What? do you not like This charming man, Song 2, look good on the dance floor, revelate...... I like to hear them every single night I go out. I'd say we could guess 90-95% of the playlist for whelans this friday night. I don't think i've ever been in whelan's and thought 'oh, who's that the dj's playing?' The oak will play requests, but the pints aren't the best imo.

you could hear pete's predicted setlist in Flannerys, The Porterhouse, The Palace, MacTurcails... do people actually go to Whelan's to listen to DJs? Weird.

they should do a poster which says "the same tunes in the same order every friday night since 1998". whelans is just an indie version of a big country disco

Antics in Crawdaddy on a Wednesday is pretty good, a tad too much Babyshambles love but it's a good laugh looking at the ridiculously self-concious "we're so cool" late-teen poseurs and most of the time the songs are good. Free in before 12 too, actually I might stick around after The Most Serene Republic in Crawdaddy tonight for a while.

yep, the oak downstairs on a saturday nite plays some great tunes, but upstairs is a bit boring and Mully, you're not wrong about the pints -> worst pint of Smithwicks in living memory, f**king vile

I can vouch for the Smithwicks being rubbish there. Consistently crap The oak is the place for me these days. Seats, good music and you can relax and enjoy the pint.

BTW, always nice to see new posters on the cluas boards faughnj3

Bottletop on Kennedys every second (I think) Wednesday night has good djs. I can't really stand Whelan's. The last few gigs I've been to there, I've had to leave early because the people are so annoying. A couple of months ago, friends were over from the States and they ended up there on a Saturday night, so I joined them and left after half an hour because there were people being crushed coming through from the venue to the front bar. Everyone out in the smoking area was absolutely sloshed. When I saw two girls fall over in the venue and people actually walk on top of them to get to the toilets, I went up and told the bouncer that someone was going to get seriously hurt unless they started getting people out of the place. He basically told me to 'mind my own business' so I left. What a s**thole.

Una, that sounds like the new bouncer that recently started at Whelans. A group of us were in there recently and one left to go the shop for fags. They come back and the tosser wouldn't let her back in and told her to go around the back and pay in. Anyhooo we get the head barman, really decent fella, who goes out to explain what happened and that its really just a silly mistake. The bouncer was having none of it. Phew, rant over. Bouncers there are usually great. I like Whelans but the last thing I go there for is the music, the dj is awful. It is a horrendous crush on the weekends but if you stay in the front bar by the fire there is usually ample space

Yikes. Admittedly, i haven't been to Whelan's at the weekend in quite a while. Most of the gigs that i've been too this year were on mid-week or on Mondays and everything was fine. Good crowd and good gigs. Last time i was there on a Saturday i distinctly remember getting the feeling that the DJ wasn't playing any tunes since 1995 and i thought i'd gone through a time-warp and landed back to my student days in Galway circa. 1992. Bee-line was made for Anseo and avowed not to stick around Whelans for any post gig toe-tapping and subtle head-bopping. Still, i'd prefer Whelan's as a venue to most places in the city. They get some great acts to perform there and when it's good it's great. I've been to loads of cracking gigs there. One spolier though were two drunken assholes that bumbled into Iron & Wine when he played there a year or more ago and were shouting sh*t at the stage like "It's Jesus!" and other assorted nonsense. It pissed me off big-time. So much so that i glared at the back of their heads for most of the gig. That showed 'em.

Speaking of d**kheadish bouncer behavior. After The National played there last year some friends of mine went outside for smoke, the doors between the bar and the venue hadn't opened yet. I'd been outside earlier when I bought some CD's at the merchandise table and dropped them back to my car and had got my hand stamped so I decided to go out and talk to my friends. I go 5 feet outside the door, take 5 seconds to see that they aren't around and turn around to go straight back in. Cue bouncers hand on my shoulder... Goon: Where do you think you're going. Me: Back inside Goon: You have to go to the back of the que Me: I was at the gig, I've already paid in, I've got a stamp (show him my hand and the blue stamp on it) Goon: We're not using blue stamps tonight, it's red Me: It was blue when I got it stamped at 8:45 when I went out to my car Goon: Who stamped it? Me: I don't know what his name is (Saying "big guy, shaved head" didn't seem like it'd help) Goon: You're not getting in, back of the que Me: I just walked out 25 seconds ago, I walked right past you. Goon (to other bouncer walking by): Was he inside? Bouncer: Yeah Goon: OK, in you go (note distinct lack of apology or admitting he was in the wrong) w**ker.

whelans has indeed gone to s**t - well has been for ages but now its just the worst ever man. Havent been there for a whole night in a very very long time Gone are the days of hanging out in the beer garden and gettin drunk and having a boogie! Its worse than ever now. And the DJ - well that was always a problem but now its just unbearable.

There used to be a real nice bouncer there maybe 6/7 years ago. He had an american/canadian accent. He was real friendly and put you in a good mood before going into the place. The guys they've had for the last few years put you in a bad mood before you even hear the crap dj.

Let's face, Whelan's doesn't even have a DJ. It's a few cd's on loop. Seriously though, I really agree it has gone to sh1t. Although maybe Whelans is a phase that we all eventually get over.