2003 in Irish music

Part of a series of articles on

Popular music in Ireland
Genres

* Rock
* Rebel
* Hip hop
* Jazz

Artists

* Bands
* Albums
* Songs
* Charts
* Producers

Awards

* Choice Music Prize
* IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Awards
* Irish Music Television Awards
* Meteor Music Awards

Competitions

* Eurosonic

Festivals

Current festivals:

* Castlepalooza
* Cois Fharraige
* Electric Picnic
* Indie-pendence
* KnockanStockan
* Live at the Marquee
* Oxegen
* Slane
* Solas

Defunct festivals:

* Creamfields
* Download
* Féile
* Forfey
* Garden Party
* Green Energy
* Witnness

Venues

Indoor theatres:

* Ambassador
* Olympia
* O2
* RDS

Outdoor venues:

* Belvedere House and Gardens
* Malahide Castle
* Marlay Park
* Slane Castle
* Dublin Castle
* Phoenix Park
* Thomond Park
* Punchestown Racecourse
* Stradbally Hall

Smaller venues:

* The Academy
* Eamonn Doran's
* Róisín Dubh
* Vicar Street
* The Village
* Whelan's

Recording Studios

* Grouse Lodge
* Windmill Lane Studios

Media

Publications:

* Foggy Notions
* Hot Press
* State
* entertainment.ie
* Day & Night
* The Ticket

Radio programming:

* Phantom FM
* RTÉ 2fm
* RTÉ 2XM
* Today FM

Television programming:

* MT-USA
* 2TV
* Night Shift
* Day Shift
* No Disco
* Other Voices
* The Raw Sessions

Timeline

* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* (full list)

2003 in music By location

* United Kingdom
* Ireland
* Norway
* South Korea

By genre

* classical
* country
* heavy metal
* hip hop
* jazz
* Latin

By topic

* List of albums released

Overview of the events of 2003 in Irish music

List of years in Irish music

* … 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999

* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006

* 2007
* 2008
* 2009
* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013 …

* Art
* Archaeology
* Architecture
*   * Literature
* Music
* Philosophy
* Science+...

* v
* t
* e

A summary of the year 2003 in the Irish music industry.

## Summary

[edit]

* On July 16, R.E.M. played to a crowd of 16,000 at Marlay Park in Dublin, arriving on stage at 9 p.m. They were supported by Orager and Starsailor.[1]
* On December 7–8, Blur played the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, in their last Irish shows before they went on hiatus[2] until their return to the country to headline Oxegen 2009.[3][4][5]

## Bands formed

[edit]

* The Blizzards
* Boss Volenti
* The Coronas
* Hal
* The Marshals
* Royseven (then known as Jove)

## Bands disbanded

[edit]

* The Cranberries (hiatus)
* Skindive [1]

## Bands reformed

[edit]

* The Stunning

## Albums & EPs

[edit]

Below is a list of notable albums & EPs released by Irish artists in Ireland in 2003.

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021)

|

* Seize the Day \- Damien Dempsey (May 16, 2003)
* So Much for the City – The Thrills (May 27, 2003)
* Forward – Turn (May 30, 2003)'
* Music in Mouth – Bell X1 (July 18, 2003)
* Square One – David Kitt (September 2003) [6]
* Get What You Need – The Undertones (September 30, 2003)
* Living – Paddy Casey (October 17, 2003)

Unknown

* My Sanctuary – Autamata (2003) [7]
* Live from the Union Chapel – Damien Rice (2003)
* Hotel Room EP – Fionn Regan (2003) (EP)
* Set List – The Frames (2003) (Live album)
* The Roads Outgrown – The Frames (2003) (EP)

## Singles

[edit]

Below is a list of notable singles released by Irish artists in Ireland in 2003.

