Whatever about the Obama presidential visit the choice of performers for the concert to entertain the president leaves a lot to be desired.

Before he arrives in College Green at the heart of Dublin on Sunday, the expected massive crowd and world media will listen to the best in Irish entertainment

Except it won't be.

When President Clinton went to Belfast in 1995 there was one electrifying moment when Van Morrison came on stage and played 'There'll be days like this."

It was a magical moment, one that will stay with the hundreds of thousands who witnessed it as a huge few minutes of symbolism as Northern Ireland inched towards peace.

That was then-- now Obama has Jedward and Westlife headlining.

How sad is that? Jedward are the pride of the teenybopper set, essentially harmless and good fun but with about as much talent as I have at singing and dancing.

Their main claim to fame appears to be their fantastical hairstyle, quiffed in a Teddy Boy look that drives the young females wild.

Then there is Westlife, a manufactured boy band who have made millions by being bland.

They will hardly stir the souls of the tens of thousands who will gather tomorrow for President Obama's speech and if Obama happens to arrive while either are playing he'll probably think he wandered into a teenybopper convention.

Really Ireland could have done much better.There is no dearth of fabulous musical talent and Obama will draw a crowd anyway.

Instead we have a talentless twosome and a vanilla boy band as Ireland's opening act for the most important man on earth while the world's media looks on.

Sad that.