Slane braces itself for Madonna concert

Residents in the village of Slane are relaxed ahead of this year’s huge open air concert with Madonna‘s performance guaranteed to draw both parents and children alike.

As miles of steel fencing was erected around the castle venue many of the local business owners said they were expecting an older more mature crowd to turn out for the star, whose career has spanned three-decades.

“There are a lot of kids being kept at home and the parents are going to the actual concert,” laughed Michelle Matthews of the Conyngham Arms Hotel in the town.

“We are expecting a more mature crowd than in previous years, people between 25 to 35 to 40. Any residences that have been booked have been of an older age group,” the hotel owner said.

Even though the 80,000 tickets are not yet sold out for Madonna’s first ever Irish concert, the hotel owner said businesses would do a strong trade for the Sunday concert.

Ms Matthews said that every B&B, guesthouse and hotel across the entire Co Meath area from Drogheda to Navan was booked out.

Colette Gallagher, a barmaid in the Boyne Valley Inn, said people feel that the 46-year-old singer would attract an older crowd and the young people may not turn out.

“But then again people come for the atmosphere. All the pubs would be jammed. I’m not saying going to be quieter I’m just reckoning that any other year it was sold out,” said the 32-year-old, who will spend the weekend behind the bar.

Fans were asked to pay € 88.50 for tickets for the Queen of Pop’s Reinvention concert on August 29 and promoters said 95% of the 80,000 allocation have been snapped up.

In other years the tickets for Robbie Williams, U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the venue located just 30-minutes from Dublin were sold out within hours.

Ms Gallagher said there was a buzz about the town, which is home to around 1,200 people, as Slane Castle prepared to host the ultimate material girl.

“Yea I think it will be fairly peaceful the worst one was the Bob Dylan concert but you will get the odd row. Last year was very peaceful and I hope that this year will be as well.”

Though everyone admits that for the older residents in the area it is a restriction and for some a very worrisome weekend.

Des Smyth, who runs a Londis foodstore and garage in the town, said he did not mean to be negative or a spoilsport about the concert.

He added: “I consider it a nightmare the crowd, I don’t look forward to it as the crowd is too big.”

“It is a huge imposition on peoples daily lives especially for old people who feel intimidated. The barriers are there to project them but it extenuates the siege aspects of it.”

Gardaí said there would be a huge security operation with 120 gardaí on duty at any one time.

The owner of Slane Castle, Lord Henry Mount Charles, said: “We took on board their concerns. The issue obviously was that the concert was being played on a Sunday. The last time that happened was 20 years ago and there was a very different scenario in operation. There was a very much lower level of policing.”

He said everyone realised what went wrong at the Bob Dylan concert in 1984 where there were riots.

“I’m confident it will go according to plan,” he said.

The Slane Castle owner would not reveal if the ultimate material girl was going to avail of the stately bedrooms at his historic castle.

Source: Irish Examiner