Slane Castle, Slane, Co. Meath
FOR SOME gig-goers of a certain age, symmetry was required, and so, when Thin Lizzy walked out on stage 30 years after their headline appearance at the very first Slane Castle concert – you could sense that somewhere out there Phil Lynott was looking down and giving the band a thumbs-up.
Never mind that this version of Thin Lizzy is, to coin a very useful phrase, a Frankenstein act (bits and pieces of other bands utilised to complete something that approximates an original entity); rather, just for a second, allow the mind to flow along with the likes of Are You Ready to Rock, Dancing in the Moonlight, Waiting for an Alibi, Jailbreak, The Boys are back in Town, Don't Believe a Word, Emeraldand Whiskey in the Jar.It was, inevitably, during this last song that the capacity crowd shifted from first into fourth gear.
Earlier support acts The Whigs, Mona and White Lies tried hard but failed to muster crowd enthusiasm.
Not even Elbow’s weighty emotional and considered music could engage in any meaningful way, despite lead singer Guy Garvey’s chummy, authoritative onstage patter. Result? A great band playing brilliant, convincing music at the wrong venue.
At 8.40pm, Kings of Leon arrived on stage and played into the hands of a feverish, expectant fan base. Like their music, the stage show was basic and unadorned; like their music, the band wasn’t flashy.
Most of the nigh-on two-hour set which singer Caleb Followill said was their longest ever was culled from the band's most recent multimillion-selling albums, 2008's Only by the Nightand 2010's Come Around Sundown.
Songs such as Be Somebody, Revelry, Back Down South, Radioactive, Use Somebody, Crawland Sex on Fireepitomise the band's modus operandi: fundamental US southern rock'n'roll jizzed up by rugged guitar work and melody lines that are often let down by the non-interactive, virtually mediocre manner of the band. The crowd loved it, mind 80,000 people collectively erupting as Sex on Firecame on stream is impossible to ignore or dislike.
Yet, for some this writer included, and a shower-burst of end-of-gig fireworks notwithstanding there was something missing here: a band, perhaps, that makes the venue seem less intimidating, a band that interacts with and knows its audience, that draws them in with empathy, humour and an eye-popping stage show, a band with a vast reach of songs. The campaign to square the Slane Castle concerts circle by having U2 play here before the end of September starts now. For the sake of symmetry and all of that.
