Music and mouth: Eminem and 50 Cent to turn up heat at Slane
He will be joined by fellow rap icon 50 Cent.
Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles confirmed yesterday that Eminem aka Slim Shady and Marshal Mathers will headline this year's concert at the Co Meath venue on September 17.
"It's probably the worst-kept secret in Irish music," joked Lord Henry.
The peer admitted that he had only become a big fan of the singer, who topped the charts with hits such as Just Lose It, My Name Is and Stan, after his youngest daughter began pestering him to bring Eminem to Slane.
"It's not many albums where I agree with all the lyrics," said Lord Henry.
Eminem will be joined on stage for his Irish visit by another leading hip-hop artist, 50 Cent, in the final leg of his Anger Management world tour.
Tickets for Slane Castle, priced €64.50, go on sale on June 10 at 8am.
Speaking yesterday during a live video conference from his home city of Detroit, Eminem said he was looking forward to his first ever major European tour.
"It's going to be really good. We're going to sing, rap and dance. And take off our pants," he quipped.
After slow sales for last year's main act, Madonna, concert organisers will be hoping Eminem proves a bigger hit at the box office than the Material Girl.
Around 100,000 fans saw Eminem when he last played Ireland with two shows at Punchestown Racecourse in Co Kildare two years ago. As a result, it is expected tickets for the 80,000 capacity concert will sell out.
Eminem joins a star-studded list of acts performing here over the next few months, most notably U2, who will stage three dates at Croke Park later this month. Other big attractions include REM, Coldplay, Oasis, Elton John and Neil Diamond.
Several dozen top acts are also lined up for the Oxegen festival at Punchestown on July 9-10, including Green Day, Keane and The Killers, which is already a sell-out with all 140,000 tickets sold for both days of the event.
Meanwhile, the first of the big summer rock events kicks off today with the start of the Budrising Dublin City Festival.
The city will see dozens of bands and solo acts perform at a range of venues in the city over the next seven days.
Among the highlights of the festival are Beck, the La's, Echo & The Bunnymen and Jimmy Cliff.
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