outdoor venues in Dublin

sirspamalot

Hello Boarders,

This year, I have ventured to gigs in alahide, St Annes Park and Fairview Park.

The transport options from Malahide and St. Annes were a joke, 'took longer to get home than it did to watch the acts.

Fairview park gigs are an example of how to do things right, even if Fairview strand was dug up like the Somme

Anyone got any stories or preferences?

S.

SuperBowserWorld

Trinity college for Kraftwerk. Amazing weather. Amazing outdoor venue. As city centre as it gets surrounded by trees. Parked car 5 mins away in Merrion square 😁 cause we had to get home early. But I could have had a pint after the concert and still get home by public transport.

sirspamalot

Nice one !

miketv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120809535#Comment_120809535

Similar experience for the war on drugs. The weather was lovely with no wind but I found the sound excellent for a outdoor venue. Overall a very enjoyable experience in trinity.

Stillill42

Iveagh gardens the king of Dublin outdoor venues, just a beautiful spot, no hassle with queues, straight out into the heart of the city. Love it!

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120809988#Comment_120809988

Yeah, I keep meaning to go to a concert there.

the_amazing_raisin

Not a gig but I went to see Monty python's holy grail in Dublin Castle once. They had an outdoor projector setup in the garden area

Amazingly we got no rain for the whole film, and it was free IIRC. Wasn't a big event, couple hundred people max, but a lot of fun 😁

Ferris_Bueller

Trinity and Iveagh Gardens both top of the list. Ease of access getting there and home alone makes it better than your Marlay Park/Malahide/St Annes Park etc. Plenty of options for a pint and food before the gig, nice sized venues with good sound.

delbertgrady

I drive to every outdoor gig, and park close to the venues, so in terms of getting there and back, my experiences - especially this year - are totally hassle-free. St. Anne's Park, Fairview Park and Malahide Castle are all very convenient for me. 

I haven't been to Marlay Park since I did three shows there in 2007. I've just not been interested in going since. I've never seen anyone in Trinity, but any first hand reports have all been excellent. 

I like Iveagh Gardens. Central, good infrastructure (obviously), nice atmosphere. Tori Amos, Belle and Sebastian and - in particular - Pixies last year, were all great. 

I like the size of the concert compound in St. Anne's and they ran a very good entry system this year. My only grievance is that they've to squeeze everyone out the only exit at the end. That's been remarked on here before. But that's really the only issue I have with it: I did two shows last year and two this year and they were all good experiences.

I went to Phoebe Bridgers and St. Vincent in Fairview Park last year. It's a nice size venue and the tent is a welcome variation. The crowd and the mania at Phoebe Bridgers was like the last chopper out of Saigon, but St. Vincent was a much more laid back affair and was a highlight of 2022. I remember noting that I was pulling away from my parking space less than ten minutes after Phoebe left the stage, which is almost unheard of for outdoor shows. 

I did three shows in Malahide this year; Depeche Mode, Blur and Sting/Blondie. All three were superb, though for anyone who exited to the right of the stage, the ridiculous circumnavigation of the demesne that they had us doing after Depeche Mode was crazy. I noted at later shows that they were no longer using that as an exit. Very wise.

I've one more outdoor gig this year, which is First Aid Kit in Collins Barracks.

bodhrandude

The Royal Hospital grounds in Kilmainham I found a nice venue and near enough to the city centre too, I attended the two Forbidden Fruits that Aphex Twin headlined and found it a decent enough venue, I can imagine the standalone gigs were great there too such as Nick Cave and Blur among others. Of course, we're missing Aphex Twin this year so I'm going over to London to see him at Field Day.

Strumms

Iveagh Gardens 10/10…same for Dublin Castle… saw Morrissey in Dublin Castle on a perfectly balmy evening way back in June ‘04 ( Heineken Green Energy Festival ) and just so easy to get to and get from, ….nice surroundings too…

hynesie08

I'd love to know why they don't have concerts in the castle anymore, saw the stereophonics there 20? Years ago and just a great, central venue.

delbertgrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120810718#Comment_120810718

I saw Beck, Suede and The White Stripes in Dublin Castle. The White Stripes was on the same day that Van Morrison did a matinee in the Olympia. I went to that first, then walked across the road for Jack and Meg.

Tazium

Trinity college is so easy, friendly staff and no hassle security. War on Drugs were excellent, sound was super and queues for beer, food, or the other necessities such as Dyson hoovers were all easy and short. That was a mid-week concert though.

back again for Interpol and yeah the weather was a bit poor and sound not as tuned but still a great show with easy entry, exit, and no hassle security. Queues for drink were much longer to navigate but not removed too far from the craic and the gig so all fine.

Malahide is closest to me, Depeche Mode was a massive gig and just one of the best nights out in a long time. We cycled to that one so no trouble in or out. Swift queues, easy entry. Smooth.

St. Annes was a great venue for Lionel Richie and Pulp. Easy queues and security, beer lines never stopped no hassle but a pain in the backside to get into and out of on the dart.

RDS - the worst experience massive queues, worrying squashes exiting and sound was dreadful. Bruce Springsteen there.

Donnybrook is decent, queues for toilets though are dreadful. Same with Aviva, can’t get good sound in a venue like that.

Iveagh Gardens in two weeks for BellX1 could be the highlight of summer but it’s up against Collins Barracks for Future Islands in August never been to either venue, looking forward to both

last concert in Dublin castle that I was at was The Devlins great venue, just small

lbj666

The city centre venues are smaller for the most part especially trinity and each license will allow for a certain amount of gigs so they couldn't be relied on alone. I'd say there's a limit in each neighbourhood so I doubt Dublin castle could get gigs ontop of gigs at trinity. Same with say share of gigs in the Aviva rds and Energia park.

