In a summer of competing festivals and superstar shows, one imminent visitor is conspicuous by his absence from the promo palaver, the ads and the constant badgering every time you turn on your radio to buy tickets. His is one show that is sure to sell.
Eminem visits Ireland next weekend to play Slane Castle. This is the venue he cancelled back in 2005, after which his name (s) became familiar to the denizens of the High Court, as the promoter slugged it out with a couple of insurance companies.
The rapper has been back to Ireland since that cancellation – he played an Oxegenheadline slot in 2010 (when the festival still attracted the hordes) and a Vital festival slot in Belfast the following summer – but still, Eminem at Slane has a certain frisson to it. In a summer in which the event gigs have been largely for older music fans, Eminem is probably the liveliest proposition and thousands will surely flock for a day out with the Detroit rapper.
It is remarkable that he is still box-office gold when you consider how things could have gone – or look at his peers. Even with a plethora of other rappers on the rise, and even though his past few albums didn’t quite capture the zeitgeist in the way ol’ Slim Shady did a decade ago, Eminem still has an edge and draws thousands to his shows.
In many ways, Em is bigger than hip-hop. Very few rappers could go toe to toe with him at this level despite the critical acclaim and commercial cash they attract. Jigga and Yeezy? Perhaps they could bring those cubes outdoors and fill a small field, though it’s worth remembering that even their much acclaimed Watch the Throne tour last year was hard pushed to sell both nights in the O2. They’d have Bon Jovi-like trouble filling Lord Henry Mountcharles’s field.
Fiddy? Oh, please. You’re comparing apples and oranges there, a player from La Ligaversus someone hoofing and panting around Fairview Park on a Sunday morning. The man from Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile movie versus the man from Jim Sheridan’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. It would be a different matter if we were talking about flogging vitamin water and sneakers. Being hip-hop’s Hector Grey is 50’s most lucrative talent these days.
And then there’s the field. All those newbies and wannabes, the could-have-beens and will-never-bes: none has come or will come close to snatching the crown. From the ones who tip the cap to Slim Shady, such as Tyler, the Creator, to the creative right-on favourites such as Kendrick Lamar, very few have the across-the-board appeal needed to get to Eminem’s level.
Of course, as with the heritage rock bands who still pull crowds today, Em owes much of this longevity to the fact that he had it good in a time of plenty. He was one of the last crossover acts through the gap, one of the last global superstars to benefit from the old record industry’s successful hegemony when it came to making and breaking acts. He gamed the levers of power and influence like a pro. You can probably even remember seeing the videos on your telly as part of that old-school takeover. They don’t do that anymore. Well, unless someone dies.
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