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Arena Market: Ireland

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Until the late 1990s/early 2000s, Ireland was not exactly a priority stop for acts touring the neighbouring UK. Now, however, the country has two arenas that help draw in more acts keen to extend their tours to include dates there.

3Arena, owned by Live Nation, is the biggest arena in Ireland (it was previously known as the O2 Arena and before that the Point Depot). Cormac Rennick is general manager of 3Arena and estimates that they would get 95% of the acts playing the UK coming to Ireland. “Obviously, there are additional costs in coming to Ireland in terms of shipping,” he says. “But the market is strong enough to support that.”

3Arena has a top capacity of 13,500 but can work in multiple configurations (9,300 seated; a more intimate 5,000-capacity setting; and a mixed set up of 8,000 seated and 1,300 standing).

“Probably the hottest ticket we had last year was The Overlap, they only did one night with us, but they could have done ten.”

Music and comedy bookings make up about 75% of bookings, with podcasts a booming part of the business now. “Probably the hottest ticket we had last year was The Overlap [covering football and sport],” says Rennick. “They only did one night with us, but they could have done ten. Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams did five sell-out nights with us [My Therapist Ghosted Me].”

It is also expanding into musicals and family shows, notably Cirque du Soleil and Mamma Mia! this year, as well as hosting boxing, MMA, and Premier League Darts. The venue is expecting to put on 130 events in 2024, the most it has ever put on in one year.

Rennick calls the Irish live market “extremely healthy” and points to acts like The Killers and Niall Horan each playing three-night runs at 3Arena.

At its lowest point during the post-Tiger economic recession in the early 2010s, the venue was down to 84 shows a year. Despite cost-of-living issues and ticket prices rising, Rennick insists audience demand is still there for good shows.

“Acts are performing at the box office the way you’d be expecting them to perform,” he says. “Not everything sells out, but everything is running at well over 70%.”

“Acts are performing at the box office the way you’d be expecting them to perform, not everything sells out, but everything is running at well over 70%.”

Mark Egan, director of the 4,142-capacity Gleneagle INEC Arena in Killarney (Country Kerry, in the southwest of the country) concurs.

“People are buying experiences over commodities now,” he says. “2022 was our strongest year because we had all the Covid shows held over. Last year, we beat 2022 by 24%. And this year, we’re projecting to beat 2023 by 31%. It’s very robust. I think people go out less frequently, but when they do they want to experience something that’s amazing. If you’ve got the right act at the right time in the right place and with the right experience, people are going to go to it.”

While around 80% of the bookings at the Gleneagle INEC Arena are Irish acts, it offers the opportunity for international touring acts to play two arenas in Ireland (alongside 3Arena). It also means fans have the option to travel there to see a favourite act play in a more intimate setting than they would in the capital.

“We’re finding now that they’re coming in; they’re doing Dublin, Belfast, and ourselves [Killarney],” says Egan. “I’d love to have another couple of thousand capacity, but I think we’re just big enough for the large international touring acts to come in.”

“We have the ability to take the risk, promote the show, market the show, and deliver the show”

He adds that certain international acts are now insisting on a Killarney date on their UK and Ireland tours.
The venue, which will mark its 25th anniversary next year, books around 75% of its own shows, but it also works with Live Nation and both MCD and Aiken (Ireland’s biggest local promoters).

“We have the ability to take the risk, promote the show, market the show, and deliver the show,” says Egan. The Gleneagle INEC also has a series of smaller venues to ensure it is adaptable, including the Ballroom (1,100), the Club (600), and the Backstage Bar and Green Room (both 200).

Music makes up half of its bookings, with comedy and theatre also strong. It has brought in the stage adaptation of TV sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys (the first time it has been outside Dublin), Sister Act, and Legally Blonde. It recently updated 50% of its seating and extended the capacity by 50 seats as well as upgrading its monitor system, and next year it will add LED screens on either side of the stage.

The reason behind the rise in its international bookings is obvious, says Egan. “Acts want to connect with their fans in a more regional scenario.”

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