Rolling Stones at Slane Castle, Co Meath, 18th August 2007

So it finally came, August 18th, and 25 years on from the first time they appeared here in 1982, The Stones return. Only change from the last time, in the bands line up is that of the bass player. Nathan Jones has now replaced Bill Wyman the orignal bass man.

The Irish weather has been very consistent during the summer, and today it didn't dissapoint. It was raining in the morning and well into the afternoon, so it was a case of throwing the wellies into the boot of the car and being prepared for agricultural conditions.
There's something special and different about going to see The Stones. Icons from the 1960's , symbols of youth culture and rebellion, surving into the 21st centuary. Why did they survive?Hardly just by chance when others from that era are long forgotton. When you see the show and experience the gig first hand then you know why Mick and company still cut the mustard.
They have the long back catalogue of great music that still sounds as fresh today as it was in it's heyday. They also put on a show. They know who to entertain, how to communicate to a 70.000 crowd in a muddy field on a dark, overcast August night.
The stage set, fireworks, lighting, Jaggers stage antics all gel to keep the fans totally connected .
Was Saturdays concert good?. It was as good and better than expected. The mud and sticky conditions underfoot added to the occosion. No problem, especially to those of us reared in the country and used to squelching through gutterie gaps..
During the gig. I remembered back to 1967. I was at my grandparents home In Killarue, near Cootehill in Co Cavan. It was summer and haytime. There were people in the adjacent field out making hay, and I heard someone singing Jumping Jack Flash. The new and dangerous cultural reveloution started in London in the early 60's by The Stones and The Beatles was now seeping into such idyllic rural backwaters like Killaure. I picked up on the strains of jumping Jack Flash coming from the next field. and it semed to set me on a particular coarse that shaped my life in a very big way.
And it occoured to me that here I was 40 yeras later in wellies in a muddy field on the farm of Lord Henry MountCharles in Slane, seeing the Stones live and singing along to Jumping Jack Flash. It also occoured to me that if there's a God, he may be in the Rolling Stones. Probably Kieth Richards. He's got that crucfied look about him.

Slane is only around 40 miles from Bailieborough. I was at work until 5.00.pm With the adrenalin pumping, I set off in the car and drove to Kingscourt. From Kingscourt through Nobber , the birthplace of Turlough O Carolan, the 16th centuary harpist and composer and Ireland s most famous classical musician from that peroid. There is a memorial statute to him in the village.. Up towards Navan, taking a left at Kilberry crossroads, and taking the back roads into the village of Slane. Coming from my end of the country, is a boon as I know the back roads, and so avoid the traffic gridlock that builds coming in from the Navan direction. Past Rynns Pub, where concert goers had gathered. I believe there was a Rolling Stones tribute band playing inside. Now why would anyone want to listen to them when the real article would be on stage 2 miles up the road in a couple of hours.
The local farmers, suffering the effects of the wet summer, could make some badly needed extra cash today, opening their fields up for car parking. €10.00 wa sthe fee for parking in the field I drove into. Only worry was could we get back out later, if the field hadn't by then transformed itself into a mudplain.
The crowds were coimg in every direction. Up to the gates, I had a camera concealed in my back pockets. It stated on the ticket that cameras were forbidden, along with bottles and beer cans etc. As I approached the turstyle and the security check I felt a little like a terrorist trying to sumuggle a weapon in undetected. The only things I would be shooting were images of the band on stage.
The lad who frisked me detected the camera lense, but he thought it wa s a beer can. I explained what it was and he said 'ok go ahead'. His only concern was confiscating beer cans. Anyhow this rule now about no cameras at gigs, is a little obselete now, as so,many have mobile camera phones. Do you confiscate all of those from people.
I had purchased a seated ticket, as they were the only places availabe when I booked on line the day the tickets went on sale. I went to my alloted seat in Block D to stage left, and sat there for a while. Luckily you could move around. The seated area lacked atmosphere. There seemed to be a majority of sensible looking people anchored here. When the Stones came on and luanched into Start Me Up, I was up out of the seat like a greyhound out of the trap and down into the mud. This was where the real atmosphere was. At a gig like this you need to get down and dirty. Many people were doing both.

The band hit the stage with a fireworks display , at 9.00pm. Launching into Start Me Up, their last major hit from the early 80's, it was a high energy show all the way through until the Jumping Jack Flash encore around 11.00pm. These guys are still rockin in their 60's as well as they did in their 20's. There's few bands who can match them for the combination of music, stage show and entertainment. Springsteen and U2 are the others that come to mind, and their longevity also seem assured. It dosen't happen by accident. There's years of hard graft, work ethic and a good smattering of style and talent that converge to produce the final package.

We filed out of the grounds, musing that this probably will be the last time, the Stones play Ireland. Then again I think that rumour might have been circulating back in 1982 when they last played Slane. Don't bet on them being back again later on in the centuary