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music · Friday 13 November 2026 · 18:30 
An Evening with Phil Coulter - Tranquillity by Candlelight
At Ballymascanlon Hotel & Golf Resort · Ballymascanlon, Dundalk, Co. Louth
At Ballymascanlon Hotel & Golf Resort · Ballymascanlon, Dundalk, Co. Louth
Phil Coulter has been part of the furniture of Irish music for six decades. He wrote “The Town I Loved So Well” and “Scorn Not His Simplicity”, co-wrote Eurovision winner “Puppet on a String”, and penned “Ireland’s Call”, the anthem Irish rugby crowds have been singing since 1995. But for a generation of Irish households he is best known for Tranquillity, the series of instrumental piano albums that sold in enormous numbers from the 1980s onwards. This evening at Ballymascanlon Hotel & Golf Resort brings that side of his catalogue to a candlelit dining room just outside Dundalk, with Coulter at the piano joined by special guests.
This is a dinner concert rather than a standard theatre show. Doors open at 6:30 pm and a four-course dinner is served at 7:15 pm sharp, with the concert to follow. The Tranquillity format leans on Coulter’s gift for melody: gentle piano arrangements of classic tunes and Irish favourites, delivered in a room lit by candlelight. Expect the songs, but also the stories - Coulter is a Derryman with sixty years of anecdotes from working with the likes of Luke Kelly, Sandie Shaw and The Bay City Rollers, and the talk between numbers is part of the show.
Ballymascanlon Hotel sits on the R173 just north of Dundalk, at the gateway to the Cooley Peninsula. From the M1 motorway take the exit for Dundalk North and follow signs for Carlingford; the hotel is a few minutes from the motorway with ample free parking on site. If you are making a night of it, the hotel offers an overnight package from €199.50 per person sharing that bundles the dinner, the show, accommodation and breakfast the next morning.
The hotel grounds hold the Proleek Dolmen, one of Ireland’s best-known portal tombs, and the Cooley Peninsula and Carlingford are on the doorstep. There is plenty more to explore in Dundalk and across Co. Louth.
Heading to Ballymascanlon Hotel & Golf Resort in Dundalk? Louth has plenty more to see. Read the Dundalk area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.