Lord Henry Mountcharles, landed gent turned concert promoter at Slane Castle, has said that his cancer diagnosis has inspired him to focus more on his family and friends.
Mountcharles, who has hosted gigs by big names such as U2, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen at his home of Slane Castle in Co Meath over the past 35 years, spoke about his initial diagnosis in 2014 and the return of the cancer late last year.
"I'm OK. I've had a bit of a rough time of late but thanks to a wonderful medical team in St James, I'm alive and kicking," he said on The Ray D'Arcy Show on Saturday night.
"I had cancer in 2014 and I had surgery and chemo and radio therapy and that was quite heavy and then I got a reprieve but then just after Christmas I knew I was unwell and I had an appointment to see my oncologist so I went into St James and had an X-ray and they took one look at me and they said `we're not letting you out of here.
Thousands flocked to see Foo Fighters at Slane last year
"Then I got the bad news that the cancer was back and you have to be philosophical about these things to say the least and I'm now on a new drug and so far so good. It seems to be working it's magic and life opens up again."
Lord Mountcharles also said that having a serious illness has made him focus on his friends and family.
However, he ruled out a gig at Slane this year. Last February, Slane Castle's Facebook page posted a statement which said: "Lord Henry confirmed today that there will be no show at Slane this year. Slane will return in 2017 when the Slane Distillery is completed."
Speaking on Saturday night, he added: "No gig this year and I'm not going to give you a hint about future shows - Jimi Hendrix in spirit!"
Thin Lizzy played the first gig at Slane Castle in 1981
Lord Mountcharles also recalled the very first Slane show, which saw Thin Lizzy and U2 play in front of a crowd of 18,000 in the castle grounds.
"Those were heady days - it was in the middle of the hunger strikes and it was a pathfinder event and we wanted to lift people's spirits, we wanted to do something different, and we were accused of all sorts of things - turning the place into Stalag 14, I was opening the biggest public urinal in Ireland - all this sort of stuff - but rock `n' roll prevailed and we had a little-known Irish band playing support and they were called U2 and the rest is rock `n' roll history."
Watch the full interview with Lord Henry Mountcharles here
