I could have been a contender - Reverend and the Makers to play Heineken Green Spheres in Dolan's

Seems that Sheffield's likely lads Reverend and the Makers are to play the latest Heineken Green Spheres event in Dolan's Warehouse on Wednesday, April 29.

Yep, the lads behind Heavyweight Champion of the World, are to play in Limerick before heading off on tour with Oasis over the Summer. Support will be from Tom Middleton and tickets are available from the Green Spheres website.

Never really picked up on RATM - 'cept that Jon McClure (pic above) - aka the Reverend - is some sort of demi-god on the Sheffield music scene, a prolific poet and great mates with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys (the story goes - denied by all involved - that McClure wrote some tunes for his mates). Certainly seems like he might make for a decent interview, will get right on that.

With the Enemy due in Dolan's on Sunday April 19, it seems more and more semi-decent English indie bands are starting to cast an eye over these parts. Sounds ok to me.

Wonder if this Green Spheres will be any better than when Carl Barât and the Dirty Pretty Things came to town. Yawn. Here is the review I wrote after that gig, carried in the paper on the 6.6.08.

IT IS only three songs into the gig and already my mind is starting to wander. Do you ever find yourself getting distracted by something at a gig and then you realise you have been day dreaming for ten minutes?

The gig is Dirty Pretty Things in Dolan’s Warehouse, on, of all nights, a bank holiday Monday. I should be at home in bed after the weekend I have had, but instead I am in the Dock Road venue along with 249 other brave souls - most of them obviously with no work in the morning - to witness what is left of the Libertines following Pete Doherty’s departure.

Dirty Pretty Things are in town thanks to Heineken for a Green Spheres free gig. In fairness to the mighty corporation - that I rightly feel owes me a few quid for years of shelling out for their product - Dolan’s is decked out with lights and various spooky paraphernalia, as well as some free lubricant.

From the looks of things 90 per cent of the crowd have availed of the booze on offer and the band fronted by Carl Barat and fellow ex-Libertines drummer Gary Powell and guitarist Anthony Rossomando and ex-Cooper Temple Clause bassist Didz Hammond take to the stage around ten o’clock to a huge roar.

The band play a rollicking sea shanty brand of rock and roll that veers drastically toward bland punk rock at times. Here to showcase new material from forthcoming album Romance At Short Notice, the newer material does little to impress. A friend remarks that she has seen all of this before in 1994 when she saw an early Blur gig in Dublin - and funnily enough guitarist Rossomando strongly resembles a young Alex James.

Most of the set is a jumble of confusion and noise that seems very popular with those moshing at the front. There will always be a market for this music though, yet I considered myself a Libertines fan until Pete Doherty’s antics drove me to despair.

On the upside drummer Gary Powell is a mighty force on the drums, and occasional aid from Hammond and Rossomando on vocals relieves us of Barat’s often grating vocal. On the downside, on at least three separate occasions it is impossible to tell when one song ends and another begins.

Salvation comes initially in the form of new single Tired Of England and finally with last song of the set and the very first single the band released, Bang Bang You’re Dead, both revealing a happier jauntiness that conflicts with the tired and confusing set that has gone before it.

As the band walk off stage to a wall of feedback I again find my mind wandering as I fret about the pints being thrown in the air and wondering if ‘ol Pete Doherty is at home in London stealing Barat’s telly again now that he is out of jail.

Come back Pete, all is forgiven.