Irish trad sessions in Amsterdam and beyond a guide

What a trad session is

Trad means traditional Irish music: the reels, jigs, hornpipes and other tunes of the Irish tradition, and sometimes songs. A session is a group of musicians who gather to play those tunes together, mainly for their own enjoyment. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the movement that promotes Irish music worldwide, says it is often a good listen for people who do not play too.

Sessions happen in pubs, hotel lobbies and on the street at music festivals. The most common instruments are the fiddle, flute, button accordion, banjo and concertina. You will hear the tin whistle, uilleann pipes and the bodhrán too, and more rarely the harp.

The musicians play in sets: usually three tunes of the same kind, each repeated a few times, then a pause for a chat before the next set. It is not a jam: nobody improvises, because the point is the Irish tunes themselves.

Open, closed and slow sessions

Comhaltas describes three kinds. A closed session is played much like a gig, and players from outside are not invited to join. An open session welcomes all comers, and it is the more common kind. A slow session puts learning tunes first and is aimed at people new to sessions. In Nuenen, for example, a free slow session runs on the third Saturday of the month, from 14:00 to about 16:30.

Open does not mean any style: an open Irish session expects Irish tunes, and it will not change its repertoire or speed for the players who join. It also differs from a gig, where a band performs a programme. Mulligans, for one, lists its sessions separately from its gigs, which run mostly on Friday and Saturday nights.

How to listen

Anyone can come along just to listen. Between sets of tunes the musicians chat, and Milwaukee Irish Fest's school of music calls that conversation as important as the tunes, so let the pauses be.

If you would like to record a tune on your phone to learn it, ask the musicians first. You can also ask what a tune is called if you want to learn it.

When a player may join

Do not walk in and start. Come as a listener first, ideally a few times, and learn how that session works, because each one has its own habits. Some have a leader who starts the sets; follow whoever starts a tune and do not take over. Comhaltas puts the usual advice in four words: wait to be asked. If you want to ask yourself, do it between sets or before or after the session.

When you do join, play only the tunes you know and sit out the rest, without droning or noodling along. Players who accompany with chords or the bodhrán take turns, so not everyone does it at once. Do not improvise over the tunes.

What a céilí is

A céilí (pronounced KAY-lee) is a social evening of Irish dancing. Comhaltas lists céilí among the forms of traditional Irish dancing it promotes.

Mulligans holds a set dance céilí on Monday 7 December 2026 at 19:30, and says all are welcome. In set dancing four couples form a square and dance a set together, a dance that can take a good while. Irish dance schools and the Irish Club Netherlands announce one-off céilí nights too, for example the St Patrick's céilí of the Kilkenny Lundy Irish Dance School in March 2026.

Where to find a session in the Netherlands

Amsterdam: Mulligans Irish Music Bar, on the Amstel, holds two regular sessions a week. The Sunday evening session (from 19:00) is the traditional Irish one, mostly tunes. The Wednesday session (from 20:00) is an all-style one, with songs and tunes from Celtic and folk to pop, bluegrass and Americana, so it is a session in the broader sense. Mulligans also has gigs, mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, roughly 21:00 to 00:00, mainly traditional Irish but also Scottish, folk and more.

Den Haag: O'Casey's on the Noordeinde lists a trad session on the last Friday of every month, around 19:00.

Deventer: during the Irish Pub Festival on 5 and 6 February 2027, the organisers list free open Irish sessions in the town's pubs at 15:00 on Saturday 6 February.

Haarlem: the café Hello I'm Local lists an open Irish session on Saturday 21 November 2026 from 17:00 to 21:00, where you can sing along or just listen.

Wageningen: Café de Zaaier hosts an Irish session once a month, on the third or fourth Sunday from 16:00 to about 19:00. It is mostly tunes, and songs are welcome too; the next dates are 22 November and 20 December 2026.

Nuenen: the Weverkeshof holds a session on the second Sunday of the month from 13:30 to 16:30, besides the slow session on the third Saturday.