Having had their original licence application rejected by Clare County Council, Aiken Promotions have relocated the Lisdoonvarna Festival to the RDS on August 30.

"This will be a day long event as we had planned in Lisdoonvarna with a line-up of mainly Irish acts on two stages," says Peter Aiken. "There will also be a village market. We're aiming to recreate the original festival atmosphere of Lisdoonvarna in a city setting.

"We were extremely disappointed when our licence was refused, especially after putting months of work into the organisation," he continues, "but the response of the public has been such that we were determined Lisdoonvarna '03 should happen, even if it meant moving elsewhere."

Definitely on board for the reorganised festival are The Frames and Christy Moore who, as a result of the postponement, is now spending June 27 and 28 in the Cork Opera House.

Suzanne Vega has also done some hasty rescheduling and can be seen in Vicar St. on June 28. She'll be drumming up trade for her 21-track Retrospective 'Best Of?' which follows on July 7.

"This is a good time to look back and say, 'Here's what I've done'," she reflects. "If you had said in high school that this kid who technically couldn't sing and wasn't outgoing would have a 20-year career as a performer and pop songwriter nobody would have believed you. I've had the freedom to do what I wanted on my own terms and on my own timetable. I'm very handmade."