Triumphant return for the kings of the Castle

It wasn't quite November rain that greeted sleepy eyed rockers on Saturday morning as they dragged their bitchy little asses from bed to begin the journey to the mecca of rock n' roll at Slane Castle for the triumphant return for Guns n' Roses, 25 years after their last appearance at the Meath amphitheater.
The persistent rain that followed a glorious week of sunshine threatened to ruin what promised to be the mother of all rock shows, but all it took was a little bit of patience and prayers to a higher deity for the clouds to clear in time for the return Kings of the Castle.
While the rain still fell those that wrapped up in a variety of multi-coloured ponchos in a vain and made the effort to get up front and centre in the 'pit' certainly had the sleep blown from their eyes and lingering drowsiness blasted from their heads by an outstanding set from OTHERKIN who are front by Slane's own Luke Reilly.
An unknown quantity prior to being announced as the first local band to perform on stage in their home town, OTHERKIN were certainly the name on everyone's lips at the end of their 40-minute set.
Prior to hitting the stage, Alex Conyngham warned us that OTHERKIN will 'certainly wake the crowd up' and he wasn't wrong as Luke and his other band kin David Anthony, Conor Andrew Wynne and Rob Summons, who hail from Dublin and Leixlip, performed like seasoned pros with all of the sound and energy of an early, vibrant and booming Stereophonics.
'It was amazing. I didn't know what to expect really, but once we got there there was a sea of people and I thought we did really well,' Luke told the Meath Chronicle minutes after returning to castle following their brilliant performance.
'I felt really comfortable up there. I feel like people really reacted to it and it couldn't have gone better for us I think.
'It was a completely surreal occasion for me. I was only when we took a break between songs and we took a look around when the gravity of it all dawned on me. I will never forget it, it was incredible.
'It was great to play in front of so many family and friends and I could see a lot of them during the gig. I was looking down and I could see clusters of people that I knew, so itwas great they were there.
'I feel great now, I was buzzing when I came off stage. I had a tingling feeling from head to toe and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the night now,' concluded the ferociously energetic 25-year-old front man from Slane.
Not many expected such a high standard to be set so early on, but OTHERKIN really stole the show as far as the support acts were concerned.
Former Queens of the Stone Age rocker, Mark Lanegan, who also worked with Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, struggled to get the crowd back up to the fever levels they had reached with OTHERKIN and while UK duo Royal Blood were also hugely impressive it was OTHERKIN who set the standard which only Guns n' Roses managed to surpass.
It was with considerable caution and trepidation that the 83,000 fans flocked to Slane on Saturday. Twenty five years on from their legendary performance at the venue in 1992, widely regarded as the great concert at the iconic castle, the big question was could Guns n' Roses get close to those levels again?
The answer was an emphatic HELL YEAH!!!!!!
From the moment their trademark 'Looney Tunes' played to signal their impending arrival at 7.40pm it was already an improvement on some of the messing that had gone on 25 years earlier when the band were almost two hours late getting to the stage and then the performance was broken up by Axl's constant costume changes.
This time around they hit the ground running - bang on time.
There were still several changes of hats and jackets for the legendary front man Axl, but they passed almost unnoticed through the entire non-stop, electric, energy sapping three-hour gig that brought old fans and new back through the history of time of one of, if not THE greatest, rock n' roll bands of all time.
Opening with 'It's So Easy' before launching into 'Mr Brownestone', Chinese Democracy and 'Welcome to the Jungle' the 83,000 in attendance didn't even realise that the rain had long since stopped.
Hit after hit after hit followed - 'Better', 'Estranged', 'Live and Let Die', 'You Could be Mine' and 'Civil War' - all had the crowd eating out of Axl, Slash and Duff's collective hands of genius before the most poignant moment of the evening when they launched into Soundgarden's 'Black Holed Sun' in memory of the recently departed Soundgarden front man Chris Cornell.
It was a fitting tribute to the genius that was Cornell and Guns n' Roses did the man, the band and the song perfect justice with their superb rendition of the classic.
Slash mesmerised with his magic fingers on several solos, but none more so that in 'Speak Softly Love' the love theme from the Godfather movie and then it was onto 'Sweet Child O' Mine' before 'November Rain', 'Knockin on Heavens Door' and Nightrain seemed to have brought the show to an end.
Prior to playing Nightrain' Axl thanked the absent Henry Mountcharles (who is in hospital recovering from a chest infection) for having them back and he wished 'Lord Henry' the best of health, explaining that he felt it was better to wish Henry well 'after playing 'Knockin on Heavens Door', rather than before it.'
Minutes after leaving the stage GNR returned for an encore that included a mesmerising acoustic version of 'Patience', a little disappointing 'There Was a Time' and the outstanding brilliant cover of The Who's 'The Seeker' before bringing the curtain down on the opening leg of their European Tour and their triumphant return to Slane Castle with 'Paradise City' - it was certainly that for another full house at Slane Castle.

SET LIST
It's So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Chinese Democracy
Welcome to the Jungle
Double Talkin' Jive
Better
Estranged
Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
Rocket Queen
You Could Be Mine
New Rose (The Damned cover)
This I Love
Civil War (with 'Voodoo Child' outro)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover) (Chris Cornell tribute, live debut)
Coma
Slash Guitar Solo
Speak Softly Love (Love Theme From The Godfather) (Nino Rota cover) (instrumental)
Sweet Child O' Mine
Out Ta Get Me
Wish You Were Here(Pink Floyd cover) (Slash & Richard Fortus guitar duet)
November Rain ('Layla' piano outro with Axl)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan cover) (with 'Only Women Bleed' intro)
Nightrain

Encore:
Patience
There Was a Time
The Seeker (The Who cover)
Paradise City