Despite the hype and controversy surrounding ticket sales in the run up to Slane 2004, on the night it certainly looked as near to a sell-out as made no difference.
In the end, then, it was the unpredictable Irish weather, rather than the rumour machine, which threatened to put a serious dampener on proceedings as showtime approached. There surely must’ve been some frayed nerves backstage as the heavy but thankfully short-lived late-summer showers delayed Madonna’s entrance by about 50 minutes. Crews frantically swept the water off the stage and mopped up with white towels, as sheets of rain swept down the hill towards the stage.
Miraculously – well, almost! – the sky cleared and a bright moon hovered tantalisingly over the Boyne, as one of the leading contenders for the title of Most Famous Woman in the World emerged from underneath the stage to the familiar strains of ‘Vogue’.
Over the next 100 minutes or so, Madonna delivered a set drawn from throughout her 20 year career. With her voice sounding as good as, if not better than, ever, the performance – at once fast paced and elaborate – skilfully blended crowd pleasers like ‘Hollywood’, ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Express Yourself’ with the more clubby fare from Ray of Light, including ‘Music’ and ‘Frozen’.
There were lots of dancers on stage engaging in some pretty impressive, if not entirely essential, routines. For sure, some elements of this carefully choreographed show would have worked better indoors. Other numbers, however, benefited from the larger arena - the lit-up castle walls, for example, made a wonderfully appropriate backdrop as the emergence of a troupe of bagpipers and drummers heralded an eclectic version of ‘Into The Groove’.
She didn’t perform at least two of my own personal favourites (‘Borderline’ and ‘Live To Tell’) and some fans would undoubtedly have preferred to hear other hits such as ‘True Blue’ and ‘La Isla Bonita’ in place of what was a pretty anodyne version of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.
Still, we got fine versions of gems like ‘Papa Don’t Preach’, a heartfelt ‘Crazy For You’ (the highlight of the evening) and the show’s upbeat closer – and her first hit, ‘Holiday’ – to remember the night for, sending everyone home tired and wet… but happy.