This will be Madonna’s first ever gig in Ireland. It will also be her only open-air gig on her current world tour.

The switch to a Sunday date had been widely anticipated, with previous reports suggesting that Madonna was unwilling to play on a Saturday for religious reasons; she is said to have become a devotee of the Kaballah, a branch of Judaism – a religion which holds Saturday to be the Sabbath. However, Slane owner Lord Henry Mountcharles has insisted that the change is for practical rather than religious reasons. Madonna is playing a string of dates in London, culminating in a Wembley show on Thursday 26th. “It would not be possible logistically to get a show ready for Slane on Saturday 28th,” he told Elaine Keogh in the Irish Times.

Reservations have already been expressed by some local interests about the plan to switch the event to Sunday. While acknowledging that he knew that people would stir up memories of 1984, when there were riots in Slane that made national news, Mountcharles expressed puzzlement as to why there would be opposition to a Sunday date with Madonna. He pointed out that Bob Dylan is scheduled to play Galway on a Sunday in June this year.

A formal application for a licence for the event will be made to Meath County Council by the promoters MCD later this month. As yet, ticket prices for Slane have not been decided.

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