Meathman's Diary: Waiting to hear the music rise up from the Boyne again
As a certain Roy Keane might say in that distinct, nasal Cork accent of his: "All credit to him." The him in question here is none other than Lord Mountcharles or Henry Vivian Pierpont Conyngham as he is also know.
His recent announcement that there could be not one but two concerts in Slane next year did something that few people have been able to do in recent times.
It gave us a boost - or at least it gave me a boost - because a concert at the famous venue with a huge crowd, jumping and jiving in the mid-summer sunshine sparked an image of the old times when right was right and God was in his heaven; a sign that we're on the way back.
A return to Slane for a concert would be a return to the good times, and God knows people (young and indeed the not-so-young) need something to look forward to; something to sustain them in these head-wrecking days.
Lord Henry's news also brought home to me the sobering fact that it's 40 years ago this year since the first Slane concert was held. Forty years - please tell me it ain't so!
Back then Lord Henry was an adventurous young chap imaginatively searching around looking for revenue-generating ways to help meet the considerable costs of running his large estate. He, or some other clever person, looked at the natural amphitheatre beside the castle and thought: "You know what? That little patch of ground out there might not be a bad place to hold a rock concert" - or something to that effect.
There is however, a vast gulf between thinking of something - an idea, a concept - and putting it into effect. Unlike so many ideas that are conceived yet never see the light of day a Slane concert became a reality in the August of '81.
Lord Henry and his co-planners put together a bill of fare that included the headliners Thin Lizzy and up-and-coming young Dublin band who called themselves U2. Others included heavy rockers Sweet Savage and Aussie band Rose Tattoo as well as Hazel O'Connor's Megahype.
Staging the concert was a brave move by Mountcharles for all sorts of reasons. There was the financial aspect. It was the also the year of the hunger strikes and Mountcharles received death threats. Many locals opposed it, worried about trouble breaking out; a smashed window in a local pub was about the height of the damage caused.
On an beautiful day 17,000 fans turned up paying the considerable sum of £8 (around 10 euro) per ticket. Lord Mountcharles was delighted Phil Lynott and his band had agreed to play. They churned out a set that included the old classics such 'The Boys Are Back in Town' - and how the crowd lapped it up.
"He literally lifted the nation," Mountcharles said about Lynott at the time. The same could be said of the good Lord with the announcement that the place could be rocking again in 2022.