The 2008 Meteor Music Awards ceremony was held in the RDS Simmonscourt, Dublin, on Friday, 15 February 2008. Nineteen awards were presented. It was the eighth edition of the Republic of Ireland's national music awards. The event was later broadcast on RTÉ Two on Saturday, 16 February at 21:00 and was hosted by comedian Dara Ó Briain for the first time since 2004. Duke Special and Cathy Davey won the Best Irish Male and Best Irish Female Awards respectively, whilst veteran rockers Aslan won the Best Irish Band Award and Paddy Casey's Addicted to Company won Best Irish Album. For the eighth consecutive year Westlife won the Best Irish Pop Act accolade. Ham Sandwich were presented with the Hope for 2008 Meteor Award by RTÉ 2fm DJ Rick O'Shea. The Blizzards won Best Irish Live Performance for their Main Stage appearance at Oxegen 2007, whilst Muse picked up the award for Best International Live Performance, which also occurred at Oxegen the previous year. The award for the Most Downloaded Song was given to Mundy and Sharon Shannon's chart hit "Galway Girl". The Saw Doctors were presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award and were also amongst the performers at the event.

Performances

There were performances at the event from The Saw Doctors, Boyzone, The Coronas, Cathy Davey, Westlife, Shayne Ward, Tom Baxter, Paddy Casey and Scouting for Girls, as well as exclusive duets between Sinéad O'Connor and Mick Pyro of Republic of Loose, who performed the Curtis Mayfield song, "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" and Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan who performed, live for the first time, "Some Surprise" from The Cake Sale charity album.

Nominations

Public voting categories

Best Irish Male

Best Irish Female

Best Irish Band

Best Irish Album

Best Irish Live Performance

Best Irish Pop Act

Best National DJ

Best Regional DJ

Hope for 2008

Non-public voting categories

Best Traditional/Folk

Best International Male

Best International Female

Best International Band

Best International Album

Best International Live Performance

Lifetime Achievement Award

Most Downloaded Song