Thanks for the Dance: The Leonard Cohen Story at Theatre Royal Waterford

What to Expect

Cohen Unlimited, an Irish ensemble of professional musicians, bring Thanks for the Dance to Theatre Royal Waterford on Saturday 3 October 2026. The show sets out to recreate the atmosphere of Cohen’s final world tour, with a visual backdrop running through his life across the evening. Poems as well as songs make it into the programme, and the storytelling between numbers covers where the writing came from rather than simply linking one song to the next.

Lead vocals come from Robert Doyle, who met Leonard Cohen in 1979 after a concert in Zurich. He is joined by backing vocalists Louise Jameson O’Flaherty, Jhil Quinn and Emma Nicolai, with Ben Dunne on bass, Keith Pogue on drums, Chiara Brown on keyboards and musical direction, and Fergal Cantebury on guitar. That is a nine-strong ensemble, which is roughly the scale Cohen himself toured with in his last years and the reason the arrangements can carry the choral parts. Tickets are €32.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 3 October 2026, 8:00 PM start
• Venue: Theatre Royal Waterford, The Mall, Waterford city
• Tickets: €32, through the Theatre Royal box office or its Ticketsolve page
• Performed by Cohen Unlimited, fronted by Robert Doyle
• Songs and poems with a visual backdrop of Cohen’s life
• Box office: 051 874402 or boxoffice@theatreroyal.ie

Getting There

Theatre Royal is on The Mall in Waterford city centre, a short walk from the Quay and the city centre bus stops. Drivers approach on the M9 from Dublin or the N25 from Cork and Wexford, with multi-storey and on-street parking nearby. Plunkett Station, Waterford’s rail and Bus Eireann terminus, is on the north bank of the Suir, about fifteen minutes on foot across Rice Bridge. Note that the National Symphony Orchestra also plays Waterford this night, so the city will be busy.