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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Slane Festival
The Slane Festival (often referred to as Slane) is a recurring concert held most years since 1981 on the grounds of Slane Castle on the outskirts of Slane in County Meath, Ireland. The castle is owned by The 8th Marquess Conyngham, who was known by the courtesy title the Earl of Mount Charles from 1974 until 2009. Slane lies between Navan and Drogheda, about 45 km northwest of Dublin. Concerts typically occur on a Saturday in August, from 12:00 to 22:00. The sloping grounds of Slane Castle form a natural amphitheatre which is ideal for concerts. As many as 70,000–110,000 people usually attend. One of the venue boundaries is the River Boyne. Two people died while trying to swim the river to gain free access to R.E.M.'s concert in 1995. The minimum age of admission to the Slane Festival was reduced in 2006 from 18 to 16 because of complaints.

Aiken Promotions invited artists such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Queen, The Rolling Stones, and Bruce Springsteen to perform during the 1980s. 2001 and 2013 are the only years in which two concerts were held in the same year. In 2001, both concerts were headlined by U2. In 2013, the first concert was headlined by Bon Jovi and the second by Eminem, who had controversially cancelled his 2005 Slane appearance after entering drug rehabilitation.

The most recent Slane Festival took place on 10 June 2023, headlined by Harry Styles.

Multiple appearances

Guns N' Roses, the Rolling Stones and U2 are the only bands to have headlined the event more than once, and U2 have played twice in one year. Thin Lizzy are the only band to headline and come back as a support act. Several other acts, listed below, have supported a headliner and returned as a headliner themselves.

Act Years
Guns N' Roses 1992, 2017
Foo Fighters 2003, 2015
Oasis 1995, 2009
Red Hot Chili Peppers 2001, 2003
Robbie Williams 1998, 1999
The Rolling Stones 1982, 2007
Stereophonics 1999, 2002
Thin Lizzy 1981, 2011
U2 1981, 1983, 2001 (twice)

Some acts, listed below, have appeared more than once but never as a headline act:

Act Years
Ash 2001, 2015
Big Country 1983, 1987
James 1993, 1998
Dara 2000, 2001
Moby 2000, 2001
The Charlatans 2002, 2007

List of Slane lineups

1980s

The first Slane Festival was held on 16 August 1981 by the Earl of Mount Charles (as The 8th Marquess Conyngham was then known). Concerts followed each year until 1987. The seven concerts of the 1980s were headlined respectively by Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Queen and David Bowie. For the third concert in 1983, headlined for the first time by U2, Slane Castle was refused permission to hold a concert, so it was held in the Phoenix Park Racecourse in Dublin on 14 August 1983, the only occasion it has been held outside Slane. U2 appeared at Slane in 1981 and 1983, whilst in 1984 Bono performed a duet with Bob Dylan during the latter's encore. This was the last appearance by a member of U2 on the Slane stage until their unique double-headliner in 2001. Thus, Bono has appeared at Slane on a total of five occasions, three of these being in the first four concerts.

1981, 16 August

1982, 24 July

1983, 14 August

This year, the concert was held at the Phoenix Park Racecourse in Dublin.

1984, 8 July

1985, 1 June

  • Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played their debut Irish concert in front of 100,000 people, and performed for nearly three hours with no support acts.

While Springsteen sang The River, footage of the nearby River Boyne was shown on video screens; the footage was retained for the rest of his tour. Elvis Costello and members of Spandau Ballet and U2 were the then Lord Mount Charles's guests who enjoyed smoked salmon and champagne on the day.

1986

1987

1990s

After a five-year absence, the longest since the event began in 1981, Slane Festival returned in 1992. The five concerts of the 1990s were headlined respectively by Guns N' Roses, Neil Young, R.E.M., The Verve and Robbie Williams. The 1995 concert, headlined by R.E.M., was notable for the death of someone who attempted to swim the nearby River Boyne to reach the concert area. The same concert marked the debut of Oasis on the Slane stage; they returned in 2009 to headline the event. The 1998 event was headlined by The Verve, their last appearance in Ireland until Oxegen 2008; in 1998 the band appeared alongside special guests Manic Street Preachers and also Robbie Williams who would return the following year to headline. Stereophonics played support in 1999 and returned to headline in 2002.

