Max HeyraudTraditionally, live music and club culture have existed in entirely separate orbits, not just in Ireland, but across the world. The two rarely cross paths, and that separation ultimately hurts both scenes.
In Ireland, however, there’s huge potential for crossover. Almost every venue that hosts club nights also functions as a live music space. Typically, things are split into an early show for bands and a late show for DJs, but rarely do the two worlds actually collide. Instead, there’s a handover, a change of the guard, as the venue flips from one crowd to another. Larger venues like Index, The Telegraph Building, The Pav, block, Button Factory, Connolly’s of Leap, Monroe’s, Dolan’s, and many more all follow this model, switching from live performances to club nights once the clock strikes 11.
It’s well documented that Ireland’s venues are struggling. We often focus on the decline of clubs, but live music spaces have faced the same fate. Running small to mid-sized independent venues has become increasingly difficult. Fewer people are going out, and the appetite for dancing in a dark room to loud music isn’t what it once was, not compared to the pre-COVID era, or even to the recent fruitful years of Irish club culture between 2015 and 2018. Promoters now often find themselves scratching their heads, trying to fill rooms and cover costs. The dedicated weekly ravers of old have thinned out.
The rising cost of going out doesn’t help; drinks, taxis, and tickets, all more expensive than ever. Add in soaring rents, a higher cost of living, and fewer young people living in cities, and the picture becomes clear. The question is: how do we bring people back into the culture?
One obvious answer is for promoters and venues to start bridging the gap between live music and club culture. The demographics of both audiences overlap significantly. Fans of left-field or alternative sounds — techno, punk, ska, drum & bass and even hip-hop and house to an extent – are often drawn from the same circles and share similar values around creativity, community, and independence. Across Ireland’s grassroots and local music communities, the issues are universal: a lack of space, rising costs, and a struggle to sustain scenes that were once generally healthy.
So how could these worlds begin to truly coexist? One simple starting point could be collaborative shows. Imagine an early live set of metal or noise music evolving naturally into a late-night session of industrial techno. The same concept could work across genres, a funk or soul gig that transitions seamlessly into a house night, a pop show that morphs into Italo disco, or a psychedelic rock performance flowing into hypnotic, progressive techno. Grime obviously could lead perfectly into UK bass or garage. In fact, garage itself is a great example of how this crossover can already exist, a genre that comfortably straddles both live and club contexts, and proves that the two worlds don’t need to be kept apart.
The idea of these worlds coexisting can still feel a little forced, but that’s mostly because, in Ireland, it doesn’t happen very often. Early shows and late shows still feel like entirely different worlds. Yet there are already examples proving it can work: small festivals like Open Ear and Kriptik regularly programme DJs and bands on the same stages, while venues like Wigwam have hosted full takeovers with hip-hop upstairs and a club running downstairs, bringing both crowds into one shared space. Connolly’s of Leap has long been another bastion of this crossover.
Part of the reason the two worlds still feel separate is that club and live music experiences are inherently different — the rituals, setups, and expectations don’t always align. But at their core, both are about the same thing: gathering to experience and connect through music. And with DJs now regarded as headline acts, artists, and even superstars in their own right, it feels like the perfect moment to experiment with merging the two formats, especially in Ireland, where so many venues are already built to support both.
Programming will be crucial here. It offers the opportunity to explore more experimental edges of both live and club culture, something seen to great effect at Berlin’s CTM Festival or Berlin Atonal, where live and electronic performances complement each other. Presenting traditionally “live” music within darker, club-oriented settings can often deepen the atmosphere and make the experience more immersive, showing that these worlds can actually enhance each other.
The solutions don’t need to be radical, just a shift in mindset. It starts with shared lineups, joint promotion, and programming that bridges the early show and the late one. The audience is there, the venues are equipped, and our appetite for music isn’t going anywhere, even if numbers have dipped. What’s needed now is for promoters and artists to take the leap, experiment, and carve out something that reflects where Ireland’s nightlife could go next, something that’s reflective of the spaces we’re already using.
If promoters, venues, and artists begin to see live music and club culture as parts of the same ecosystem rather than competing forces, Ireland’s nightlife could evolve into something more sustainable, diverse, and exciting than ever before.
Photo Credits: Conor Blaides
