The cat can chill: Prince to play Malahide Castle in July

POP MUSICIAN Prince is to play at Malahide Castle in Dublin in July as part of a European tour.

The 52-year-old Minneapolis- born artist is scheduled to perform a selection of his greatest hits at a 35,000 capacity open-air concert at the north Dublin venue on Saturday, July 30th.

His Malahide date will follow performances in France and England and a show at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands.

Prince’s last Irish performance came at the Point in 2002.

He was scheduled to play at Croke Park in Dublin in June 2008 but cancelled the concert just 13 days before it was due to take place.

The cancellation resulted in a legal dispute with concert promoter MCD and much anger among tens of thousands of Prince fans who had bought tickets. The upcoming concert is being organised by promoter POD.

In December, Prince embarked on his first US tour since 2004. He has gone on to win positive reviews for his dance moves, guitar playing and stage, which is shaped like his trademark glyph.

Prince insisted those attending his shows on the tour should “bring your friends, bring your children and bring foot spray, because it’s going to be funky”.

His setlists have been largely based around material from his back catalogue such as Kiss, Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, 1999, Cream, Diamonds and Pearlsand L ittle Red Corvette.

A total of 55,000 tickets had been sold for Prince’s last Irish concert before it was cancelled. Prince never gave a reason for the cancellation and has never made a public comment about the matter.

The case ended up in the Commercial Courts in February of last year and was settled after a four- day hearing. Lawyers for Prince agreed to pay €1.6 million in damages and a further €600,000 in legal costs to MCD promoter Denis Desmond.

In February, Mr Desmond brought the case to the US courts as the damages had not been paid inside the agreed timeframe.

Tickets from €89.50 for Prince’s Dublin show go on sale on Friday.