`Sorry, I can't come out tonight - I'm washing my hair." These are not words you're likely to utter on New Year's Eve, but you might well hear yourself asking that perennial question, "where's the party?" The answer is all around you, in the pubs, clubs and music venues. Once you've set your sights on a spot to ring in the New Year, make sure you get there well before midnight - you don't want to be standing alone on the pavement while everybody else is tucked inside.
Clubland is where the real action is on New Year's Eve, and Dublin's top nightspots are holding their usual big beat bashes to usher in 1998. Watch out, though: some clubs have more than doubled their admission price for the night, so make sure the spot you choose is the one you'll want to remain in for the whole night, otherwise you might find yourself on the World's Most Expensive Club Crawl. The POD in Harcourt Street is amalgamating with The Chocolate Bar and the Red Box to provide one big, trendy, New Year's Eve party, and this year's theme is Heaven and Hell. A saintly crew of DJs will be in the house from 9 p.m. onwards, and there will be lots of temptations on offer, including she-devils, dungeons and drag queens, Satan's little helpers, Santa's inferno and St Peter The Reaper. The motto for the night is "till death do we party", and you are advised to be there early to avoid Purgatory.
Across the river, at the Temple Theatre, the theme is more party political, with the Ministry Of Sound laying down the law about what's new and what's cool. The New Year will be rushed in with the sound of Speed Garage, courtesy of DJ Omar and Tim Deluxe, otherwise known as RIP Groove/ Double 99. These guys could be 1998's Chemical Brothers, so catch them on the first day of their bright new year.
Dublin's coolest collectives, Influx and Quadraphonic, have joined forces for a New Year's Eve bash in the Funnel Bar on Dublin's City Quay. The crew at Influx have decided to go against the grain by charging a paltry seven quid for a night with Dublin's finest DJs. Expect this one to sell out tout de suite. Every other club in town will be hopping on the last night of 1997, so get in the queue for the Kitchen, RiRa, Columbia, Republica and those grand old dames of clubland, Lillie's Bordello and Renards. Rock fans are well catered for on New Year's Eve, particularly fans of tribute bands, veteran Irish acts and well-established indie bands. The big show is at the Point Theatre, when Oasis's favourite tribute band, The Bootleg Beatles, headline a Fab Four extravaganza featuring all the big Beatles hits. They'll be getting a little help from their Swedish friends, Abba-esque, who have been playing around Ireland for so long, they're practically Irish themselves.
Resurgent rockers, Aslan, are in the Olympia on New Year's Eve, playing material from their latest album, Here Comes Lucy Jones, plus their big comeback single, Crazy World. Over in Whelans of Wexford Street, Something Happens continue to burn bright, despite having lost a lot of their youthful fire. Lead singer Tom Dunne is making a name for himself as a 98FM DJ, but he can still sing most Irish vocalists under the table. In their heyday, the Happens were easily the best band in the land, and it's a shame that they never went on to global superstardom. Next door in the Mean Fiddler, it's a three-band bash with Dublin buzz-rock band, Bawl, Roscommon garage-psychedelic band, The Marbles, and guitarpop band, Beach, who rose from the ashes of tribute band, The Quarrymen.
Finally, the Temple Bar Music Centre is the venue for The Whipping Boy's big New Year's Eve gig. The Boys took a commercial beating this year, when they were dropped by Sony Records, but they're determined to go into 1998 with a positive attitude and a cracking live performance. There'll be two support bands before the show and a zany club-night afterwards. Whipping Boy's dark, uneasy music sounds at odds with the light mood of New Year's Eve, but this could turn out to be a real rock 'n' roll celebration.
Whipping Boy: playing in the New Year at Temple Bar Music Centre
