Metallica playing in Lisbon earlier this year. SIPA USA / PA Images SIPA USA / PA Images / PA Images

ICONIC METAL BAND Metallica have been confirmed to headline Slane Castle next summer.

The band, who rose to prominence with albums such as Master of Puppets and … And Justice for All, will join acts such as Bruce Springsteen, U2 and the Rolling Stones who’ve previously headlined the castle in Meath.

The nine-time Grammy award winners have sold over 125 million albums worldwide. 

Guns N Roses were the last band to headline a Slane gig, playing to 80,000 people in May 2017.

The 1,500 acre estate owned by Lord Henry Mountcharles hosted its first concert in 1981, when Thin Lizzy headlined with U2 supporting.

In an announcement this morning, Mountcharles confirmed the news and said the gig will be on 8 June 2019. 

“Metallica are great fans of Thin Lizzy who headlined the first Slane,” he said. “I said to myself how the hell do we follow Guns N Roses, and Metallica were a very obvious choice.

I wanted to show Slane’s rock’n'roll roots are alive and well for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes you get to a juncture where the lyrics of a song like Nothing Else Matters really resonates.

The lads rocking out in Slane back in 1992. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

It’ll be the band’s first Irish gig for a decade. They’ll be supported by Swedish band Ghost and Norwegian rockers Bokassa but no other support acts have been confirmed as of yet. 

Organisers said that there will be “five or six” acts on the bill. 

Speaking to the Irish Times in 2016, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said the band love playing in Ireland.

“We’ve played Ireland a lot,” he said. “We’ve played racetracks and stadiums and fields. I mean, I can go right back to the Top Hat. Ireland for me is always tranquil and lush and green.”

According to research by Billboard earlier this year, Metallica was third behind U2 and Garth Brooks in the music industry’s top earners in 2017 earning $43.2 million between them.