Morten Andersen rates the pubs that know exactly what they are, and Fibber Magees has known since 1979. It is a rock bar at the top of O'Connell Street, loud, unpretentious and proud of it, and it remains the room Dublin's metal and alternative crowd treats as home.
Fibber Magees sits at 80-81 Parnell Street in Dublin 1, a short walk off the top of O'Connell Street. The venue has been an institution for the city's rock fans since 1979, and its own history lists U2, Thin Lizzy, Machine Head and Madball among the bands that have played the back room (Fibber Magees official site). That pedigree is the point: this is a working music pub, not a heritage display.
The room is a proper dive in the best reading of the word. Dark walls, band posters layered years deep, a small stage at the back and pool and pinball off to the side. Dublin's tourism board files it plainly as a rock pub with live bands and DJs through the week (Visit Dublin). Live bands play Thursday to Saturday and rock and alternative DJs cover the other nights, so the music never really stops.
What to order is uncomplicated and that is its strength. Lead with a pint of Guinness or a cold lager, because this is a stout-and-rock-and-roll house rather than a cocktail room. The beer garden out the back is the surprise: it runs an original VW Camper bar and one of the largest outdoor screens in the city, so a summer gig night spills outside without losing the pint. Drink prices sit at the city-centre norm rather than the tourist mark-up, which is part of why the regulars stay regulars. Morten's note: keep it simple, take the stout, and save your standing for the front of the stage.
Who it is for is the rock and metal crowd, the gig-goer who wants a band within reach rather than a stadium away, and the traveller after a Dublin night with volume. It is wrong for a quiet first date or a refined nightcap. For more of the city's stages, our guide to the best live music bars in Dublin sets out the rest, and Whelan's on Wexford Street is the singer-songwriter counterpart to this room's harder edge.
Best time to go is a Thursday through Saturday for the live bands, or any night a touring metal act is on the listing. The kitchen and the screens make it a fair pre-gig base, and the beer garden earns its keep on a dry summer evening. Avoid expecting calm on a weekend, because volume is the house style and the late licence runs until 3am seven nights.
Fibber Magees is the rock bar Dublin keeps coming back to, an unbroken line from 1979 to the band on tonight. For a loud night with a stage, a stout and a camper-van bar in the garden, it is the call at the top of O'Connell Street. For the wider scene, start with our Dublin bar guide, and for another north-city stage see The Cobblestone in Smithfield.
Sources: Fibber Magees official site; Visit Dublin listing; Yelp Dublin.
