Heavy metal icons Metallica are set to headline Slane next summer, it's been confirmed this morning.

The Slane gig on 8 June, which will be Metallica's first Irish date in a decade, will be part of their 2019 European leg of their WorldWired tour. Tickets will go on sale this Friday.

Announcing the news this morning, Lord Henry Mount Charles said: “Metallica are great fans of Thin Lizzy who headlined the first Slane,” he said. “I said to myself how the hell do we follow Guns N Roses, and Metallica were a very obvious choice.

"I wanted to show Slane’s rock’n'roll roots are alive and well for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes you get to a juncture where the lyrics of a song like Nothing Else Matters really resonates."

Drummer Lars Ulrich had mention that the band hoped to play Ireland in 2019, after plans to possibly play last year fell through due to stage layout issues for their pyrotechnics show.

Lars told the Irish Times back in 2016 that the band love playing here. “We’ve played Ireland a lot,” he said. “We’ve played racetracks and stadiums and fields. I mean, I can go right back to the Top Hat. Ireland for me is always tranquil and lush and green," he said.

Metallica's European Tour will run from May to August next year and no doubt Slane will be one of their key dates, with metal heads all over the country flocking to see one of the most important bands the genre has seen.