80s Icons Show

The 80s Icons Show is billed as Ireland’s first live touring theatre show built entirely around the music of the 1980s, and it plays the Watergate Theatre on Friday, 2 October 2026. A live band and vocalists work through the decade’s biggest acts in one sitting, aiming to recreate the sound and the visual style of the era rather than simply play a set of covers. It is a single stop on a wider Irish tour, arriving at the Watergate the night after the venue’s Beatles tribute show.

What to expect

The set list draws from a wide spread of 1980s pop and rock acts, including Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Level 42, Nik Kershaw, Go West, Tears for Fears, Human League, Paul Young, ABC, Ultravox and Phil Collins. The show leans into the era’s staging as much as its songs, with costume changes and lighting built to match the decade’s visual identity rather than a plain concert set-up. It runs as a continuous performance rather than a scripted story, so there is no plot to follow, just a night moving between synth-pop, new wave and mainstream rock as the acts change. The producers describe it as an immersive run through the music and style that defined the decade, aimed as much at people who lived through the 80s as those who only know the songs secondhand.

Getting there

The Watergate Theatre is on Parliament Street in Kilkenny city centre, within the medieval mile. There is no on-site car park, so use one of the pay-and-display car parks in the city centre. Kilkenny’s train and bus stations are roughly a 10 to 15 minute walk from the theatre.

While you’re in Kilkenny

Parliament Street sits in the middle of Kilkenny’s old town, so a night at the theatre pairs easily with an afternoon around the castle grounds or the craft quarter beforehand. There is more to see in Kilkenny and across Co. Kilkenny.

Good to know

• Date: Friday, 2 October 2026
• Time: 8:00pm
• Venue: Watergate Theatre, Parliament Street, Kilkenny
• Price: €30
• Booking: via the Watergate Theatre box office and website