Mary Coughlan at the Pavilion Theatre

Dun Loaghaire, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Friday 04-January-2019.

Mary Coughlan is one of our favourite artists; we have seen her three times before. Mary spotted that she was appearing at the Pavilion Theatre, County Dublin. We thought it might be a feeble excuse to visit one of our favourite cities so we snapped up a couple of tickets. What we didn’t realise is that the Pavilion Theatre isn’t actually in Dublin, it's in the suburb of Dún Laoghaire. Fortunately it’s only half an hour on the DART from central Dublin where we had booked ourselves an Airbnb.

On the recommendation of our friend Danielle we dined before the show at Hartley's. Conveniently right next to the DART station it was easy to find and the food was excellent. Then a short stroll diagonally across the road junction to the Pavilion Theatre ready for the show.

It is not a large venue (max capacity 324) and we had seats in the very front row, in the middle. There was a support band, who were fine, and Mary joined them for one number. Then a short break and Mary herself came on.

It’s slightly unsettling when you’re that close, like 6 foot away (!), because not only can you see the performer they can see you. At one point while singing “I Want To Be Seduced” when she got the line “Right from the minute that we’d been introduced” she gave me a cheeky little wave. It’s a good job it was dark, I might have blushed otherwise.

Another fantastic concert. I would very happily go and see that woman again.