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021)

|

Issue date | Song title | Artist | Source | Sales

|
|
|
|

__ February | "Always and Forever" | JJ72 |  |  |
7 March | "Family Tree" | Paddy Casey |  |  |
25 April | "White Water Song" | Bell X1 | [2] |  |
11 July | "Tongue" | Bell X1 |  |  |
12 September | "Fake" | The Frames |  |  |
3 October | "Saints and Sinners" | Paddy Casey |  |  |
6 October | "Snakes and Snakes" | Bell X1 | [3] |  |
5 December | "The Lucky One" | Paddy Casey |  |  |

Date unknown

* "Spitting Games" – Snow Patrol (2003)
* "One Horse Town" – The Thrills (2003)
* "Big Sur" – The Thrills (2003)
* "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)" – The Thrills (2003)
* "Don't Steal Our Sun" – The Thrills (2003)

## Festivals

[edit]

### Witnness 2003

[edit]

* Witnness 2003 was the fourth and final Witnness festival to take place. It took place in a new venue, Punchestown Racecourse in County Kildare on Saturday July 12 and Sunday July 13. Acts to appear included Coldplay, Damien Rice, The Frames, The Cardigans, The Walls, The Streets, David Gray, Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, The Polyphonic Spree, Röyksopp, The Coral, Gemma Hayes, Mogwai, The Thrills, The Rapture, OK Go, Turn, Berkeley, Fionn Regan, Paddy Casey, Snow Patrol and Bell X1. The White Stripes scheduled appearance was cancelled due to frontman Jack White suffering a broken hand. The Flaming Lips were stepped up the bill to replace The White Stripes and delivered a well-received set which included a version of White Stripes' single "Seven Nation Army". [4]

### Heineken Green Energy

[edit]

* Heineken Green Energy took place for the 8th year in 2003. It was held in Dublin over the May Bank Holiday weekend. 2003's venues included Dublin Castle, the Ambassador, Temple Bar Music Centre, The Village and Whelans as well as 20 other key music venues in Dublin City. Over the weekend approximately 40,000 people attended in excess of 17 live gigs. Musicians to play the 2003 festival included Groove Armada, Moloko, Craig David, Stereophonics and Beck.[5]

### Slane 2003

[edit]

* Slane 2003 took place on Saturday August 23 and was headlined by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Support came from Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey, Feeder, Morcheeba and Halite. Tickets sold out 2 and a half hours after going on sale. [6]

## Music awards

[edit]

### 2003 Meteor Awards

[edit]

The 2003 Meteor Awards were hosted by comedian Dara Ó Briain in February 2003.[8] Below are the winners:[9]

Award | Winner(s)

|

Best Irish Male | Mundy
Best Irish Female | Carly Hennessy
Best Irish Band | U2
Best Irish Album | Skylarkin' (Mic Christopher)
Best New Irish Act | The Thrills
Best Irish Pop Act | Westlife
Best Irish Dance Act | Luke Thomas
Best Live Performance | Red Hot Chili Peppers (Lansdowne Road 2002)
Best Irish DJ | Ian Dempsey
Hope for 2003 | Rubyhorse
Best Folk/Traditional | John Spillane
Best Country/Roots Artist | Jerry Fish
Best International Male | Eminem
Best International Female | Avril Lavigne
Best International Band | Coldplay
Best International Album | By the Way (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Industry Award | Phil Coulter
Lifetime Achievement Award | Bob Geldof
Humanitarian Award | Bono

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Myrem.com[permanent dead link].
2. ^ "Blur will play two Dublin concerts". RTÉ. 2003-09-01. Archived from the original on 2004-11-03. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
3. ^ "Blur are back and they're coming to Oxegen". The Belfast Telegraph. 2009-02-05. Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
4. ^ "Reformed Britpop stars Blur to play Oxegen 2009". Evening Herald. 2009-02-05. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
5. ^ "Reformed Blur to headline Oxegen". RTÉ. 2009-02-05. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
6. ^ "David Kitt's album set to blast charts". Hot Press. 2003-09-12. Archived from the original on 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
7. ^ "Thumped". Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
8. ^ "Meteor: Policy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
9. ^ "Meteor Ireland Music Awards Past Winners". Meteor. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

## External links

[edit]

* IMRO website
* IRMA website
* Hot Press website
* State website
* MUSE.ie
* CLUAS.com
* News at Phantom FM
* Music at The Irish Times
* Music at the Irish Independent
* Music news and album reviews at RTÉ

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template