Teenage kicks right through the… afternoon?

At first, the scene seems familiar. A young, punkish band are on stage; the Temple Bar Music Centre is nearly full; the crowd are getting heavily into the songs, those at the front moshing with abandon.

But this is not an ordinary gig. Outside, it's a Saturday afternoon. Inside, virtually everyone is under 18. The venue's bar, normally thronged, is quiet. Today, it will serve only water.

This is one of a series of gigs which, under the banner Blast, attempts to cater to an otherwise neglected audience: teenage fans of alternative music.

The only acts who make special provision for an under-18 audience as a matter of course are saccharine boy and girl bands. If Da Kids want to see someone more credible, they are often stymied by the licensing laws under which venues must operate. Blast seems to offer the answer.

Blast began 18 months ago. The basic concept was to get good, predominantly local bands to play in an environment that would be both attractive to, and safe for, a youth audience. At first, the gigs took place only once every couple of months. As audience figures picked up, it soon became clear that supply wasn't meeting demand.

Now, the Blast gigs take place on the first and last Saturday of every month. The line-up on the first Saturday (Blast 1) is intended to be punkier, thrashier, heavier. Fans of mellower, melodic fare should find the second Saturday's line-up (Blast 2) more to their liking.

So far, performers have included Co_Dot, Brando, La Rocca, Mixtwitch and Hyperplant. The first gig of 2001 saw over 500 paying customers pass through the Music Centre's doors.

The concept of all ages shows is not a new one. Robert Stephenson, the man behind Blast, recalls that his own first concert was a matinee performance by the Rolling Stones at Dublin's Adelphi cinema in the mid-60s.

"That was more common then than it is now," he says. "Live rock music has been dying for a number of years, in my opinion. The problem hasn't been the quality of the bands, the problem has been accessibility to music. I felt there was

a need to make music more accessible to the k

ind of young people who weren't interested in boybands."

Those same young people responded. A

hotpress straw poll of audience members after the gig showed a unanimously positive response from fans who had travelled from as far away as Dundalk, Drogheda, Waterford and Slane.

There was, too, a surprising absence of teenage 'bad behaviour'. Very few people had loaded up on alcohol prior to entering the 'dry' venue and drugs were, as far as this reporter could tell, non-existent. A few self-consciously fingered cigarettes and the even rarer (but more ostentatious) bout of snogging seemed to be about as hardcore as this lot got.

Stephenson takes up the point:

"The kids who are coming here, they're not drinking, they're not smoking dope, it really is straight-edge. There's no crap here, there's no pressure here. It's a good community we're building, and they look after each other."

For the bands, too, Blast seems to be a positive experience. Mixtwitch, today's headliners, get a rapturous reception for their set of high-octane spunky tunes. Liverpool's Hyperplant pressed up a small number of CD's for the occasion and sold them all in six minutes.

But, as Robert Stephenson underlines, gigs like Blast are significant beyond the music performed on the day. They provide a rallying point, a haven and, perhaps, some inspiration for the people who attend them.

"For a start, as a direct result of what we've done today, five or six bands were formed," he claims. "Kids are seeing this and saying, 'we want to do that'.

"Overall, this is an antidote to the anti-youth culture that still exists in Dublin. A bunch of kids coming together still represents trouble to a lot of people in authority in this city. On the contrary, the kids who come here are a credit to themselves. They should be treated with a lot more respect than is often the case."

The next Blast gig takes place on Saturday 3rd Feb. Bands appearing include Co_Dot, Immodium, Kid Blunt, Mercury Tilt Switch, Yakuza and Moog. Adm £4 with flyer/£5 without. Doors: Noon.