I have traveld quite a bit throughout Europe and been to Ireland three times. i am a big fan of backpacking and hostles. i have never fell victim to any real hard core turist traps until the pub crawl. it was the worst experience i ever paid for! you only go to three bars and when you are in them you are in a back room, not with the rest of the people in the pub. the musicians never stop talking and a few times they told people to be quiet. i dont go to a pub to be quiet and made fun of by bitter musicians who are upset they have to deal with a bunch of turist. it was much more like a class then anything fun. my wife and i left early with a couple of other couples we were sitting with to go to a real pub and have fun!

Unfortunately, the Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl was not what you were expecting or the type of activity that you enjoy. But it definitely not a tourist trap.
I found out about the Musical Pub Crawl through their website and some (easy) Internet and guidebook research. Through this research, I clearly knew what to expect and the evening turned out to be one of the highlights of our visit to Dublin.
To summerize: The Musical Pub Crawl begins at the Oliver St. John Gogery pub. Advance reservations are recommended, especially during the high season. There are two musicians who sing, play various instruments and talk about Irish music and Irish instruments. (The website clearly explain this.) The musicians play several songs in which they encourage the audience to join in which is a lot of fun. The musicians lead you to two other pubs during the evening and private rooms are set aside for the group (also mentioned on the website). You are welcome to buy drinks at each pub, but there is never any pressure to do so. (I didn't buy anything all evening and nobody cared.)
So, for those visitors to Dublin who would like an evening of hearing good musicians share their songs and their knowledge of Irish music, this is definitely for you.

My husband and I also enjoyed the musical pub crawl in Dublin. And after out crawl was over, the musicians told us about a traditional session that was going on at the Palace pub down the street. We went over and really enjoyed the evening!

I agree. We had a blast in 2003 on our pub crawl. The musicians were funny and they invited the audience to participate. My 15 year old daughter and I thought this was a highlight of our trip. Maybe we had more outgoing musicians.

My husband and son did this last summer and it was one of the highlights of their trip. They became very friendly with the musicians and learned about lots of other pubs to visit where they could enjoy Irish music.

My daughter and some of her friends then did the tour but I don't think they enjoyed it as much. I think my husband and son were more interested in the music and my daughter and friends were more interested in visiting different pubs.

I would imagine this is one of those tours where you need to carefully think about whether or not it would meet your expectations.