Eminem Slane 2013Eminem at Slane Castle on the 17th of August, 2013

So this was never going to be a straightforward affair really now was it? Just like Bon Jovi had it’s talking points of high ticket prices and poorer ticket sales; an Eminem concert was only ever going to attract similar media and public scrutiny. If we divert our gaze and ignore the shameful behavior on show before, during (and no we’re not talking about a certain hashtag frenzy) and after the gig; we might actually remember that a huge international star was gracing our shores/hill/castle for the first time since Oxegen in 2010. So, as we tried to stay focused, we remembered that we were there to witness the music maaaaaan.

Arriving down a little bit later than most of the crowd, Plan B was the first act for us to take in from our lofty seated berth in front of Slane Castle. Unfortunately, Mr. B had obviously buttered his toast the wrong way that morning as what the 80,000 strong crowd witnessed was an ego riddled, bad-tempered and whiny performance from a performer who should be counting his lucky stars to perform in front of such a large rap crowd. Plan B dedicated the first single from the album of the same name, Ill Manors, to all “the poor c**ts out there” before dedicating Live Once from the same album to Eminem, “a rapper that inspired everyone on stage”. Unfortunately, the lyrics of that song (“everything will be ok”) didn’t ring true as Plan B then turned on the crowd. Just before his final song Stay Too Long, he implored the crowd to “throw piss” at him, continually called the crowd “c**ts” and then declared that “You’re the tamest crowd I’ve ever met in my f**king life”. You stay classy Plan B.

Now running over an hour later than planned, a huge white canvas guards the stage. Just before you can figure out whether the silhouette on show is a man carrying shopping bags or if those are just incredibly baggy pants, the canvas drops to reveal a 40-year old Marshall Mathers dressed as a 22-year old Eminem. Apart from the clever use of LED screens behind the stage, the dropping canvas is about as gimmicky as this set becomes as Eminem and his hype man Mr.Porter command the front of the stage as they rattle through Won’t Back Down, 3 A.M, Square Dance and Business before coming to Kill You. This is about the point that ‘lyrical poetry’ comes into play as Eminem screeches “Shut up slut, you’re causing too much chaos. Just bend over and take it like a slut, OK Ma?”. It’s right about this time that a quick glance around the seated area in front of Slane Castle would see a bewildered Mary Coughlan and Edelle King (aka Twink) look on as they stand beside their younger children – not awkward at all I’d imagine.

White America continues the action before Mosh is unleashed to the crowd as countless sections of the crowd follow Eminem’s words as full blown, blood spilling, anger encrusted mosh pits erupt all over the place. Very happy in our seated position beside a 16 year old boy and Ireland’s panto Queen, No Love all complete with a Haddaway sample, thankfully calms things down a little. Then halfway through the set comes Cleaning Out my Closet where Eminem asks the crowd “who had problems with their parents?”, no doubt bringing everyone back to 2003 when they were an angst-ridden teen blaming everything on their parents. And of course, Eminem was their musical protector at that time – sure isn’t this nostalgia don’t you know?

The Way I Am brings the intensity back before Sky Full of Lighters, Airplanes and Stan make up the section of the set where Eminem rattles through his guest vocalist-laden catalogue. Complete with useless on-stage female backing vocalist who merely mimes over the top of Bruno Mars, Hayley Williams and Dido. The crowd admirably try to join in but the relentless pace at which this gig is passing by makes it next to impossible to dwell on any kind of special moment. Even the clockwork timing reveal of the full moon beyond the stage as soon as the first lyric is dropped on Stan fails to escalate the concert to that next level.

Up until this moment, the whole concert has been like a rap disco of sorts whereby Eminem has unleashed a mammoth machine gun of rap upon the crowd, hardly even stopping between songs to catch his own breath. Sing for the Moment then calms things a little as the lighters and iPhone light illuminate the Slane Castle hill. Like Toy Soliders becomes one of the highlights of the set as Eminem marauds across the huge Slane stage and outputs so much emotion throughout his verses. Love The Way You Lie receives a huge crowd reaction as once again, the lady vocalist quite needlessly mimes over RiRi’s chorus.

Eminem then introduces the best part of the set as he asks the crowd, “Can I take you back to the days of my drug taking?”. Eminem then rifles quickly through My Name Is and The Real Slim Shady, two songs he seems embarrassed to include but due to popularity on the night, will no doubt be an ever present for a long time to come. Then, a powerful combo of Without Me and Not Afraid bring the set to a close as Eminem walks off stage only to return moments later to deliver a rousing performance of Lose Yourself. Throughout the set, there were glimpses of brilliance among the mud, the mosh pits and the awful out of sync audio and LED monitor playback. Unfortunately, the crowd had to wait till the very last song for all of this to come together for a real lauding of showmanship as Eminem bounced around the stage like a lunatic.

It seems that Eminem was the last in a long line of lunatics on show that evening for a Slane that can only be deemed a mistake. The music on the night was about as good as it’s ever going to get but everything in place on the night just didn’t click resulting in a Slane that will live long in the memory, just not for the right reasons.