Live Concerts in Dublin

Inside Dublin

Dublin is a live-music city built on top of an even older trad-session city, and the two layers run in parallel on any given week. The headline rooms come first. The 3Arena on North Wall Quay — the 13,000-capacity dome at the end of the Luas Red Line in the Point Village — is the country's primary arena and carries the heaviest pop, rock and country touring through Ireland. Across the river at Lansdowne Road, the Aviva Stadium (51,700) hosts the Ireland men's and women's rugby and soccer internationals plus the biggest stadium concerts the city can hold. Croke Park (82,300) up in Drumcondra is the cathedral of Gaelic games — the All-Ireland Hurling and Football Finals fill the place every September — and switches to concert mode for the biggest summer touring acts, the kind of bills Dublin alone can sell at that capacity. Below the stadium tier, Vicar Street on Thomas Street (1,500) is the legendary mid-cap room every touring act asks to play; the Olympia Theatre on Dame Street (1,240) and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Grand Canal Square (2,111) carry the proscenium-stage end. Whelan's of Wexford Street keeps the singer-songwriter tradition running six nights a week, the Sugar Club on Leeson Street and the Academy on Middle Abbey Street handle indie and electronic touring, and Iveagh Gardens behind the National Concert Hall opens its boutique outdoor summer series each year. This is U2's hometown, and Hozier, Glen Hansard, The Cranberries, The Dubliners, The Pogues and Sinéad O'Connor are part of the same lineage. The pub-trad-session culture along Camden Street, in Devitts and Whelan's back rooms, threads through it all and is the reason Dublin still feels like the most musical capital in Europe.

What's happening in Dublin this week

Dublin weeks build slowly and finish loud. Mondays and Tuesdays trend quieter across the bigger rooms but the trad-session circuit takes over — the Cobblestone in Smithfield runs its session every night, Devitts on Camden Street books trad Sunday through Thursday, the Auld Dubliner and the Quays in Temple Bar carry the tourist-trad rotation, and the Hughes' Bar and the Brazen Head host long-running sessions for locals. Wednesday lifts. The Olympia Theatre on Dame Street, Vicar Street on Thomas Street and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Grand Canal Square typically slot midweek runs, the National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace programmes RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and chamber dates, and the Sugar Club books a midweek cabaret or comedy bill. Thursday is the lift into the weekend — Whelan's on Wexford Street, the Academy on Middle Abbey Street, the Workman's Club on Wellington Quay and the Button Factory on Curved Street all run on Thursdays, and the 3Arena commonly has a headline arena date. Friday and Saturday are the weight: 3Arena arena tours, sold-out Vicar Street gigs, Olympia headliners, Aviva or Croke Park stadium concerts in the summer months, the Laughter Lounge basement comedy on Eden Quay, theatre runs at the Abbey and Gaiety, and the full Camden Street and Wexford Street club rotation deep into the small hours. Sundays soften back into trad sessions, classical matinees at the NCH, and the long Sunday-roast-and-acoustic-set rhythm of the Dublin pub.

Things to do in Dublin this weekend

A standard Dublin weekend has more music per square mile than almost any other European capital, and the city splits cleanly across four corridors from Friday evening. Down by the Liffey at the Point Village, the 3Arena on North Wall Quay runs its headline arena date most Friday and Saturday nights through the heavy touring months, with the Luas Red Line dropping crowds straight at the door and the surrounding Docklands food strip — the Marker, Charlotte Quay, the East Side Tavern — booked solid from six. In the city centre, Vicar Street on Thomas Street commonly sells out the Friday and Saturday slots months in advance, and the Liberties pub rotation along Meath Street and Francis Street pulls the pre- and post-gig crowd. The Camden Street and Wexford Street strip — Whelan's, Devitts, the Bleeding Horse, the Bernard Shaw lineage rooms, the Camden — is the densest live-music corridor in Dublin and rotates indie, folk, singer-songwriter and DJ bills back-to-back across half a dozen rooms inside a five-minute walk. Across the river in Temple Bar, the Olympia Theatre runs musicals, headline comedy and touring drama, the Workman's Club books indie nights, and the Button Factory carries late-night electronic. Add an Ireland rugby fixture at the Aviva on Lansdowne Road or a Croke Park concert in the summer and the south or north city centre absorbs an extra 50,000 people on a Saturday afternoon. Sundays trend toward Marsh's Library, the National Gallery, NCH matinees and a long trad session in Smithfield or the Liberties.

Things to do in Dublin today

For "what's on tonight" the fastest read is the live event listings on this page — they pull current Dublin dates from the ticketing feeds and refresh through the day, so late on-sales and same-day drops show up before they hit the venues' own pages. Beyond that, the reliable weeknight bets in Dublin are well established. Whelan's of Wexford Street books new-band and singer-songwriter bills six or seven nights a week and is the default for under-the-radar touring acts. Vicar Street on Thomas Street books nearly every night during the heavy autumn-to-spring touring run and is unmissable when it has a show on. The 3Arena fills out the arena tier with the biggest pop, rock and country touring. The Olympia on Dame Street, the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Grand Canal Square and the Gaiety Theatre on King Street South cover musicals, drama and touring comedy. The Laughter Lounge on Eden Quay is the city's headliner stand-up basement on weekend nights. The National Concert Hall on Earlsfort Terrace nearly always has the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Irish Chamber Orchestra or a touring recital on the calendar. For trad sessions, the Cobblestone in Smithfield runs nightly, Devitts on Camden Street is the locals' favourite, and the Brazen Head off Bridge Street is the oldest pub in Dublin and books trad every night. If the weather holds — Dublin gets rain around 150 days a year — the Iveagh Gardens summer outdoor series behind the NCH and the Phoenix Park's open-air events are worth the walk. If it's lashing, Camden Street's venue density means you can walk between four rooms in fifteen minutes without getting too wet.

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