Luke Combs is set to headline Slane Castle in Co Meath on 18 July 2026 as part of his My Kinda Saturday Night Tour of Europe and North America.
The 35-year-old musician from North Carolina is best known for his hits Beautiful Crazy, Forever After All and She Got the Best of Me, as well as his cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car.
Joining him on the bill at Slane next summer are Dublin band The Script, fellow American country musician Ty Myers, and country music trio The Castellows.
He will be the first country music star to headline the iconic venue, which has previously played host to U2, Madonna, Eminem, David Bowie, Metallica, Harry Styles and Bruce Springsteen since shows began there in 1981.
He's headlining Slane next year but who is Luke Combs?
Tickets, priced from €121.25 plus a service charge, will go on general sale via Ticketmaster from 10am next Friday, 17 October.
Eight-time Grammy-nominated Combs is the first country artist to have two songs surpass one billion streams on Spotify.
He cut his teeth playing in local bars and college venues before moving to Nashville in 2014 to pursue music full-time.
Combs released his debut EP soon after and then broke through with his 2017 album This One’s for You, which launched a run of chart-toppers in the US.
Albums such as What You See Is What You Get, Growin’ Up, and Gettin’ Old have reinforced his reputation as one of country’s most dependable hitmakers.
He released his fifth studio album, Fathers & Sons, in June of last year.
Combs is also a member of the revered country music institution, the Grand Ole Opry, and has played Ireland previously, selling out both Dublin’s 3Arena and Belfast’s SSE Arena this time two years ago.
Promotors MCD have said his upcoming tour adds to "an already historic career for Combs, who recently became the highest RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America] certified country artist ever with 168 million units sold (surpassing Garth Brooks) and made history as the first country artist to headline both Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza."
Speaking of the tour, Combs said: "This year has been awesome. We’ve gotten to play some of the most iconic festivals in the world and promote country music in ways that it normally isn’t.
"That said, while the festivals are awesome, there’s nothing like a headline show on a full tour with all of my fans. It’s hard to beat! I can’t wait for March 2026 for the My Kinda Saturday Night Tour.
"We’re going to 8 different countries, bringing along a ton of great support, and by then will have a lot of new music to play."
Combs will be the first-ever country headliner to play Slane Castle, and there will also be an added poignancy to next year’s concert as it will be the first to be staged at the Boyne-side since the passing of Lord Henry Mount Charles last June.
The aristocrat turned rock ‘n’ roll promotor first had the idea of turning the natural amphitheatre of the castle grounds into an open-air concert venue.
Irish rock band Thin Lizzy first headlined Slane Castle - supported by U2 - on 16 August 1981 with some 18,000 concert-goers in attendance.
Since then, attendances have grown and some of the biggest names in rock, including the likes of Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Queen, have taken to the stage at the picturesque Meath venue for era-defining concerts.
However, following a four-year gig hiatus, Slane went pop in 2023 when Harry Styles brought his world tour to Slane.
The Mount Charles family said the concert was about welcoming a new generation of fans to the Meath venue and 80,000 of them turned up on the day to see the former One Direction member perform.
Now, traditions are being broken once more. Today’s announcement follows a recent explosion in popularity here for relatively younger country music singers, and it comes after 28-year-old Oklahoma native Zach Bryan played three sold out shows at Phoenix Park this summer.
Alex Conyngham, son of the late Lord Henry and the now owner of the Slane estate, has previously said that he and his siblings have ideas to breathe new life into the over 300-year-old castle.
These have included providing the location for a recent art exhibition, a new culinary experience and, perhaps most notably, the filming for the hit TV series, The Traitors Ireland.
Slane is now gearing up to go (almost) full country following the much-anticipated announcement of the line-up for next summer’s big show. The gig is subject to licence.
