What Is It Like to See a Concert at 3Olympia Theatre?
An 1879 Victorian theatre on Dame Street where the Upper Circle seats aren't numbered, so the same ticket price buys you a great view or a scramble for one, and cast-iron pillars still stand between some seats and the stage.
What to Know Before You Go
- 1It's the Dame Street Olympia, not the 3Arena.
Same "3" sponsor prefix, totally different building. This is the small 1879 theatre in the city centre, capacity around 1,600, a two-minute walk from Temple Bar.
- 2Take transit, don't drive.
There's no venue car park and you're in dead-centre Dublin. College Green or Westmoreland (Luas Green), Jervis (Luas Red), Tara Street (DART), and a Dame Street bus stop are all a short walk.
- 3Upper Circle is unreserved.
Those seats are first come, first served at the same face price as the reserved Circle and Stalls, so if you're up there, arrive near 7pm doors or you'll be playing musical chairs for a view.
- 4Standing shows: queue early for the pit.
For standing gigs the Stalls seats are removed and it becomes GA, with a wristband-only front pit. Fans say aim to be in roughly the first 150 in line for a front spot.
- 5Balcony ticket? Travel light.
The cloakroom is only for Stalls standing patrons, so if you're seated in the Circle or Upper Circle there may be nowhere to check a bulky coat or bag.
- 6The top tier runs hot.
The Upper Circle is the sweatiest seat in the house, with little working air conditioning. Dress in layers you can peel off.
- 7Mind the pillars.
Restricted-view tickets are a real thing here: a cast-iron column or a far-side angle sits between you and the stage. It's flagged with a Click-and-Accept step at checkout, and it's cheaper for a reason.
- 8No lift, lots of stairs.
It's a protected historic building, so there's no lift: about 35 steps to the back of the Circle and 90 to 100 to the Upper Circle, plus steps down to each row.
- 9Bring a card.
The box office is card-only with no cash and no card surcharge at the window.
- 10Eat before you come.
It's a theatre, not a food hall. The bars do drinks and snacks; Dame Street and Temple Bar restaurants are steps away.
At a Glance
- Capacity
- 1,247 seated / 1,600 standing
- Venue Type
- Theater
- Year Opened
- 1879
- Seating
- Mixed (Stalls flip seated/standing; Circle + Upper Circle seated)
- Cashless
- No (box office card-only)
- Climate
- Indoor, poor ventilation up top
- Parking
- No venue car park; city-centre public car parks
- Transit
- Luas Green (College Green, 3 min), DART (Tara Street), Dame St bus
What It's Actually Like
The Room Is the Reason You're Here
Walk in and the building does the work: red and gold everywhere, ornate plasterwork, colonnaded boxes, a glass chandelier over the middle of the room, stained glass and terrazzo underfoot. It's a proper old Victorian horseshoe, three tiers stacked close together on slender cast-iron columns, not a black-box music room. Because seated capacity is only about 1,247 and standing tops out near 1,600, even a sold-out night feels small and close. You're rarely far from the stage, and that intimacy is the whole pitch.
Those Cast-Iron Pillars Are Load-Bearing, and In Your Way
The same columns that hold the balconies up are what create the venue's restricted-view seats. If you buy a restricted-view ticket, expect an actual pillar or a sharp far-side angle between you and the stage. The venue is upfront about it: the obstruction is disclosed during the Ticketmaster purchase with a Click-and-Accept button, and those seats usually cost less. It's a fair trade only if you'd rather be cheaply in the room than see the whole stage.
“The upper circle should be avoided at all costs, either the aircon was broken or did not exist, it was so hot it was unbearable.”
The Upper Circle Is a Different, Sweatier Show
The top tier is the one fans warn about most. It's steep, it's a long climb, and the heat is the real problem: reviewers repeatedly describe it as unbearably hot, with air conditioning that's either broken or absent, and people leaving mid-gig to cool down. This is a consistent pattern across separate shows, not a one-off bad night. If you end up here, dress light and expect to feel it by the encore.
Legroom Is a Tale of Two Levels
The Stalls got custom seats built for comfort and legroom, a spec fans compare to London's Royal Albert Hall, and ground-floor seats read as genuinely spacious. The balconies are the opposite. Circle legroom is tight enough that a 6'2" reviewer had their knees against the seat in front for the whole show, and a low metal balcony rail runs along the front of the Circle that can cut into your sightline from the front rows. Where you sit changes how comfortable the night is more than at most rooms.
It Sounds Best Down Low and Central
For a small horseshoe, the sound is full and immediate on the Stalls floor and in the front of the Circle. The weak spot is the very back of the Upper Circle, where at least one fan describes "terrible acoustics" from the top row: high up, far back, and under the ceiling. The lower and more central you are, the better it hits.
Section-by-Section Guide
Stalls, Seated Shows
For seated theatre-style shows, the Stalls are the best all-round pick in the building. The custom seats here have real legroom and space, so you get the room's intimacy without the balcony's cramp or the top tier's heat. You're close and roughly level with the stage. The only thing to watch is the far edges: a handful of Stalls seats on the far side of the auditorium are sold as restricted view even on the flat floor, so check the seat map before you commit.
Stalls, Standing Shows
For standing gigs the seats come out and the Stalls become General Admission. There's a separate front pit that only wristband holders can enter, and the wristbands go to the early arrivals. Fan guidance is to aim to be within the first 150 or so in the queue if you want to be down the front. This is where the loud, physical shows live, and it's the pick if you want energy and closeness. Skip it if you'd rather sit, or if you're carrying a big coat, since the cloakroom is the only place to stash one and it fills up.
Circle (First Balcony)
The Circle is reserved seating with a raised, head-on view, and it's a reasonable middle option if you want a guaranteed seat facing the stage. The catch is comfort. Legroom is genuinely tight, especially if you're tall, and the low metal rail along the front of the balcony can clip your view from the front rows, so a front-row Circle seat is a mixed blessing: you're closest to the stage on this tier but most exposed to the rail. Aim for the middle rows and the central blocks rather than the far sides, where the angle across the horseshoe gets sharp. It's about 35 steps up to the back of the Circle, then steps down to your row, so factor the climb in if the stairs are a problem for you. Avoid the restricted-view Circle seats tucked behind the columns unless the discount is worth staring past a pillar.
Upper Circle (Top Tier)
The Upper Circle is the one to think twice about. Seats are unreserved, so despite costing the same face value as the reserved Circle and Stalls (fans cite roughly EUR40 to EUR50 depending on the show), you're not guaranteed a good one. It becomes musical chairs on the night, and the tier also brings the steepest rake, the worst heat, cramped bench seating, the weakest sound from the back row, and a 90-to-100-step climb with no lift. If you do have Upper Circle tickets, get in early at doors so you can pick a front-of-tier seat instead of one blocked behind the overhang or a head.
Restricted-View Seats
Sold on purpose, across tiers, and usually cheaper. The obstruction is a cast-iron column or a far-side angle, and it's disclosed at checkout with a Click-and-Accept step. Buy these only if being in the room cheaply matters more to you than seeing the entire stage.
Boxes and Accessibility
The boxes flanking the stage are never sold to the public; they're held for guests of the artist, promoter, and crew, so don't go hunting for them. For accessibility, step-free access is Stalls-only. There's no lift to either balcony, so wheelchair users and anyone who can't manage a lot of stairs should book the Stalls and contact the venue ahead of time for assistance.
Getting There
Driving and Parking
There's no venue car park, and Dame Street sits in the middle of Dublin's densest, most one-way-riddled city-centre traffic. The venue points patrons to public city-centre car parks near Dame Street and Temple Bar rather than any lot of its own. The honest recommendation from fans is to skip driving entirely: you're in the exact centre of the city, so transit or a taxi is easier than parking and crawling out afterward.
Transit
You're spoiled for options because it's dead centre. For the Luas, the nearest Green Line stops are College Green and Westmoreland, and the nearest Red Line stop is Jervis, all a short walk to the door. For DART or commuter rail, Tara Street is the closest station, just across the river. For buses, there's a Dublin Bus stop on Dame Street itself, roughly a two-minute walk, and most city-centre routes drop within a few minutes' walk. Post-show, you spill straight out into the middle of the city rather than a stranded car park, so getting home is quick.
Taxi
Ireland doesn't run UberX-style private rideshare, so taxis are the norm here. Dame Street and the surrounding Temple Bar streets get heavy taxi traffic and there are ranks nearby, though expect the usual scramble for a cab when a show and the Temple Bar nightlife let out around the same time.
Food, Drink, and Merch
The Bars
There are three bars, one per floor, each with its own look: the Portrait Bar on the Stalls level, lined with a gallery of portraits; the Circle Bar on the first floor with a polished oak counter and crushed-velvet seating; and the Upper Circle Bar at the top. Drinks are served in plastic for the show and lean pricey, with one fan citing about EUR12 for a half plastic glass of wine.
The Strategy
The two ground-floor bars pack out fastest at interval, so if you want to skip the worst queue, order at a higher-level bar instead. If you're seated up top, the Upper Circle Bar is right there and usually less mobbed than the Stalls bars. There's no real food program beyond bar snacks, so eat beforehand at one of the many Dame Street or Temple Bar spots a couple of minutes away.
Merch
Merch is light here given the size of the room. Tour merch is sold from a booth near the entrance and foyer at concerts, and the theatre sells programmes and souvenirs at select shows. There's no notable venue-exclusive merch line to plan around.
Venue History
The Olympia opened on 22 December 1879 as Dan Lowrey's Star of Erin Music Hall, designed by architect John J. O'Callaghan and built between 1879 and 1881, making it one of Dublin's oldest surviving theatres. It ran through a string of names (Dan Lowrey's Music Hall, then Palace of Varieties, then the Empire Palace Theatre from 1897) before settling as the Olympia. Today it carries the sponsor name 3Olympia Theatre, though locals still just call it the Olympia.
Its protected historic status is why the building feels the way it does now: the three tiers on slender cast-iron columns, the proscenium arch, the colonnaded boxes, the Rococo plasterwork and chandelier all remain, and it's also why there's no lift and why those pillar-blocked seats still exist. The room's defining modern music moment came in 2007, when R.E.M. staged a five-night live rehearsal residency here while preparing the album Accelerate, later released in 2009 as "Live at the Olympia." Over the years it's hosted a long line of major acts including Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Radiohead, Muse, Blur, and Kings of Leon, alongside a century-plus tradition of Christmas pantomime, which is why the Stalls flip between seated and standing across the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
3Olympia Theatre Links
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This guide is based on fan reports, public records, and community discussion. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with 3Olympia Theatre.