1992

1993

1995

On 22 July 1995, R.E.M. played Slane on their first concert following Mike Mills's appendectomy. They were supported by Oasis, whose album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? would be released 3 months later and would return to headline the event in 2009. One fan threw a rock at the stage as Oasis prepared to play "Roll with It". This provoked Liam Gallagher to say, "If you don't like it, go fucking hang yourself". In 2009, this performance was described as being by "a lairy mob with attitude and half a dozen memorable songs to their credit".

The following performed at Slane Festival in 1995:

1998

1999

28 August 1999

2000s

The eight concerts of the 2000s were headlined respectively by Bryan Adams, U2 (twice), Stereophonics, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Oasis. Unusually, two concerts were held during 2001 (the Taoiseach asked the Minister for the Environment to fast-track some new legislation to allow the second concert to happen), both headlined by U2 and both featuring an entirely different set of support acts that brought the Slane debuts of Coldplay, Nelly Furtado, Ash, Kelis, The Walls and JJ72 whilst offering returns to Moby and Dara. Red Hot Chili Peppers also appeared for the first time and would return to headline the 2003 event.

The 2005 concert was intended to centre on rap instead of rock music, but Eminem cancelled his appearance (due on 17 September that year with support from 50 Cent, D-12, Obie Trice, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, Olivia, Atlanta's Stat Quo and Flipsyde) after the event sold out. The promoter, MCD Productions, sought damages in the High Court. The resultant two-year break in 2005 and 2006 was followed by a return to Slane by The Rolling Stones, only the second artist after U2 to headline the event in two different years, and marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of their first appearance in 1982. Henry Conyngham's delay in the picking of suitable acts led to no concert in 2008; however Oasis headlined the final concert of Slane's third decade in 2009 with support from The Prodigy, Kasabian, Glasvegas and The Blizzards.

2000

2001

U2's headlining appearance sold out in 45 minutes. The first concert occurred the week after Bono's father died. The second concert coincided with the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2 match between the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands, and was shown between Nelly Furtado and Ash at the request of fans. The second show was also filmed for the live video U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland.

2002

Saturday 24 August 2002

2003

Saturday 23 August 2003

The Red Hot Chili Peppers concert was filmed for the live video Live at Slane Castle.

2004

The Madonna concert at Slane was compared to a football match by one manager, Johnny McDonnell. The Irish Times selected "This is the big time, it's like Madonna coming to Slane" as one of its quotes of that year.

2007

The Irish Independent described The Rolling Stones playing to "a mostly middle-aged crowd who were content to stand back, shielded from the rain in their wax jackets, and let the concert wash over them".

2009

Oasis were joined by family members, including their mother Peggy, for the show. They began their performance with "Rock 'N' Roll Star" and finished with "Live Forever" and then returned for an encore of "Don't Look Back in Anger", "Falling Down", "Champagne Supernova" and "I Am the Walrus". Liam Gallagher shouted at the fans: "Slane Castle, you've been fucking biblical". Oasis split up two months later.

Several Irish celebrities attended the concert, including footballers Gary Kelly, Stephen Ireland and John O'Shea and solicitor Gerald Kean.

Ten people were detained on public order offences throughout the day of the concert, including two people who were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. MCD Productions asked fans to report any problems after complaints regarding transport facilities. Fiach Kelly, writing in The Irish Independent, reported on the "yoof element" where "you could be forgiven for thinking you had arrived at a rather large teenage disco".

2010s

2010

There was no concert in 2010. Henry Conyngham had written in an Evening Herald column in February that Slane 2010 would take place in August and that it would involve an "international artist" but that he was still organising the event with Denis Desmond. However, he said during an interview in April on RTÉ Radio that there would not be a concert that year.

2011

Kings of Leon played what was announced by the band onstage as their longest set ever.

2012

In April 2012, Slane Castle's official Facebook page announced there would be no concert in 2012. The message read: "Good Morning guys, Lord Henry has announced this morning 'there will be no Slane this year, but 2013 will be busy'".

2013

2014

On 13 February 2014, Lord Henry Mountcharles announced that there would be no concert in 2014 as he could not find a good enough act.

