Queen at Slane Castle

We would love to know…were you there. Did you see ‘Queen’ at Slane Castle in 1986? It was one of the artistic highlights from Ireland in the 1980s as Freddie and co ‘rocked’ the county Meath village.

The Nenagh Guardian report here from May 19686 announcing the gig gives a sense of the excitement in the country:

This year's Slane Castle concert will take place on Saturday 5th July and will feature Queen as the headlining act. Harp Lager are sponsoring the band's visit to Ireland.

In its short history, _the annual Slane Castle Concert has developed into Ireland's leading musical event and has featured such major acts as U2, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Slane is acknowledged worldwide and a recent issue oi Billboard, the leading American music industry magazine, referred to Slate as "one of the world's top venues". Queen will stage the largest ever outdoor show seen in Ireland when they play at Slane and their Irish appearance will be Queen's first concert tour in nearly two years. The Irish concert will follow shortly on the release of the band's forthcoming album "A Kind of Magic" which features the music from the film "Highlander".

The band will travel to Slane with a specially constructed 160 foot wide stage. The band has commissioned a specially-designed Clare Bros , sound system and will use the largest lighting rig ever assembled. Band member Roger Taylor has described Queen's spectacular new show "as bigger than bigness itself. Henry Mount Charles when announcing the concert stated: "I am delighted to announce that Queen will play at this year's Slane Concert and already there is a substantial level of interest being show from as far aay as the United States. Jim Aiken and I have worked together since the Rolling Stones in 1982 and I am delighted to have a band of Queen's stature play in what has been described as Europe's finest natural amphitheatre. Since then each successive concert has proved more spectacular. This year's concert will, doubtless, follow in the tradition.. "Queen are a superb act and we are blessed with a spectacular location for the concert overlooking the River Boyne". He added: "I am delighted that Harp, a native Irish product is sponsoring the Queen tour of England and Ireland. Jim Aiken added: "As promoter of the concert I am delighted to welcome Queen to Slane in 1936. The band is hugely popular and Queen are arguably the worlds most popular band at this point in time." When tickets recently went on sale for the English concerts, they were immediately sold out. The two Wembley concerts will attract an audience in the region of 145,000 people and another 80,000 people v/ill see the band at concerts in Manchester and Newcastle. "I expect the band to prove equally popular in Ireland and  expect that Slane will yet again prove to be Europe's foremost musical event. "I have yet to confirm the remaining acts on the Slane bill but will announce these at a further conference later in the month".

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )