Greetings from Wolf & Seahorse
Belfast International Arts Festival is taking place around Halloween this week.
The Thirteen Chairs sits you at a table with ghosts in an interactive show at Cityside, worth a trip if you’re looking for something different.
Takkuuk pairs BICEP's music with infrared film at Studio Ulster. Famous for delivering quality live experiences this should be good!
Westlife 25 starts at The O2 Belfast on Tuesday for all the nineties kids.
Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad give Joni Mitchell's songs an intimate reworking in The Songs of Joni Mitchell at The MAC on Thursday. Halloween at Ulster Folk Museum has mummers and turnip carving from the same day, and Cathedral Quarter fills with a skull procession for Día de los Muertos on Saturday.
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
Westlife 25: The Anniversary World Tour
Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 October · The O2 Belfast
Ana Sky opens for Westlife's 25th anniversary run, which extends their record for the most shows ever played at The O2 Belfast. The set takes in the whole catalogue, including Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings and You Raise Me Up.
Takkuuk: EarthSonic / Bicep
Wednesday 28 to Saturday 31 October · Studio Ulster
Electronic duo BICEP score an immersive Arctic experience built on infrared cinematography and the stories of Indigenous artists working to keep their language, land and identity intact. It's part of Belfast International Arts Festival.
Wednesday and Thursday sessions are at 17:00 and 19:00, with earlier ones on Friday and Saturday.
The Thirteen Chairs
Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November · Cityside Retail and Leisure Park
A forgotten room, thirteen chairs and a dinner party where every ghost has a story. A host guides you through, and your choices shape the night.
This 30-minute interactive experience from Cahoots NI is a world premiere. Thursday and Friday sessions start at 18:00, Saturday and Sunday at 17:00.
The Sound Stage: Aoibhe McCracken
Wednesday 28 October · 12:00 to 14:00 · Grand Atrium, Titanic Belfast
Aoibhe McCracken plays a live set in the Grand Atrium, part of a programme of acoustic sets, singer-songwriters, traditional music and vocal performances from local musicians.
The Songs of Joni Mitchell
Thursday 29 October · 19:30 · The MAC
Jesca Hoop and Lail Arad perform intimate versions of their favourite Joni Mitchell songs, with pianist Richard Sears. Arad first created the show for Mitchell's 80th birthday.
Bach Unseen
Friday 30 October · 19:30 · Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC)
Cellist David McCann opens with Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major under normal lighting. Then the lights fade, and a new piece for three cellos reworks fragments of the suite in the dark, with the musicians moving around the room so the sound seems to shift.
John Andrews Band
Friday 30 October · 19:30 · The Belfast Barge
John Andrews Band, also known as The JAB, are a Belfast four-piece who mix alternative rock with blues and rap. Their singles include OMG, and a debut album, The Blessing and the Curse, is on the way.
Tommy Emmanuel: Living in the Light Tour
Sunday 1 November · Ulster Hall
Grammy-winning guitarist Tommy Emmanuel is known for his fingerstyle playing and has worked with Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler. This tour follows his latest album, Living In The Light.
The Script: The Man in the Arena Tour
Monday 2 November · The O2 Belfast
The Script have six UK number one albums and more than 14 billion streams behind them. This tour follows their new album The User's Guide To Being Human, with Man In The Arena as the lead single, and James Morrison is the support.
Belfast Film Festival 2026
Thursday 29 October to Saturday 7 November · Various locations, Belfast
Ten days of film across the city from Northern Ireland's largest film festival, which draws an audience of more than 25,000.
Miriam Margolyes
Monday 2 November · Waterfront Hall
Miriam Margolyes brings her live show Miriam's Full English, based on her new book of the same name. Along with stories from the book and personal confessions, there's an open Q&A.
Escape the Internet
Monday 2 to Tuesday 3 November · 19:00 · The Black Box
Over a hundred players team up through their phones to escape an artificial intelligence apocalypse on a mysterious island. Lucas Rizzotto created it as a live game you can't stream or play at home, and it's part of Belfast Film Festival.
Halloween Murder Mystery Evening
Date to be confirmed · Cabaret Supper Club
Solve an interactive murder mystery over a two-course dinner, following clues and questioning suspicious characters in a Halloween-themed evening.
Halloween at Ulster Folk Museum
Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October · 10:00 to 16:00 · Ulster Folk Museum
Traditional Samhain customs take over the museum: the Armagh Rhymers in masks and costumes, turnip-carving demonstrations, mask-making and cabbage reading, which is folk fortune-telling. There are spooky stories in English and Irish, barmbrack and apple pie, and a murder mystery to solve.
Día de los Muertos: Cathedral Quarter Celebration
Saturday 31 October · 17:00 to 20:00 · Hill Street and Cathedral Quarter streets
Drummers, dancers, stilt walkers and fire performers pop up across Hill Street, Cotton Court, Commercial Court and St Anne's Square for ArtsEkta's Day of the Dead celebration. The Skull Procession leaves Hill Street at 19:00 with a large Sugar Skull Crane, and you're encouraged to come in costume.
W5 Late: Halloween
Friday 30 October · 19:00 to 23:00 · W5
Spooky science experiments, a talk from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Research Association on the region's most haunted places, and Ghostbusters characters to meet. There's also a fancy dress competition with prizes, speed quizzing and face painting.
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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