Madonna in Slane? Bad idea all round. The Slane concert always attracts fans of rock music not just fans of the particular artist, this will only attract Madonna fans. What was once Irelands premier rockfest will now be a pathetic little pop party. To get anybody else interested they would have to get one hell of a line-up but the groups that would attract the crowds probably wouldn't want to support Madonna. Know what I mean? Madonna makes great pop music and that's great for pop fans that shes coming here for once. But at the same time Slane is a rock concert.

two minor points, since robbie williams played there its been tainted a bit, i reckon breweries are losing out on a small fortune, which means the "hello money" to the event organisers isnt what it could be (probably huge. probably...) she wont exactly attract a lager drinking crowd, it might explain the ticket prices, i havent been following the story but i doubt she even knows shes playing in ireland, we're not exactly a huge market here for someone like her

Good point about Robbie Williams Lucera, Madonna is not the first pop act to play Slane! One would hope that the reaction to her playing Slane has nothing to with her Gender. Certainly she is preferable to 2002s so-called rock act, the yawn-inducing stereophonics. For those that are interested, previous Slane Concerts Line-ups: * 1981 Thin Lizzy - U2 - Hazel O'Connor - Rose Tattoo - Sweet Savage - The Bureau - Megahype * 1982 Rolling Stones - J. Geils Band - The Chieftans - George Thorogood & The Destroyers * 1984 Bob Dylan - UB40 - Santana - In Tua Nua * 1985 Bruce Springsteen * 1986 Queen - Chris Rea - Bangles - Fountain Head * 1987 David Bowie - Big Country - Aslan - The Grove * 1992 Guns N' Roses - Faith No More - My Little Funhouse * 1993 Neil Young - Pearl Jam - Van Morrison - Saw Doctors - James - 4 Non Blondes - The Blue Angels * 1995 REM - Oasis - Spearhead - Sharon Shannon - Belly - Luka Bloom * 1998 The Verve - Manic Street Preachers - Robbie Williams - Finley Quaye - The Sea Horses - James - Junkster * 1999 Robbie Williams - Stereophonics - Placebo - Happy Mondays - Gomez - David Gray - Simon Carmody * 2000 Bryan Adams - Moby - Macy Gray - Melanie C - Muse - Eagle Eye Cherry - Dara - Screaming Orphans * 2001 - First Concert U2 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Coldplay - Kelis - JJ72 - Relish * 2001 - Second Concert U2 - Moby - Ash - Nelly Furtado - The Walls - Dara * 2002 The Stereophonics - The Charlatans - Nickelback - Counting Crows - Ocean Colour Scene - Doves - The Revs * 2003 Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Foo Fighters - Queens of Stone Age - PJHarvey - Feeder - Morcheeba - Hailte

having seen the first main acts that graced the stage in Slane I think it's fair to say that the gig has gone considerably down hill from what it used to be. Traditionally Slane is for the all time big hitters like Bowie, Guns 'n' Roses, Dylan etc. so I guess having Madonna headlining is sort of reverting to form. Still have no intention of going though

1992 would have been awesome, compared to lizzy though, almost everything since 92 seems to be aimed at the mondeo men/women. im with bill hicks, shoot all music marketing people, NOW!

Heard this morning that Ticketmaster will be hiring an extra 250 staff to cope with demand for Madonna tickets. The press release on the MCD site is amusing, at least for pedantic technical geeks because it says that ticketmaster will add "Extra capacity on Internet lines"(sic). I think you'll find they mean increasing the bandwidth capacity and number of requests the webserver can handle. At least thats what I hope they mean, or else we will have a repeat of the whole Glastonbury fiasco. Jules, just thinking about your 'pretending to be credible indie but listening to pop comment'. I know bootlegging/mashups is old hat by now (even David Bowies copped on to it by now) and this track has being doing the rounds for ages but I always think more people should listen to the brilliant Freelance Hellraiser bootleg "A Stroke of Genius" which mixes The Strokes with Christina Aguileras' "Genie in a Bottle". After listening to that, you realise that the line between credible indie and throwaway pop is not as distinct as we're lead to believe, in fact they're just a short step away from each other. And to add some more artists to the "(guiilty?) pop pleasures" list: Saint Ettienne (entire back catalogue), despite indie credibility, they are a real pop band, or at least an idealised version of what a pop band should be. They just happen to be a pop band thats not actually popular Sugababes have but out loads of great singles, if only they could get a great album together too. Oh well, just a case of waiting for the inevitable "best of" shortly after the group eventually implodes. Giorgio Moroder - "Looky Looky" - he wasn't all synthpop and disco you know!

That's great list Binokular, respect. I've been to eight out of the list, including the very first one. How we rocked to Hazel O'Connor !! *drifts off into nostalgic reverie*

Eh, ye're probably right. Maybe Madonna will pull it off, but she will have to work hard for her extortionate money. Slane without the huge crowd would be a bit atmosphere-less, and you can't deny the crowd is going to be quite a lot smaller... I feel I must admit at this point before this goes any further: I have only been to one Slane concert, last years sniff sniff sniff. '93 seems like a good yearI no its off the point but I have to say why does everyone feel they have to get drunk at concerts? Drunk people always put a downer on things. But back to the point yes Slane does seem to be heading downwards. Then again it is all hills...

I think madonna should be booed away from these shores like the plague and G. W. Bush. I think its cheeky and disrespectful to come over and play a traditionally rocking highlight of the irish calendar and ask for 90Euro. She is only here to collect her pension, I hear she is set to get 2million plus whatever she creams off the gate. I am sick of 'Legends'(McCartney,Dylan etc..) coming to our country and riding us just for being music fans. People like this would not have their 'legendary status' if it were not for us folk who bought their records in the first place. This sort of thing should be boycotted simply for the price alone. Madonna, Justify my Hole

Have just seen that both The Darkness and Iggy Pop wil play support on Madge's bill so...every cloud has a silver lining.

I hear ya Mary Jane, but don't forget when the term 'legend' is used in respect of those acts it more often than not refers to 'legend of musical sales' as opposed to 'musical legend' - a marketing term, not a cultural one, I'd argue. I'm sure Madonna/Springsteen/Dylan/Simon's moneymen would cynically argue that 'if yr dumb enough to pay it, don't complain about its cost'...at times I think they're right.

I think it's a bit hasty to dismiss Madonna/Springsteen/Dylan/Simon as being devoid of cultural integrity. Each of them did their own thing and I believe affected change in their field. Madonna I think is less of a cultural phenomonen than Dylan, Simon and Springsteen admittedly, but these acts have all added something to music and everyday culture. I think Madonna is typical of the tactics used by record companies now and then. Build 'em up big and then get some pretenders you can make a bit of extra cash off. It may have been somewhat artificial (in my opinion) but none the less, an impact it did make. I wouldn't hesitate to call these performers legends, I just wouldn't pay top dollar to ruin a perfectly good illusion (that being that there's still some entertainment value in their live shows)

The Darkness are at Oxegen and Iggy was at Green Energy so its strange decision to bring em both back as support.