Entertainment

Ireland declares its love (mostly) for Harry Styles at Slane

Harry Styles on stage at Slane Castle on Saturday night. (Image courtesy of RTÉ)
Harry Styles on stage at Slane Castle on Saturday night. (Image courtesy of RTÉ)
By David Roy

FROM being headbutted at a house party in Tallaght in 2010 to receiving a hero's welcome from 80,000 fans at Slane on Saturday night, Harry Styles has definitely come a long way in Ireland.

It helps that the former One Directioner is now expert at charming his Irish fans: he plays the hits, old and new, he knows how to say a few key phrases as Gaelige - 'céad míle fáilte', 'conus atá tú?', 'slán leat’, 'agus go n-eirí an bóthar leat' - and he's only too happy to wrap himself in the national flag.

As a result, social media has been awash with effusive praise from the moment he left the stage in Co Meath, with some fans already declaring the show - which also featured supporting turns from Wet Leg, Inhaler and Harry's sideman Mitch Rowland - to be their "gig of the year":

Even opening act Inhaler, lead by son-of-Bono Elijah Hewson, also declared themselves overwhelmed by the response they received from the Harry Styles Slane crowd:

Hewson's mum and dad were at the show to watch their offspring carry on a proud family tradition of Slane appearances:

@niamhydevvy Special moment from yesterday — Lord Henry Mountcharles — the man behind all of the Slane concerts since '81 — insisted on saying hello to us despite not being in the best health. Loved how he swapped whiskey for tea for his meeting with #Bono! #slane #slanecastle #loveontourslane #harrystyles #harrystylesslane #inhaler ♬ Just To Keep You Satisfied - Inhaler

As they watched Harry perform, some fans began to note how some of his on-stage poses and outfits reminded them of a previous iconic Slane headliner...

But of course, as any seasoned pop performer knows, you can never please all of the people all of the time: there were also a minority of nay-sayers offering their hot takes on the Slane show:

And let's spare a thought for the parents who missed out on seeing Harry in order to provide taxi services for their offspring:

However, if you weren't able to be there yourself, don't worry: it seems you can easily get caught up with what happened over on the Tik-Tok courtesy of Jedward and thousands of others...

@jepictiktok Harry slaying slane #harrystyles #jedward ♬ original sound - JedwardTiktok