Arena Market: Ireland

3Arena in the Dublin Docklands keeps Ireland on the global circuit, year in, year out – though some years are more straightforward than others. The Live Nation-owned, 13,000-capacity venue generated box office revenues of €49.2m last year, welcoming 726,314 fans for shows by artists including Robbie Williams, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Kendrick Lamar – all while battling the messy fallout from Covid.

“It is difficult to compare 2022 with 2023 directly although, at around 120 shows, the numbers look similar,” says 3Arena general manager Cormac Rennick. “But many of last years shows were rescheduled Covid dates; all of them had experienced a level of refunds, and they were also prone to no-shows of up to 25% of anticipated audience. That resulted in a level of overstaffing and a fall in spends per head.”

With Covid largely in the rear view and consumer demand running full tilt – at least at arena level – 2023 offers a happier picture.

With Covid largely in the rear view and consumer demand running full tilt – at least at arena level – 2023 offers a happier picture.

“It is predominantly all new business, and ticket sales are strong, with the rise of live podcasts becoming a strong feature this year,” says Rennick, who personally looks back with particular gratification on recent shows by Elton John and Ed Sheeran and forward to Peter Gabriel and the Pet Shop Boys in June.

“On the downside, rising costs, particularly energy and staffing costs, are having an impact on the bottom line and look to be here to stay, but demand remains strong, and we are predicting a very good year,” he adds. A total refurbishment of one of the building’s club areas is due this year, as is the beginning of a programme to replace the arena’s retractable seating units.

Many tours inevitably view Ireland through the prism of Dublin and Belfast – where the key arena is the 10,000-cap SSEArena. But the Gleneagle INEC Arena Killarney, down in CountryKerry, works hard to make that line into a triangle, with significant success.

“What we are trying to establish is that artists can play Killarney, then Dublin, then Belfast”

“What we are trying to establish is that artists can play Killarney, then Dublin, then Belfast,” says director Mark Egan, noting the potential for artists to rehearse, road-test their production, and warm up with shows of various sizes at the multipurpose residential centre.

“We had Morrissey in, and he did four days in the [750-cap]club, and then a headline show in the arena,” says Egan. The largest music venue in Ireland outside Dublin, the INEC’s arena can absorb an audience of 4,100 and regularly welcomes leading Irish acts such as Hozier, Picture This, and Kodaline, as well as international artists and, increasingly, West End shows.

The Munster region puts a population of 1.2m on the INEC’s doorstep, but Egan says the venue, whose adjacent hotel can sleep 1,000, is very much worth travelling to. “Dublin is expensive to stay, very expensive to get to. People can come here, stay on site, get a 24-hour experience. It’s a bit like the Las Vegas of Ireland.”