Dutch treat at the Cobblestone, 19 July

4WD in close harmony: Joost van Es, Jurgen Biller, Alfred Bonk, Jan Michielsen, Edu Grin

By the end of the show, even a deaf person with impaired vision could have told it was a great success by the number of flashbulbs going off throughout the evening. Unfazed by the hot, close night - made hotter and closer by the Cobblestone stage and lights - 4 Wheel Drive manoeuvred effortlessly round their big Rode mike and delivered the intense, masterful picking and singing that won them the title of #1 European Bluegrass Band 2002, plus the #2 band award and the #1 Audience Popularity Award at this May's European World of Bluegrass Festival. On Wednesday 19 July they won a standing ovation from a full house at the Cobblestone in Smithfield, on an evening that clearly delighted everyone involved.

Bluegrass shows in central Dublin (even by American acts with established reputations) have not always drawn the attention they deserved, so the outcome of Wednesday's show is something of which 4WD, Paul Lee and the Cobblestone, the audience, and the Dublin bluegrass community can be proud. Special thanks to Gerry Skelly for bringing his upright bass for the band's use.