Therapy? Thekla

It came as a great surprise that the 1990s Irish rock band Therapy? is still with us.

For all but the hardcore fans, it would have appeared the fearsome three-piece were residing in the "Where are they now?" file. Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as the band have been plugging away for much of the past 20 years.

But announcements like "We haven't played this song in five years" still made their Thekla gig feel like something of a comeback.

Dressed all in black, the band were in impressive form, feeding off the energy of a lively crowd determined to enjoy a wet Thursday night.

A number of songs came from their 10th and most recent album, Crooked Timber.

New material like Exile continues their trademark sound –heavy, metallic, but with bursts of melody.

To say they were loud would be an understatement –at times it was remarkable the old boat didn't fall apart with the force of their performance.

It was clear the boys were loving every minute of the second show of the tour, with singer Andy Cairns praising the audience's enthusiasm in impressively filthy ways.

But it was the 20-minute encore that really set this gig apart, as strong a performance as you will ever see from a rock band.

Packed full of hits like Happy People Have No Stories, each song was met with a bigger roar than the last. Die Laughing was unexpectedly dedicated to Michael Jackson and Stephen Gately, while Going Nowhere started with a cheeky verse of The Beatles' Nowhere Man.

Highlight of the night was hearing several hundred people chanting the lyrics to Potato Junkie

.

There was only one song to finish with though, and that was one of the earliest, Screamager. Some 16 years after it was released, the pop rock classic sounded as good as it ever did.

A welcome return for a band that never really went away.

8/10

SAM RKAINA