THIS year's Heineken Rollercoaster countrywide jaunt features Scheer, The Glamtarts, Watercress and Exit, with Dave Fanning returning as emcee. The first night of the tour, in Waterford's L.A. club, was a sheer ballroom blitz with a crust on top.

For some strange reason, the local Waterford band who had been booked to open the show did not appear, making it necessary for Exit to make a hasty entry onto the stage and fill the timeslot. Then it was the turn of Watercress to pour a few dub beats on all and sundry, and the Northern Irish band went hell for leather into such crusty, uptempo tunes as Tripped Up and Spacegirl.

Using mandolins, acoustic guitars, double bass and drums, the band whipped up a stormy instrumental dub, sounding like Ozric Tentacles with a bit of Kula Shaker stirred in. Hippies they may seem, but Watercress got by on their infectious energy, and though they're hardly likely to make it big in 1997, (they have a didgeridoo, for pete's sake!), they'll certainly give it a good old rattle `n' hum.

It was tougher for Scheer to bridge the chasm between the balcony and the moshpit, not having dance beats to fall back on, but they made a strong solid attempt with songs like Wish You Were Dead, Shea, and the new single, Demon.

The thunderous, metallic K.O. of the band provided a scorched backdrop for singer Audrey Gallagher's iridiscent voice, and she surfed skilfully over the crashing waves of drums, bass and twin guitars, sometimes making a vocal leap into clear air. Scheer have added some new textures to their steely industrial sound, and the forthcoming album should see them finding that extra dimension which has so far kept them from really blowing minds.

The Glam Tarts had no problem getting the party mood going, and from the first greeting of Gary Glitter's Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again to the leg kicking finale of Frank Sinatra's New York, New York, the novelty band hoofed their way through a cabaret which was equal parts gross, unbelievable, bizarre but certainly not unprecedented.