Hillsborough Castle was not the only place where hectic preparations were going on in the North this week. Although the Heineken/Hot Press Rock Awards operate at a decidedly more frivolous level than the peace talks, the organised chaos of the lead-up to Thursday's event sometimes seemed to rival the political negotiations. On Wednesday, Ulrika Jonsson, erstwhile weather-girl and now team captain on the cult quiz show Shooting Stars, flew in from London to present the awards alongside BBC Northern Ireland's Mike Edgar. To the delight of some, she appeared without a boyfriend but with that much trendier companion in media society - her best friend - Kerry Dempsey.
Speaking of best friends, Ronan Keating of Boyzone also flew in for the event, which took place in the BBC Blackstaff studios, in order to perform a duet with his very best friend, Brian Kennedy. He then fled the party in the Europa Hotel club, Paradise Lost, to travel back to Dublin. Hot on the heels of their world tour with Pop, U2 arrived on Thursday evening and stayed on for the whole event, which pleased the organisers no end. And Sinead O'Connor, who is in the middle of plans for her US tour, also attended the awards for the first time in years.
Chief confusion of the week was provided by a character by the name of Gary Mounfield, who nobody realised was the "real name" of Mani of Primal Scream - much to his amusement.
Other visitors to Belfast included Ronan Hardiman, composer of Lord of the Dance, whose recent album Solus has been a great success; Donal Gallagher, who presented the Best Musician Award in memory of his brother, Cork's favourite son Rory Gallagher; George Best, back in his home town to present the aptly named Wild Rover Award. The most-fleeting-visit-award, though, must go to David Bowie, who only appeared via a satellite link from New York prompting far too many references to Star Man. Oh the heady world of rock 'n' roll.