The Piano Man: Elton John and Billy Joel, A Live Celebration at VISUAL Carlow

What to Expect

The Piano Man brings the two biggest piano songbooks in popular music into one show at the George Bernard Shaw Theatre, the 350-seat auditorium inside VISUAL Carlow. The evening is built around the catalogues of Elton John and Billy Joel, two writers who spent the 1970s and 1980s turning a piano stool into a lead instrument, and it is staged as a live band celebration rather than a lookalike impersonation act.

The George Bernard Shaw Theatre is Carlow’s main receiving house and takes a steady run of touring music shows through the autumn, with The Piano Man landing on the first Saturday of November. Tickets are €32 and the show starts at 8:00pm. VISUAL’s box office handles all bookings, and the same weekend carries Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote on the Friday and Derek Ryan’s Songwriter Show on the Sunday, so the theatre is running three consecutive nights of programming. The gallery spaces at VISUAL are free to enter during the day if you want to make an afternoon of it before the show.

Good to Know

• Saturday 7 November 2026, 8:00pm start.
• Venue: George Bernard Shaw Theatre at VISUAL, Old Dublin Road, Carlow Town.
• Tickets €32.
• Book through VISUAL’s box office online, by phone on 059 917 2400, or in person.
• Seated theatre show in a 350-seat auditorium; arrive in good time as latecomers may be held until a suitable break.
• Wheelchair users and groups over eight should book directly with the box office.
• The VISUAL galleries are free to visit during opening hours before the show.

Getting There

VISUAL is on the Old Dublin Road in the grounds of Carlow College, roughly a ten-minute walk from Tullow Street and the town centre. There is free on-site car parking for visitors, which fills up ahead of a full house, so leave time. Carlow railway station on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line is about fifteen minutes on foot, though the last Dublin train leaves before an 8:00pm show finishes. Bus Eireann and JJ Kavanagh coaches stop in the town centre.