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Merry Ploughboys Irish Night Dublin Admission Ticket
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From €34 per person
The Merry Ploughboys Irish Night is held at the only pub in Ireland owned by traditional musicians - which tells you something straight away about the standard of what you’re getting. You can come for the show on its own, or choose the dinner and show option, which adds a three-course meal of Irish home cooking before the music starts.
The award-winning show runs for two hours and covers the full range: fast-paced traditional songs, ballads, music, and Irish dancing, with a genuine emphasis on getting the audience involved rather than just watching from a distance. The band brings real wit and humour along with the music, and the atmosphere is lively from start to finish. This show has been named Best Irish Night Show in Ireland on numerous occasions.
It’s the kind of evening that gives you a real feel for Irish music and craic - not a polished tourist production, but something with actual roots behind it.
The fact that the pub is owned by the musicians themselves means the session is driven by people who actually care about the tradition, not just the box office. Traditional music in Ireland has a whole culture around it - the slow airs, the reels, the way sets build from one tune into the next - and having musicians in charge of the venue means that culture gets room to breathe rather than being squeezed into a package.
If you’re booking a table for dinner, arriving a bit early gives you time to settle in and get a drink before the show starts. The three-course meal is described as Irish home cooking, which in practice means solid, unfussy food - soup, a meat course, dessert - that doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is.
Audience participation is a real part of the show, so if you’re the type who’d rather observe than join in, that’s absolutely fine - plenty of people are there for exactly that. But if you’re open to it, the band is good at drawing people in without making anyone feel put on the spot.
The show has been running long enough to have won Best Irish Night Show in Ireland on multiple occasions, which in a city that takes its live entertainment seriously is a meaningful distinction. The 4.7 rating across 59 reviews reflects a consistent track record rather than a handful of particularly enthusiastic nights.
If you want to explore more traditional music after the show, the Cobblestone pub in Smithfield and O’Donoghue’s on Merrion Row both have regular sessions - O’Donoghue’s in particular has strong historical associations with the Dubliners. A local guide or your hotel’s concierge can tell you what nights are usually best.