Metallica dedicate Whiskey in the Jar cover to Phil Lynott at Slane

75,000 were blown away by a wave of heavy metal music but one song on the setlist stood out for their Irish fans.

Four songs in and James Hetfield pulled out Whiskey in the Jar, dedicating it to Dublin's own Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott.

At the end of the song, Hetfield can be heard saying "We love you, Philip" to huge cheers from the crowd.

Lynott died in 1986 at the age of 36 and Hetfield paid a moving tribute to the Dublin rocker in an interview with Hotpress magazine.

“It was one of those moments that was so sad." he said.

"You just wondered, ‘Why did God take such a creative person?’. But I think there was a purpose to it all, because the struggles that he wrote about: with drugs, drink, ethnicity, all of those things, they almost speak louder now he has passed."

Hetfield, who also struggled with alcohol and addiction was able to relate to Lynott on more than a musical level.

He said: "...just going back and listening to his lyrics it’s like, ‘Wow, I know what he’s talking about now’. I love that."

Thin Lizzy recorded the song in 1972 and it is widely accepted as the most iconic version of Whiskey in the Jar.