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Heading over for several days in both cities in August and was hoping for some tips on the best places to hear live music in those two cities. We'll be staying in the city center(s) and likely will not have a car.
Hoping for traditional Celtic/folk music but open to other genres as well.
Thanks in advance!
Depending on when you are Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Festival (which is enormous, with a famous festival fringe etc) could be on, and there are shows of pretty much any description.
Hopefully Kevin MacLeod, who goes to sessions in Edinburgh might pitch in. I hardly ever go to Edinburgh so I don't really know.
As regards Dublin, I understand The Cobblestone is your best bet but I've never been there.
Seconding David's Dublin recommendation - definitely call into the Cobblestone, great music, great folks, and a great pint! Piper's Corner is another good spot for trad music in Dublin, both easy to reach on foot if you're staying in the city centre.
I had the good fortune of spending a week in Edinburgh one August back in .... forgot the year. Anyway, it was during the Fringe Festival, and I was in an apartment motel in the the Holyrood area which is set back from High Street (aka Royal Mile). Very interesting to watch the various groups that show up and busk during the Fringe Festival. I saw a brass band from St. Petersburg, Russia, and a jester playing a lute and singing bawdy tunes.
Some guy dressed in chain mail was standing on a skateboard, awaiting a startup. A kid dropped a Euro into his cup and the chain mail man jumped off the skateboard and did a martial arts demo of sorts, swinging numchucks. And then at dusk one evening, walking back from dinner, some guy dressed in a kilt and Tam O'Shanter crossed the road in front of me carrying a guitar in one hand (no strings!) and pulling a vacuum cleaner with the other hand. Go figure. :))
There were scores of tourists, mostly from Spain and Italy I surmised, for Spanish and Italian was the predominant language that I heard.
One of the professors that I was visiting with that week for official business played weekly at some pub along the Mile. I forget the name of the pub, but it wasn't far from the gates of the castle. Check out this website: https://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/dr...ars-edinburgh/
Almost any pub you may find live music and a grateful appreciative audience if you play (regardless of genre). Got to love it there in spite of the weather.