The showband was a uniquely Irish phenomenon. It was a movement that saw thousands of young people travel up and down the country in the late '50s, '60s and early '70s to the `Dancehalls of Romance' to be entertained by the Royal Showband, the Miami Showband and Big Tom and the Mainliners, and individuals including Dickie Rock, Joe Dolan and Brendan Bowyer. Ardal O'Hanlon looks back at the phenomenon, examining what triggered the infamous era, the people involved, and its eventual end in the 1980s