Thin Lizzy

August 16, 1981

Little did they know it, but when Lord Henry Mountcharles and music promoters Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond (aka MCD) devised plans for a one-day open-air music festival on the grounds of the 1,500-acre Slane Castle estate, they were laying down a blueprint.

There had, of course, been open-air music festivals in Ireland before (Carnsore, Lisdoonvarna), but these were weekend and overnight events, with lengthy line-ups to match. The inaugural Slane concert flipped the notion of a draining, messy weekend and instead delivered what was, in essence, a Big Day Out. Such was the excitement of a boozy picnic on the natural amphitheatre grounds of a castle that the line-up would have been irrelevant if it hadn’t mixed the tried and trusted old guard (Thin Lizzy) with the new kids on the block (U2 and the English singer Hazel O’Connor).

Bob Dylan

July 8, 1984

A few years into the Slane concerts and the first strategic mistake was made — the gig took place on a Sunday. From Friday afternoon onwards, the soon-to-be great unwashed arrived in the village. A small portion of these guzzled what newspaper reports of the day described as “lunatic soup” (aka cider), slept in tents at any and every location in and around Slane, then proceeded to run riot through it, damaging cars, shops and pubs and besieging the gardaí station (the number on duty, according to reports, was about 12) for more than an hour.

“It just got out of hand,” said a less than joyous Henry Mountcharles a day later in an RTÉ interview. “It was appalling.” After Bob Dylan, would there ever be another Slane concert? You bet there would.

Bruce Springsteen

June 1, 1985

For the only time in the history of Slane Castle concerts, there was just one name on the poster: Bruce Springsteen. With no support acts and a late start time of 5pm, Springsteen and his formidable E Street Band spent the best part of four hours (intermission notwithstanding) knocking one song after another out of the actual park.

It was the US musician’s first gig in Ireland, and while attendance numbers vary (depending which report/review you read, it’s anywhere between 70,000 and 95,000), the concert has attained almost epic status, not least in Springsteen’s memory. “Slane joined a rising number of other performances to attain a ‘legendary’ status,” he wrote in his 2016 autobiography, Born to Run, “and, despite my distraction, turned out to be a solid show. If you were there, you were there. I was certainly there.”

David Bowie

July 11, 1987

Beware the pop/rock star that is so adept at reinventing their creative characteristics that their next recalibration could be something you think you might like but don’t. So it was when David Bowie brought his Glass Spider tour to Slane. In fairness, it isn’t every headliner that can present such an ambitious stage show, but what could surround and enthral in an enclosed stadium was lost in the vastness of the venue. In other words, daylight isn’t the place for arachnid backdrops, projected videos, a troupe of professional dancers, stage props, spoken-word introductions and theatrical lighting. We expected a flash of Ziggy Stardust, a streak of Aladdin Sane and a sliver of Thin White Duke. Instead, we got a pretentious, damp squib and a setlist that consciously avoided the hits.

“It seemed too easy,” Bowie said before the start of the tour. “I didn’t want to do that again.”

Robbie Williams

August 29, 1998/August 28, 1999

Several support acts at Slane through the years have graduated to headline (notably U2, Oasis and Foo Fighters), but apart from Robbie Williams, no act has managed to make that jump within the space of a year. You could say it was written in the stars — Williams’ support slot in 1998 was a masterclass in barefaced cheek, flagrant entertainment value and natural usurpation. He gazumped the drab headliners The Verve (who would split up within a year), trounced Manic Street Preachers (a band renowned for their frolic-free fare), and made the decision for the following year’s headlining act a no-brainer.

U2

August 25/September 1, 2001

U2 are embedded in the history of Slane concerts. They played at the inaugural concert in 1981, headlined the only Slane concert staged outside the Co Meath venue (1983, at Phoenix Park Racecourse, after the licence for a Slane-based show was refused), part-recorded their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire over a residential summer month at the castle, and their bass player, Adam Clayton, is a long-term close friend of Henry Mountcharles.

Breaking the one-concert-only-per-year rule, U2 staged two shows (as part of their Elevation Tour) on consecutive Saturdays. Emotional levels were high on all sides: Bono’s father had died a few days before the first show, and the restoration process of the castle itself (following an extensive fire in 1991) was complete.

“It was an extraordinary rollercoaster for everybody concerned,” Mountcharles told Hot Press, “and while I’ve learned to never say ‘never’ where Slane is concerned, it’s unlikely we’ll ever witness a show like that again. It still gives me goose pimples thinking about it!”

Madonna

August 29, 2005

Madonna is the only female act to have headlined at Slane, and when she arrived in Ireland 16 years ago with her Re-Invention tour, she made certain to mark her Irish debut in more ways than one: for the first and only time at a Slane concert, there was no Irish support act. Being in control is one thing but breaking with such a tradition seemed not only counterproductive but disconnected. That said, it rained for most of the day, which made DJ Paul Oakenfold’s set somewhat lacklustre, and Iggy Pop and the Stooges (perhaps the least complementary support-to-headline act ever on a Slane concert line-up) as watery as the River Boyne.

“That was a testy time,” Mountcharles said of the Madonna experience to this newspaper in 2009. “Let’s just say that if you were to ask us if we would have her back, we would give you a one-word answer: no.”

Eminem

August 17, 2013

Eminem was first announced for a Slane concert in 2005 but cancelled due to ‘exhaustion’ (which may or may not have been a euphemism). His return eight years later may have proved his enduring popularity — the 80,000-capacity show sold out in less than two hours — but this was a different kind of Slane concert. It was the second of two gigs in 2013, and unlike Bon Jovi’s June 15 show, it was far less family-oriented.

Security was omnipresent, with hundreds of private security staff and local stewards bulking out the presence of over 700 gardaí. (Even entry to the VIP area was supplemented by a vigorous body search, which is something that certain VIPs simply aren’t used to.) On the pitch, it was a much younger demographic in excelsis. Marshall Mathers III arrived in Slane, blessed his congregation and vanquished the disbelievers. For some, however, the occasion was an ugly and distressing experience.

2022

It’s a mug’s game trying to predict what acts might be headlining next year, but what we know for certain is that Mountcharles and his friend Denis Desmond, are in cahoots working on signing not one but possibly two acts to perform in separate concerts. What also remains in place is Mountcharles’ determination to keep Slane as Ireland’s principal Big Day Out music event.

Looking back over the headline acts of the past decade, it’s clear that fans of commercial hard rock music have been well catered for — Kings of Leon (2011), Bon Jovi (2013), Foo Fighters (2015), Guns ’N’ Roses (2017) and Metallica (2019). We predict a change in direction towards a younger demographic for at least one of those two potential concerts. So, yes, while we can see heritage acts such as U2, Rolling Stones, Springsteen, AC/DC, Paul McCartney (and Slane regular Noel Gallagher) dipping their toes into the River Boyne, we won’t be at all surprised if the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele, and/or Taylor Swift do the same.