Irish Pub Festival Deventer 2027 dates and Big Irish Night

What the Irish Pub Festival is

The Irish Pub Festival is a yearly weekend of traditional Irish music in Deventer, organised by Noel and Lynn Shannon. It spreads live sessions over the weekend and ends on Saturday evening with concerts by musicians from Ireland and the Netherlands.

The free part of the weekend is made of pub performances and open sessions; the paid part is the Saturday evening concerts.

Dates and times

Friday 5 February 2027: free performances in the pubs of Deventer.

Saturday 6 February 2027: free open sessions from 15:00. In the evening the Big Irish Night starts at 18:30 in the Deventer Schouwburg, and Burgerweeshuis hosts a festival concert with Among The Saints and McScallywag (doors 19:30, start 20:00, finish 22:30).

The festival's page does not name the pubs or the Friday start times yet; the timetable will appear on the festival's website and Facebook page.

The Big Irish Night in the theatre

This year the Saturday evening in the theatre is spread over three stages: the foyer, the small hall and the large hall, with six acts. A timetable per stage will follow.

In the foyer: Paul Watchorn, lead singer of the Dublin Legends, with songs and stories, and Paul Taggert from Belfast. In the small hall: Boys from The County Hell, a six-piece from Limburg playing fast Irish folk with a punk edge. In the large hall: The Shannons, with an entirely new line-up, Acoustra from Limerick, who play at the festival for the first time, and the Dutch folk band Rapalje.

Tickets and what is free

The performances on Friday and the open sessions on Saturday at 15:00 are free to attend, as the festival states. The Saturday evening concerts need a ticket.

Big Irish Night tickets are sold in the theatre's shop for €32.50, plus a €3.25 booking fee per booking. The Burgerweeshuis concert with Among The Saints and McScallywag costs €15.99 at Burgerweeshuis.

Getting to the theatre

The Deventer Schouwburg is at Leeuwenbrug 2, 7411 TJ Deventer, opposite the railway station and the bus station. The theatre lists car parks within walking distance: Centrumgarage (4 minutes on foot), the Stationsplein car park (2 minutes) and Q-Park De Boreel (8 minutes). A taxi may stop briefly at the entrance.