In Dublin, you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to live music and entertainment.
However, which Dublin pubs are the best for traditional Irish music?
Jack Sheehan, a writer with travel experts Lonely Planet, has named these three Dublin pubs where you’re sure to get your fill of Irish trad.
The Cobblestone
77 King St N, Smithfield, Dublin
Posted by The Cobblestone on Saturday, August 24, 2019
The Cobblestone pub in Dublin's Smithfield neighborhood hosts sessions seven nights a week, and Sheehan notes that "it’s a welcoming place, open to locals and tourists alike."
The pub's owner Tom Mulligan tells Sheehan that the Cobblestone's music sessions are “very relaxed...mainly acoustic, mainly traditional music with the occasional singer.
"You have a story sometimes or a recitation or a song, it breaks it up a little bit...there’s no MC telling people what’s going on, they just play along and enjoy it.
"They get involved, and if they’re able to sing a song or play an instrument, they’ll be invited in.”
Sheehan notes that the Cobblestone puts "a big emphasis on visiting musicians—American, Scottish, and even Kurdish. The only requirement is that the music be acoustic; there is very little amplified music played."
Pipers Corner
105-106 Marlborough St, North City, Dublin
And we close. Nollaig Shona. pic.twitter.com/7xN6oeHHlQ
— Pipers Corner (@pipers_corner) December 24, 2021
Sheehan writes: "Pipers Corner is a newer spot, a collaboration between well-known piper (and son of one of the members of the famed Irish band The Chieftains) Seán Potts and publican Eamonn Briody."
Potts told Sheehan: “We encourage listening in the pub. It is a public house; you don't always get total attention, but we encourage it.
"We don't have people stay completely quiet, but we do encourage them to respect the musicians, that’s essential.”
O’Donoghue’s
15 Merrion Row, Dublin
September 2015: Kaniah Cusack is pictured singing along with Paul Skehill, centre, and Shane McGlynn after her wedding to Matthew Farrell in O'Donoghue's pub on Baggot Street in Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)
Sheehan writes that this Dublin pub is the best place to "feel a little of the energy" from the 1960s, the period of Ireland's folk revival.
Where do you go when you're looking for some authentic Irish trad music? Let us know in the comments!
*Originally published in January 2022. Updated in August 2022.
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