"Is it a bit much?" Mick Jagger asked while the central section of the massive stage, on which the Rolling Stones stood, levitated away from their backing band and moved through the awestruck crowd.
Excess is a term that has long been associated with the Stones, and their hi-tech, high energy performance seemed to strike the right chord with fans.
Concert goers who had paid some €60 extra for "Gold Circle" tickets, which entitled them to a standing space at front of the stage, most certainly got their money's worth, as they stood a hair's breadth away from their idols. Eventually the stage retracted and the show continued as before. However, for some fans, the moment they stood beside the Rolling Stones will live long in memory.
"That was incredible. I don't care about the mud now," Adam Murray from Wicklow said. "They were literally playing where we were standing. That alone made the cost of the Gold Circle ticket worth it!"
Many of the fans who were in attendance the last time the Rolling Stones played Slane had come back for more and amongst the veterans of the class of 1982 was Alan Power from Waterford City. "I decided to go for a seated ticket this time. I'm not as rock and roll as I used to be. They're looking a good bit older now, but they still know how to put on a good show," Mr Power said.
Mick Jagger remains a remarkably competent frontman, with an impressive swagger, and his banter during the interludes had the crowd hanging on his every word.
He gave fans an obligatory few words "as Gaeilge" and to his credit, and much to the fans' delight, his diction was spot on.
Another big cheer came when Jagger introduced guitarist Ronnie Wood to the crowd, describing him as a man from Naas, where Wood now has a home. Wood grabbed the microphone from his mate and bellowed "come on the Royals", to a somewhat mixed reaction.
Away from the stage, in the Slane Castle garden, self-proclaimed "music buff" and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern was taking time out to receive the VIP treatment.
The Minister said he was there to enjoy himself but that he intended to have an early night. "The reason the concert is on at eight o'clock is because I have to be in bed by 10 o'clock."
The Minister was joined in Lord Mountcharles's garden by musicians Jim Corr and Rebecca Storm, TV presenter Marty Whelan and U2 manager Paul McGuinness.
A number of VIP attendees were treated to a meal in the castle before the Stones's performance. Others made use of the bar and food court facilities, where a takeaway burger and chips cost punters €16 and a VIP pint of lager cost €6 as opposed to the €5 that those on general admission paid. However, nobody seemed to mind, or if they did, they certainly weren't saying so.
In spite of seeing part of his estate turned into a mass mud bath, Slane host Lord Mountcharles said he was "very happy" about how proceedings had gone. The weather wasn't ideal and the chips weren't cheap, but Mountcharles was not alone in his opinion.