Traditional band Cherish the Ladies is an eight-piece group - six musicians and two Irish dancers, all of them first-generation Irish-Americans. They have existed now for over 10 years and are very highly regarded.

Their concert at the Harcourt Hotel proved to be an enjoyable but patchy affair, suffering in part from the unsuitability of the venue. The Harcourt is simply too small for a band this size: whenever the dancers emerged, the staged appeared dangerously small and cramped. Also, there was a lot of talk from the audience, meaning that the band were only in full control when playing loud, fast music.

Reservations aside, Cherish the Ladies proved to be a tight and efficient band. Their opening set - a mixture of jigs and reels - was well executed, building dramatically in tension before the entry of the two dancers, Eileen Golden and David O'Hanlon.

Accordionist Mary Rafferty was the soloist for a Breton strathspie - she put across the tune's quirky phrasing skilfully and was greatly aided by Donna Long's keyboard accompaniment (Long is a sensitive accompanist, helping tunes along with clever basslines and crisp chording).

Other instrumental highlights of the first half were provided by Joanie Madden (who produces an unusually warm sound on both whistle and flute) and fiddler Siobhan Egan (a businesslike, unshowy and very appealing musician).

The songs were less successful - partly because of amplification problems and partly because the restless audience just weren't interested in listening. Songs were again talked over in the second set, which was very unfortunate, as there were two gems for anyone who cared to listen - a moving Battle of Aughrim and a marvellously controlled a capella version of Broken-Hearted I'll Wander.

The evening closed in good-natured style with a sing-along Go, Lassie, Go (a huge number of artists joined the band on stage, including Frances Black and Bobby Clancy) and some hectic dance sets.