The Dublin band become only the third Irish act ever to top the bill at Slane, with Hayley Williams, Damien Dempsey and Madra Salach supporting.
As Fontaines D.C. closed out Electric Picnic on Sunday night, an image reading Slane Castle appeared on the screens behind them, with a code for the crowd to scan. Anyone who signed up got a message back: registered, details tomorrow.
The details have arrived: Fontaines D.C. will headline Slane Castle on Saturday June 26th 2027.
The bill so far:
- Fontaines D.C.
- Hayley Williams
- Damien Dempsey
- Madra Salach
Tickets go on general sale at 10am this Thursday 3rd September here
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Artist pre-sale begins at 10am Tuesday 1st September. Registration here: https://laylo.com/fontainesdc/slane2026
MCD Pre-sale begins 10am on Wednesday 2nd September here
Tickets priced from €89.25 (including booking fee and €1 charity donation to Focus Ireland). Bookings subject to 12.5% service charge per ticket (max €10.50).
No service charge will apply to tickets purchased in-person from the 3Olympia Box Office, Dame Street Dublin 2.
€1 from every ticket (minus applicable taxes) sold will go towards helping children, families and individuals get back on their feet and have a home of their own. Focus Ireland believes everyone has a right to a place to call home.
Details of coach transport services will be announced shortly.
Fontaines will be only the third Irish act ever to headline Slane, after Thin Lizzy at the very first show in 1981 and U2 in 2001. Everything in between, from The Rolling Stones and Bowie and Madonna and Oasis through to Metallica and Luke Combs last summer, has come from elsewhere.
U2 played that first Slane in 1981 as a support act to Thin Lizzy before returning 20 years later to headline. Fontaines are doing it the other way round, arriving at the top of the bill a decade on from their first shows in The Workman’s Club.
Their fifth album Dopamine Chamber lands on October 16th via XL, produced by James Ford, following 2024’s Romance with lead single ‘Marianne’ . Grian Chatten describes the record as a chamber you step into: “You step inside and we test these different mind or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
Then comes the biggest arena run of the band’s career, a European and UK tour through late October and November taking in the Ziggo Dome, Accor Arena and the O2 in London.
Slane is the only home show of the entire album campaign, which explains both the scale of it and why Thursday morning is going to be busy.
Hayley Williams brings a Paramore crowd and two solo records of her own and is the only current international pick. Damien Dempsey is the emotional pick on the lineup, a Dublin songwriter who has been singing about this city for as long as Fontaines have existed as a band. And Madra Salach, who are on the rise from small rooms themselves are well able to bring it to a field of 80,000 in about 18 months are one of the best new Irish bands going.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
