It was, as Lou Reed once sang, oh, such a perfect day. Unless you had spent most of it queuing for the beer tent, lining up for the portable toilets, or simply stuck in the enormous post-concert traffic jam.
Slane '98 attracted an astonishing crowd of 80,000 young people, and watching them gathered in the dusk of Saturday evening, holding burning Coke cups aloft while The Verve performed onstage, you got some idea of the sheer, swarming power of rock'n'roll. You also could see how the facilities would be strained by the sheer size of the crowd.
But although the average waiting time for beer and bladder relief was anything up to 40 minutes, the mostly teenage and twentysomething crowd took the day's minor inconveniences in their stride, and concentrated on enjoying the sun, the scenery and the sounds of Junkster, James, The Seahorses, Finley Quaye, Robbie Williams, Manic Street Preachers and headline act The Verve. The day was virtually trouble-free, with only 19 arrests, mostly for minor drug and public disorder offences.
Despite the huge numbers, there was little or no crushing near the front of the stage. And, unlike Slane 1995, when two young men drowned trying to swim across the Boyne, this year was mercifully free of tragedy.
This was Verve's final gig of 1998: some say their final gig ever, following the departure of guitarist Nick McCabe from the touring line-up. If it was indeed the Wigan band's last gasp, then they went out with a breathtaking bang, performing a soaring, emotional rendition of Bitter Sweet Symphony, and bowing out with a spectacular fireworks display in the night sky over Slane Castle.
It was the finest rock'n'roll moment of the year, and as lead singer Richard Ashcroft triumphantly held his guitar aloft and then symbolically dropped it on to the ground, he may have been signalling the end of a small but significant era in pop music.
The first Slane festival since 1995 had completely sold out by last Friday, and many of the young people here were getting their first taste of the Slane experience.
Linda Brown (17), Claire Miller (16) and Roseita Burke (17), all students at Scoil Chriost Ri in Portlaoise, had travelled by bus to their first big outdoor event, and were looking forward to watching The Verve and Robbie Williams strut their stuff by the banks of the Boyne. They were unconcerned at the absence of The Verve's guitarist: "They'll still be good."
Annie Tierney (16), Lucy Clarke (17) and Isabel Reyes (17), better known as Irish punk rock band Chicks, had arrived in Slane fresh from supporting The Manic Street Preachers in Cork, and were looking forward to opening for the Welsh band in Belfast tonight.
Tony Banks, from legendary rock band Genesis, was here with his wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Emily. "Emily is a big fan of The Verve," said the star. `But she likes all kinds of music, even Genesis." The Banks family had been on holiday in Cork - Tony's mother comes from Fermoy - and decided to come up and see the show.
"It's my first festival as a punter," said Banks. "It feels a bit strange to be just watching it and not getting up on stage to play."
Other stars who arrived by helicopter or drove in by limousine were the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, U2 bassist Adam Clayton, U2 manager Paul McGuinness, and Keith Duffy from Boyzone, and Julia Carling. The VIP area near the castle was filled with the movers and shakers of Dublin high society; models, PR people, fashion designers, rock entrepreneurs and night-club owners rubbed padded shoulders in the baking afternoon sun.
Lord Mount Charles, owner of Slane Castle and the impresario of Saturday's event, buzzed about the site in his motorised buggy, co-ordinating the massive logistics involved in staging the show.
Onstage, Robbie Williams led the crowd in shouting "Bollix!" in the direction of the VIP enclosure, then told the crowd how he had been "unceremoniously dumped" by his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Appleby from All Saints. Richard Ashcroft denounced a recent article in The Irish Times which criticised The Verve, and thanked the crowd for "the love that Ireland has given us".
