BLOODY typical, isn't it? You slog away for 11 years trying to get the punters to come to your gigs then you announce your impending break up and suddenly the world and, his granny is trying to get into the Olympia Theatre for your farewell show. Dublin band A House are calling it a day and Friday night's final fling was a wake to beat the band.

In their decade long bid for super stardom, A House had a thing or two going against them one was an unsoundly structured name, another was a penchant for wilful quirkiness which kept them interesting but not always commercial. Just to remind us how much the band meant to young Dubliners in the late 1980s and early 1990s, singer Dave Couse introduced early songs like Kick Me Again Jesus, I Wanna Kill Something and Call Me Blue, bringing us back to those innocent days when everyone went to the Lark in the Park and Capital Radio played lots of young Irish bands.

Then it was off the big fat merry go round and on to more recent tunes from the band's fifth and final album.

No More Apologies, and despite the optimistic gaze of In to The Light, it sounded more like a dark adieu. "There must be every f**er in the world I know here observed Dave, after the crowd had hijacked the words to Afraid and sang it right back at the be amused band.

I Cry Easily and the tragicomic The Comedy Is Over underlined the happy sadness of the occasion. Here Come The Good Times brought this funeral to a grave dancing climax, Couse's words ringing with the eternal hopefulness which probably kept A House going through good and bad times. No More Apologies ended on a more sombre note, leaving us feeling a little forlorn.

Judging by the sustained calls for an encore, and as Couse crooned the keyboard drenched melody for When I First Saw You, it became apparent that this was going to be the last time. And A House bowed out with a great big balloon bursting bang.