Lord Henry’s passion, courage, and rebellious Rock N' Roll spirit shaped not just a place, but a legacy

Just before Robbie Williams took to the stage at Slane in 1999, Henry Mount Charles, accompanied by his ‘bodyguard’, head gamekeeper on the estate, Dermot Shevlin presented him with a bottle of holy water. Not to sprinkle on himself. But to drink.

“He looked at us as if we were barking mad,” Henry Mount Charles recalled for a Meath Chronicle supplement in 2021 to mark 40 years of Slane Concerts (top right), at an abeyance at the time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “But he took a sup out of it!”

It was water from the holy well on the Slane Castle demesne, St Erc’s Well, named after a follower of St Patrick who lit his Paschal fire on the Hill of Slane.

And it was seeing crowds arrive for the Patron Day at this well when he was a child that inspired the young Henry Conyngham, future Earl Mount Charles, to bring the masses to Slane Castle when he took over the running of the sprawling estate, albeit it for a very different sort of gathering.

“Winding the clock back to when I was a kid, there were football matches and side shows and races and all of that, and this is what gave me the inspiration to do it.”

That Patron Day is 15th August – and Slane’s first ever concert, headlined by Thin Lizzy, took place on 16th August 1981. The support act was U2, a band that was to become synonymous with the venue in future years.

“And the weirdest thing is, I used to have these dreams as a kid, of some sort of structures growing up out of the ground,” Henry continued. “In all honesty, they were more like a fortress, but when you translate into modern day, it is not completely divorced from the concert stages. This has been sitting with me all my life.

“Never mind ‘Reeling in the Years’ on RTE, I have my own ‘rock ‘n’ roll years’,” he says. “Think 1986 and it’s Queen, ’87 Bowie, Guns ‘n’ Roses in 1992 .. and so it goes on .. an act triggers the year.”

The Lizzy gig was put together with promoters Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond of MCD, and 40 years later, Henry was still working with Denis Desmond, while there was a brief association with Jim Aiken’s Aiken Promotions in the early years.

“In those early years, in retrospect, we might have done things differently,” Henry said. “But ’81 was a pathfinder, I’d even say ground breaker in this country.”

Ireland then was a different country than it is today, an economic basket case, with the Northern Ireland situation very tense in the midst of the Hunger Strike campaigns which saw the burning of Killeen Castle in Dunsany and an antipathy towards anyone associated with ‘the big house’ in certain quarters.

“It was all very chilling stuff,” the Harvard educated lord whose ancestor was mistress to George IV, recalled.

“The following year, the key was to get the Rolling Stones, to bring the venue to a whole different level – which it did.”

It was quite difficult to put that one together, he said.

“Jim Aiken actually ended up getting the act, so I was using all sorts of pull in the background to make sure it came to Slane. And that led to relations with Eamonn and Denis being in a difficult position. But I was able to bring Eamonn in as part of my team.”

Slane broke ground and showed there was a whole new Ireland out there, he explained.

“It was critical that we got the Stones to play Slane. If they had gone anywhere else in the country, it would have meant a loss of credibility for Slane. So come hell or high water, I was determined they would come to Slane!”

Then, there was the disaster of 1984, with riots in the village the night prior to the Bob Dylan concert.

“There were lots of problems in 1984. But first of all – it was on a Sunday. I have always been very reluctant to have Sunday concerts because there is too much of a build-up. The beauty of a Slane concert is that you can get to it from any part of Ireland, and then get home on a Saturday night/Sunday morning– maybe very late, but if you want to, you can do it!”

After Bowie, there was a hiatus of five years, as well as the dreadful fire which destroyed the castle. Then, Denis Desmond invited Henry to lunch to suggest acts for a 1992 concert, putting two options on front of him.

“Denis and I got back together for the Guns ‘n’ Roses show,” he recalled. “And that still brings a smile to my face. He put two acts to me. And he didn’t think I’d choose Guns n Roses. I said Denis, for God’s sake, if I’m coming back into the arena, lets do it with something with a bit of edge to it!”

Meath acts Ham Sandwich and Otherkin have played support at Slane, but Henry recalled the buzz around Oasis and Noel and Liam Gallagher’s Duleek connections as the prime example of the local boys done good.

“There was great craic with the Gallaghers because of their Duleek connections, and lots of carry-on over the show,” he said of their second coming in 2009.

“Liam wasn’t talking to Noel, and one came by helicopter, and one by limousine. We were very lucky – they had a big bust-up afterwards in Paris, thank God it didn’t happen in Slane.

“But if a call came in the morning saying the guys were back together and would I be up for it – I’d say yes straight away! Maybe with Niall Horan as support!”

The U2 relationship with Slane is well documented, from supporting Thin Lizzy, to recording ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ at the castle, to playing two concerts there in 2001 to mark the reopening of the castle a decade after the dreadful fire there.

“The return of U2 was incredibly emotional,” Henry says. It took 10 years and lots of “financial engineering” to reconstruct the eighteenth century property, reproducing as much of the original as possible, while at the same time Henry was battling alcoholism and depression.

“The fire really screwed up my head,” he says. “It was a strain in every possible aspect but a huge sense of achievement having done it.”

“And then to have two U2 shows. I can remember both Iona and myself crying when U2 went on stage for the first show. And I probably cried for the second one as well!

“I also recall that having that show and that was an enormous drive to get the castle finished. I was determined we would have people in the castle the day of the show. It provides a deadline to concentrate the mind.”

Over the next two decades the castle amphitheatre hosted headliners, Stereophonics, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Madonna, Rolling Stones, Oasis, Kings of Leon, Bon Jovi, Eminem, Foo Fighters, Guns n'Roses, Metallica, and in 2023, Harry Styles, who, despite those who said he wasn't a Slane artist, pulled off a hugely successful show, and introduced Slane to a new generation.

During that period, Slane decided to invite Meath-based bands as support acts, with Kells-based HamsandwicH the first local band to play at Slane, supporting Bon Jovi in 2013.

Niamh Farrell of the band said at the time: "Henry has done so much for live music in Ireland since putting the first Slane concert on 40 years ago. We have a lot of love and respect for him."

On Thursday, following Lord Henry's death, Slane Castle posted a picture of him with Philip Lynott in 1981 on social media, saying: "Today we remember and celebrate the remarkable life of Lord Henry Mount Charles — visionary, rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer, and the man who dreamed big for Slane Castle.

“This iconic photo, taken at the very first Slane Concert in 1981, captures a moment in music history: Lord Henry with the legendary Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy.

“That day, a tradition was born, one that would bring the world’s greatest artists to the Boyne Valley and turn Slane into a symbol of live music in Ireland. Lord Henry’s passion, courage, and rebellious spirit shaped not just a place, but a legacy. We honour him today with gratitude, pride, and music in our hearts."