Phantom Phundraiser (with Turn, Mundy & Others)

Temple Bar Music Centre, 24th March 2002

A packed Temple Bar Music Centre was the venue for Phantom FM's Phundraiser which saw a colourful cocktail of local talent take to the stage for a most worthy cause. The crowd was eased into proceedings by singer-songwriter Louise Byrne whose melodic sounds received a good response from the audience. A talented and charismatic performer, Louise was a perfect choice to warm-up the crowd.

Next on the agenda were Future Kings of Spain. The trio has been making a name for themselves on the live circuit and succeeded in injecting a spicier indie-rock flavour to the night. This was followed by an energetic performance by La Rocca, peppered with favourites such as Dependence Theme and See You Later, the set was concluded with Feeling Like A Bastard - choices which seemed to just about appease the ardent La Rocca fans in the crowd.

Graham Hopkins, known to many for his drumming duties in Therapy? raised the tempo another notch with his side-project Hopper. Backed by Turn's Ollie Cole and Gavin Fox (who had swapped their trademark black suits for leather jackets and jeans) and BellX1's Binzer, Hopper added a more powerful metal air to proceedings with tracks such as Why Bother, Head On and Bangers. Graham's straightforward approach to performing involved mocking the audience for being too boring, a shrewd move which evoked the required response - security men looking edgier as the crowd got rowdier. The set was packed with catchy, quality tracks - a pleasure to watch!

The two ladies responsible for the event (Phantom FM's Alison and Jenny) appeared on stage next to thank all involved and welcome special guest Mundy who was warmly received and got audience to sing along to gems such as Mexico and July. Joined briefly by Glen Hansard the sense of magic evoked by the two singer-songwriters was one of the highlights of the night.

Blasting straight into Man on Mir, Paul Noonan and his BellX1 colleagues speeded up the tempo once again. Giving the usual impassioned performance the band succeeded in gaining the best levels of participation so far on the night. Faster tracks were complimented with slower favourites such as Slow Set and Pinball Machine.

Last up were headliners Turn who stole the night. Straight off a plane from New York and apparently feeling the worse for it (you'd never have guessed) the band still gave the usual 110% and received the best response of the night. More established tracks such as Never Needed You, Beretta and Anti-Social were blended with material from the excellent new 'In Position' mini-album.

One of the key traits of the five-hour concert was the sense of camaraderie between the performers. This display of home-grown talent and the audience response is testament to the fact that a more than ample demand exists for Phantom and considering how far the station has come over the past few years it can only be onwards and upwards for Dublin's favourite indie station.

Roisin Dwyer

Tune into Phantom FM on the internet viawww.phantomfm.com
Check out the following 4 discussions on the CLUAS Discussion board relating to the award of a broadcasting licence to Phantom FM:
----> Phantom FM: now clear to start broadcasting (Nov 2005)
----> Phantom FM: end of legal battle? (Oct 2005)
----> Phantom FM: What will it be like? (April 2005)
----> Phantom FM versus Zed FM (Apr 2004)