futuristic sound. One of the stronger bands on the unsigned scene, Uber is a band to watch out for.

The change of pace didn?t last long though as ?Label? exploded onto the stage with amazing presence and music, which I?m sure you could hear half way down the street. Unfortunately the vocals and lyrics went almost un-noticed as the crowd?s proverbial socks were blown off by the sheer decibel level of this grass-roots super-group. A fitting end to the night, they captivated the crowd and etched the name ?Label? in everybody?s brain.

The night was summed up by Ron Healy, who explained to the audience, ?IrishUnsigned is not about me or Dave Reid, or the politics and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes - its simply about the music?

Review written by: Gary -- garybaitson@hotmail.com

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