Of the earlier slots at Sunday's Music Fair in Millstreet, Wally Page's was perhaps the most apt. His style is Bayou-based blues, music from the swamps, just the thing for a town hit by a bank holiday deluge of biblical intensity. Poor Suzanne Vega had to contend with the brutal conditions on the outdoor stage, but she managed to stay in fine, soulful voice, peppering her set of mainly recent material with old favourites like Marlene on the Wall and Luka. Gazing through the downpour, Vega smiled serenely, the smile suggesting she'd expect nothing less of Ireland in high summer. Jackson Browne's set revealed that his honey-sweet voice has lost none of its angelic lilt, but he seemed to have most fun at the indoor stage later, joining both Christy Moore and Steve Earle for impromptu jams.

It was left to the bould Christy to be the evening's chief rabble-rouser, and he obliged in a suitably bombastic fashion. His set was wisely moved indoors and a packed house was treated to some vintage Moore. The singer's ability to work a room never fails to astonish and among his best efforts here was a beautiful cover of Shane McGowan's awesome Fairytale of New York. Steve Earle showed just why he has achieved iconic status in the trailer parks of middle America with his heartache-ridden country blues. He's a fine singer, and an accomplished guitarist and when he unleashed Copperhead Road, the roof came close to rising.

If it was innovative pop flavoured by European cabaret you were after, then the Divine Comedy was the performance of the festival. Neil Hannon has built up a formidable canon of hits in a short space of time and Everybody Knows That I Love You, Alfie, et al , were trotted out to manic acclaim. Cork's Frank and Walters closed the show with a bouncy, guitar pop set that seemed as fresh as anything that had gone before.