A lot the moving round different sites is promoters using it as leverage too with the landowners.

Marley park is by far the worst to get to for everyone but by far the biggest non stadia site in use. At least people close to the dart have some hope for Anne's Park Fairview and Malahide.

I thought Anne's park was cramped for pulp with so many sitting down. But fine other than that.

I will say some of the gigs finishing at 10pm recently before Dark be it Bruce or Guns last year is farcical

bodhrandude

Forgot to mention the old Beatyard venue at Dun Laoghaire Pier from a few years back and decent line ups too.

hold my beer

Was at Kraftwerk and Roisin Murphy in Trinity. Excellent venue. The sound at Kraftwerk was outrageously good. So loud you could feel the bass right through you. Roisin Murphy put on a great show too. We're absolutely spoiled for live music in Ireland.

TagoMago

Trinity has been a great addition the last few years, saw Kraftwerk as well last week and Beck last year, both very enjoyable, great atmosphere and so handy. Was a bit disappointed by the Iveagh Garden line up this year as that's always a class spot too.

I'm sure it's improved in the meantime but the worst I've experienced was Chic in St. Anne's Park in 2019. Terrible sound, 45 minute queues for the urinals (!!), unfathomably long bar queues. Think it was the first year they had gigs in there TBF.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120811570#Comment_120811570

Sound in Dublin castle wasn’t great. the sound bounces off the buildings.

promoters using different sites is quite simply each have different capacity, calibre of artist they can put into those venues and reality that DCC won’t allow weeks upon weeks of shows in public parks. The only exception is iveagh and this year due to feedback they have reduced days in the park and space utilised.

RubyK

1st time at a gig in Trinity, went to Interpol last Friday, whole experience was excellent. Really enjoyed the gig, great atmosphere, and in and out of Trinity without any hassle. Stayed in Buswells Hotel, which was only around the corner, which was great too :-)

lbj666

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120811582#Comment_120811582

In Dublin you mean

TagoMago

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120813087#Comment_120813087

Dublin does get the lion's share TBF but still a decent amount in Cork and the King John's Castles gigs in Limerick have been pretty good the last few years. Really good line up in Galway for the Arts Festival this year too

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120813087#Comment_120813087

There's plenty outside Dublin too so I stand by my statement. Ireland is also compartively tiny, so you're never more than a few hours road trip away from Dublin.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120811582#Comment_120811582

There really is a HUGE amount of money being spent on gigs here, particularly over the past six weeks. No recession in that house, as they say.

sirspamalot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120810327#Comment_120810327

agreed

Van Doozy

Did Collins Barracks last summer - gig was fully seated which I found a bit weird - like I was at the theatre or something. Is this always the case?

And it wasn't fully sold out so everyone just walked up the front anyway (albeit after about half an hour) which would have left me a bit miffed if I had paid more for tickets near the front.

Nice venue though, and mega convenient.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120813741#Comment_120813741

Nothing wrong with people enjoying themselves, and spending their well earned money. Long may it last

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120814749#Comment_120814749

Didn’t say that there was anything wrong with it, but it is interesting to note, by comparison to the lad from from Tramline on the radio today saying that he’s closing down because people aren’t spending money on socialising (as well as trebling of his insurance costs).

I’d love to know how much of a typical MCD €100 ticket stays locally, with the venue and ancillary staff, and how much flies off with the artist.

Everlong1

I was at Sting in Malahide. Got the Marathon bus out and back and had no trouble at all. Buses lined up and waiting as soon as the gig ended.

Saw Pulp in St. Annes park. Got the Dart out and back. Bit of a walk to the venue but no issues other than that.

Saw Springsteen for two gigs in the RDS. Dart out and back both nights. No problems there either despite the big crowds trying to get on to the Dart afterwards.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120814957#Comment_120814957

Harry styles got about 20-25% of the ticket price for Slane

SuperBowserWorld

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120813741#Comment_120813741

I haven't been to gigs in ages, especially because of covid. So I'm making up for it this year. 😁 I'd say a lot of people are doing the same. Also, I think there is a backlog of artists and gigs happening this year, also because of covid.

Also, 2 pints in Dublin is 14 quid! For me, a gig is much better value. Saw Paul Heaton, Death Cab for Cutie indoors, Kraftwerk outdoors. All were about 50 quid a ticket. All excellent concerts.

But I've a feeling those prices were outliers, and prices are just going up and up. I know Paul Heaton sold his tickets at low cost.

Now, the weather today is awful, I think we've been very lucky with outdoor gigs this past couple of months too 😁 . Any concert outdoors today would be rotten.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815098#Comment_120815098

Thanks, good to know, surprisingly low tbh, I'd have assumed that he would have gotten more.

bodhrandude

How am I the only one mentioning Kilmainham and Beatyard, c'mon there was other people there, back up my outdoor Dublin selection.

budgemook

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815470#Comment_120815470

Both were mentioned.

Phoenix Park wasn't though - hasn't been a gig there in a while. It was a bit of a pain in the hole but at least you could walk there.

boomdocker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815702#Comment_120815702

Was the last one at the Phoenix Park the Swedish House Mafia show?

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815730#Comment_120815730

Nah Ed sheeran in 2018

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815323#Comment_120815323

Vat = 13.5%

building stage, fencing, security, toilets, electricity could easily reach 40-50%.

mount Charles family probably take 5%

then promoter profit of between 5-10% if lucky

bodhrandude

Was at only the one Beatyard in 2017 but the Air concert was sublime and enjoyed Toots and the Maytals as well. Sadly Toots was supposed to play at the same venue but not Beatyard in 2020 and then the Pandemic happened and took Toots with it.

budgemook

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815730#Comment_120815730

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816027#Comment_120816027

Yeah, there were a few since then. Even The Stone Roses were just a few days later and that was a great show.