Lord Henry stated the reason for the break in 2014 was that "there really wasn't an act that grabbed my imagination for this year." He went on to say that Slane would be back in 2015.

2015

On 26 November 2014, it was announced that Foo Fighters, along with Kaiser Chiefs, Hozier and two other unannounced bands would play Slane on 30 May 2015.

2016

There was no concert at Slane in 2016. There were persistent rumours in 2015 and early 2016 of either AC/DC, Coldplay or the then newly reunited classic line up of Guns N' Roses featuring original members Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan playing a concert at Slane during Summer 2016.

However, on 15 February 2016, it was announced that no concert would take place at Slane Castle in 2016 due to difficulties in staging the concert as construction work on the Slane Castle Distillery was taking place at the castle.

It was announced that a concert would take place in Summer 2017 once construction work on the Distillery is complete.

2017

In early December 2016, promotional posters for the rock band Guns N' Roses appeared in Dublin City. This fueled speculation of a forthcoming announcement that the band were going to play at Slane in Summer 2017.

On 5 December 2016, after many months of rumours and speculation, it was officially announced that Guns N' Roses would headline Slane 2017. The announcement was made by Lord Henry Mountcharles's son Alex and daughter Tamara during a press conference at Bruxelles pub in Dublin City Centre. It was the second time that Guns N' Roses played at Slane, having first played there 25 years previously, in 1992.

On 4 April 2017 the full lineup for the 2017 concert was announced, it featured:

Guns N' Roses played the Soundgarden song 'Black Hole Sun' as a tribute to Soundgarden's singer Chris Cornell, who died on 18 May.

The Irish Independent positively reviewed the concert and commented that "Twenty-five years after they first played Ireland's biggest gig, Guns N' Roses came, saw and conquered Slane Castle all over again."

2019

The 8 June 2019 lineup was:

2020s

2023

The Slane Festival returned in 2023 after a four-year hiatus. Harry Styles was announced as the headliner on 26 August 2022.

Future

Red Hot Chili Peppers member Chad Smith has stated that he "wouldn't mind doing Slane again" saying the band "had an awesome time last time".

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has spoken to Hot Press magazine of his admiration for U2's shows at Slane and, in relation to his band performing there in 2010, commented: "It's something that's being looked at". However, the rumour, a recurring one in recent years, was dismissed for 2010 when the band opted to play a show in Marlay Park instead. Green Day played at the lower capacity Royal Hospital Kilmainham venue in Dublin on their Revolution Radio Tour in 2017. It is becoming increasingly unlikely that the band will ever play at Slane.

Lord Conyngham has stated on radio that he will secure AC/DC to perform at the venue in the future in response to repeated calls by fans.

Controversies

The Marquess Conyngham insists that the venue be played by rock bands and will not allow so-called 'manufactured bands' such as Westlife, Take That or Boyzone to play at his castle grounds. Westlife and Boyzone manager Louis Walsh maintains that Westlife have no interest in playing at Slane, saying a Croke Park concert would be a "dream come true" for his band and that it would be "a far better venue than a field in Meath".

The 2004 concert attracted protests from the people of Slane, as it was to be held on a Sunday. The inhabitants were afraid of repeats of the civil unrest that had occurred the last time a concert was held on a Sunday, in 1984. This was due to concert-goers arriving the day before, Saturday, and consuming large amounts of alcohol before the Sunday concert. The matter was resolved by postponing the start of the concert and having a notably smaller lineup than other years.

In 2009, Dublin Bus did not provide enough transport for those who purchased a return ticket, and there were no Garda Síochána near the buses. The concert ended between 22.30 and 23:00, yet thousands did not get a bus seat until 03:00.

After the 2013 Eminem concert, photographs were circulated widely on social media websites under the hashtag "#slanegirl," showing a teenage girl publicly performing oral sex acts on two different men at the venue. The incident received international publicity, sparking debate about issues such as teenage sexual behaviour, double standards, cyberbullying, and slut-shaming. The girl became so distraught over the publicity that she was hospitalized and sedated.

DVD and video

References

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53°42′33″N 6°33′35″W / 53.70917°N 6.55986°W / 53.70917; -6.55986

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