Greetings from The Wolf & Seahorse
Belfast TradFest runs to Sunday 2 August with more than a thousand artists across almost six hundred events in forty venues, and the moment it finishes the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann arrives in Belfast for the first time in its history.
Flook headline at the Whitla on Saturday. James Acaster opens the week in the same hall on Tuesday, with live captions. ALOK is at the Limelight, Julian Marley the night after, the Lyric has a new Philip Catherwood play about a football pitch and a border poll.
Cloudbusting do Kate Bush at the Empire on Friday, and The 2 Johnnies bring a full bill to Falls Park. Belfast Whiskey Week starts Friday too.
This is our pick of what's on this week. As always for a full event list check out the link at the bottom of the email.
Let's dive in 👇
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Belfast TradFest 2026
To Sunday 2 August · Around 40 venues across the city
The eighth edition, and the numbers have got genuinely silly: over a thousand artists, close to six hundred events, forty venues, with Cherish the Ladies, the Michael McGoldrick Big Band, Solas, Four Men and a Dog and Flook among the headliners. It opened with a free céilí on the Maritime Mile and closes on Sunday the 2nd, the same day Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann opens in Belfast for the first time in its history and brings an expected 800,000 people with it. Two weeks of this back to back is not going to happen again soon.
James Acaster
Tuesday 28 July · 18:30 · Whitla Hall
A brand new hour from a comedian who spent the last few years making everything except stand-up, which usually means the material has had somewhere to build up. This Belfast date carries live captions for anyone deaf or hard of hearing, which is still rarer on a comedy tour than it should be. Age 14 and over. Half six start, so eat afterwards.
The Pitch
Tuesday 28 to Friday 31 July · 15:00 and 20:00 · Lyric Theatre
Philip Catherwood has written a comedy about three friends in east Belfast and a plan to turn their local pitch into a Gaelic football ground, set against a coming reunification referendum. Robbie and his sister Melissa have always had the pitch. Deren, who plays GAA, has never had one. Thea Mayeux directs, it runs seventy minutes with no interval, and it does the thing local theatre is for: it argues with the audience rather than flattering it. 12+, with warnings for grief, strong language and strobe.
Double Standards Jazz Session
Wednesday 29 July · 17:30 · Sunflower Public House
A half five start on a Wednesday in the Sunflower's back bar, which is the correct way to hear jazz played by people who are not being paid enough for it. Standards, done straight, in the last pub in Belfast with a cage on the door for reasons nobody wants to explain to visitors.
Eastside Arts Festival: Scott Flanigan
Wednesday 29 July · 19:00 · Scott's Jazz Club
Flanigan is one of the busiest keys players on the island and gets far too few nights with his name at the top of the bill. A summer-themed programme in a room built specifically for piano, on the east side where the festival belongs.
Julian Marley
Wednesday 29 July · 19:00 · Limelight 2
Bob's son has spent three decades building a catalogue of his own instead of coasting on the name, and the live band is the reason to go rather than the surname. Limelight 2 is a small enough room that the horns will be in your chest rather than the distance.
The 2 Johnnies & The Junior B All Stars
Friday 31 July · 18:00 · Falls Park
The Tipperary podcasters bring a full bill with The Shamrocks and The Highstool Prophets on it, outdoors in Falls Park from six. This will be enormous and it will not be subtle. Wear boots and assume the ground is soft.
Clearwater Creedence Revival
Friday 31 July · 19:00 · Limelight
The 55th anniversary tour of a band celebrating four years of someone else's records, which is either absurd or admirable depending on your mood. Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Fortunate Son and the rest, played by people who know exactly what the room came for.
Cloudbusting: The Music of Kate Bush
Friday 31 July · 19:30 · Empire Music Hall
The Bush catalogue is close to unplayable live, which is why she barely toured it herself, and Cloudbusting have built a reputation on getting the vocals and the projections right rather than approximating them. Hounds of Love in the Empire's old chapel room is a strong pitch. Deeper album cuts alongside the singles.
Brian Carson: Jazz DJ Set
Friday 31 July · The Court House
All vinyl, no laptop, in Bangor's Court House. A DJ set of jazz records played by someone who owns them physically is a different proposition to a playlist, and the difference is audible about twenty minutes in.
Flook
Saturday 1 August · Whitla Hall
TradFest's closing weekend headliner, and Flook remain the band other trad musicians go to see. Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen on flutes and whistles, Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly behind them, playing tunes at a speed that should not be possible while sounding unhurried. Special guests on the bill. If you go to one thing this week, go to this.
Hothouse Flowers
Saturday 1 August · The Court House
One night only in Bangor, and Liam Ó Maonlaí has never once phoned in a performance in forty years of doing this. Somewhere between soul, gospel and trad depending on which way the night goes. The Court House holds a few hundred, which is a fraction of what they can fill.
Still Ill Club
Saturday 1 August · 21:00 · Empire Music Hall
Indie and alternative until late in the Empire, straight after the Cloudbusting weekend. Nine o'clock start, so there is no sense arriving at midnight expecting the good half of the set.
Weird Ireland
Monday 3 August · Lavery's
The night for whatever does not fit anywhere else on the Belfast bill, running in Lavery's on the Monday the Fleadh has just opened. Go in with no expectations and you will not be disappointed.
Córas Trio & Gráinne Meyer
Tuesday 4 August · 15:00 · Oh Yeah Music Centre
A three o'clock double bill in the Oh Yeah's live room, atmospheric trad and folk from two acts most of the Fleadh crowd will not have caught yet. A mid-afternoon gig during Fleadh week is a smart place to hide from the crowds on Donegall Street.
Dave Marks
Tuesday 4 August · 19:00 · Oh Yeah Music Centre
Marks has played as a soloist in the World of Hans Zimmer show and brings that cinematic instinct to Irish traditional material, which on paper sounds like it should not work. Part of the Fleadh fringe, and the sort of booking the Oh Yeah has always been good at.
Belfast Playwrights' 10-Minute Play Festival
Tuesday 28 July · 18:45 · The Black Box
A dozen or so brand new short plays by local writers in one sitting, which is the fastest way to find out who in this city can actually write. Some will not work. The format means you are never more than ten minutes from the next one.
ALOK: Eat Pray Leave!
Tuesday 28 July · 19:00 · The Limelight 2
Alok Vaid-Menon is a poet and performance artist doing stand-up rather than the other way round, and the hour is built around love, heartbreak and the end times. Belfast opens four dates across the island in one week, ahead of Cork, Limerick and Dublin, so this is the version before the edges get sanded off. Allie O'Rourke supports.
August Craft Month
From Saturday 1 August · Venues across the city
A month of open studios, demonstrations and workshops from makers across the island, with Belfast carrying a good share of the programme. Worth browsing the listings in the first week rather than the last, because the best workshops fill early.
Belfast Whiskey Week
From Friday 31 July · Venues across the city
The eighth run of this, with tastings, masterclasses and dinners in bars and restaurants around town. Irish whiskey distilling came back from near extinction inside one generation and Belfast has been quietly central to it, which most of the masterclasses will tell you at some point.
For a full overview of all events on this week in Belfast check out our event listings page
UNTIL NEXT WEEK
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