Summer Season 2018 19 July to 21 September 2018 www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Acoustic Picnics
Watch out for our Acoustic Picnics across the city in August! BCC have partnered with Belfast One, Destination CQ BID and Translink to provide pop-up musical entertainment in unexpected places across the city, with grass, blankets and deck chairs provided! Free to come along, bring a picnic if you wish, sit back and enjoy some music from local bands and musicians.
Summer Season 2018
Belfast will be buzzing with music this summer. We are delighted to present Summer Season 2018, an exciting and unique programme of musicbased events popping up across the city. From traditional music, to DJ workshops and Street Opera, there is something for all music tastes and ages.
We’re really proud of the music scene here in Belfast, join us this summer and get a taste of what this city has to offer!
Do you Hear What I Hear? Sound Walking Tour Victoria Square
Sat 25 and Sun 26 August
This is Not a Table Ping Pong Table Tour City Hall Grounds
Thurs 19 and Fri 20 July
Victoria Square
Sat 25 and Sun 26 August
Lanyon Place (Central Station) Fri 14 September
Culture Night
Fri 21 September
Black Box Outreach Space, Lower Garfield St Free! Walk up, no need to pre-book. Artist Robin Price, has adapted a traditional Ping-Pong table so each bounce on the table’s surface triggers an audio-visual effect creating an interactive and fun musicbased game for all ages! Kindly funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland with support from Belfast Fablab, Farset Labs and PS2.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Lanyon Place (Central Station) Fri 14 September
Culture Night
Fri 21 September
Black Box Outreach Space, Lower Garfield St Free! Walk up, no need to pre-book. Accompanying the Ping Pong Table Tour will be a unique Sound Walking Tour. Sonic Artist
John D’Arcy invites you on a listening-walk where your ears will be transformed using specialist software along with everyday smartphones and headsets. Experience what it might be like to live with hearing loss. Or maybe you’d like to listen like a dog, a cat, or a bat? Try these hearing simulations, along with others that turn our everyday sounds into music. Belfast will never sound the same again. Equipment provided. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Belfast Music Bus Tour - Live and Unplugged Starts at Ulster Hall and ends at Oh Yeah Music Centre
Sat 28 July and Sat 25 August, 2pm to 4.30pm
Global Music School City Hall Grounds Sun 5 August, 2pm to 5pm
Free to take part, no need to book in advance.
The Global Music School will give an opportunity for participants to get hands on in workshops with different percussion music from around the world including Indian Dhol Drumming, African Djembe Drumming, Chinese Lion Drumming, Japanese Taiko Drumming. Come on down to City Hall and have a go! Suitable for all ages.
Q Radio Summer Season Fountain Centre Terrace, College St
Fri 20 July - Fri 24 August, every Fri 4pm to 5pm Free to attend, just turn up!
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Enjoy local music talent in the heart of the city with Q Radio, pop up to the Q Terrace on College Street where we’ll be showcasing the best in local talent this summer every Friday from 4pm to 5pm. Travis is a Tourist (20 July), Lavengro (27 July), Chase the River (3 August), Wanderers (10 August), ROE (17 August), Rebekah Fitch (24 August).
Tickets: £10 (£8 concession) Visit Belfast Tel: 028 9024 6609 https://visitbelfast.ticketsolve.com The Belfast Music Tour is a journey across the city that reveals the music, the artists and the landscape that have brought character to the city. Sit back, relax, and enjoy tunes and tales from Them and Van Morrison, by way of awesome guitar players, traditional and folk, to punk rock and Hollywood soundtracks.
This two-hour bus trip starts at the beautifully restored Ulster Hall and finishes at the Oh Yeah Music Centre, where visitors can take in the NI Music Exhibition, the only permanent exhibit for popular music in NI. This special series of events over the summer will include live music from local musician’s that will pay homage to some of our best loved Northern Irish songs, as you take in the sights and sounds of the city.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Live music at the Belfast Barra Community Market St. Joseph’s Church
and various venues and public spaces across Sailortown
Fri 10 August, 4.30pm to late Sun 12 August, 1pm to 7pm
Vault Artist Studios Gig Night Tower Street Campus, east Belfast
Wed 8 August, 5pm to 8pm Free to attend, just turn up! Vault Artist Studios are taking over the old college building on Tower Street and are welcoming you inside to meet their artists and see how creative sparks fly. This community of painters, sculptors, photographers, urban beekeepers, musicians, street artists, puppet makers and performers will breathe life into the disused building. Music is an integral part of Vault and to celebrate the opening there will be performances by Blue Whale, Ursula Burns, Neil Foster and more. Drinks and nibbles provided. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Free to attend. For more information please visit www.householdbelfast.co.uk Enjoy a series of live music events in Sailortown, one of Belfast’s unique historical neighbourhoods. Various local musicians will perform across on Friday evening and events will include a screening in the iconic St Joseph’s church. On Sunday, the Community Market (from 1pm) will include stalls, activities, screenings, talks and presentations, with special music performances and events taking place in St Joseph’s church.
Belfast Confetti Summer Recital First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street
Wed 15 August, 1.15pm Tickets: free admission with a retiring collection For further information visit www.niopera.com Join members of the Northern Ireland Opera Studio for a lunchtime recital when they will perform a selection of arias and songs including the world premiere of a specially commissioned song cycle (funded by ACNI) by Belfast composer Greg Caffrey setting poems by acclaimed poet Ciaran Carson. This recital is part of the annual Summer Recital Series, which celebrates its 25 anniversary this year and features a top roster of local talent every Wednesday at 1.15pm from 18 July to 29 August.
Hex Hue at the Tropical Ravine The Tropical Ravine, Botanic Gardens
Thurs 16 August, 7pm to 8pm Tickets: free, book in advance. Web: www.eventbrite.com Immerse yourself in the magical surroundings of the Tropical Ravine for a special, debut performance from Hex Hue - the new musical project from Belfast based musician Katie Richardson. The music is introspective alternative pop, laden with harmonies and influenced by artists such as Alt J, Perfume Genius, St Vincent and Lykke Li.
Entrance via Lower Foyer. Remember to dress cool and bring a bottle of water - it’s gonna get hot in there... www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Elevate - Morning Rave
The Great Belfast Busk Off
Sonic Lab, Sonic Arts Research Centre
Various locations around the city centre
Sat 18 August, 10am to 2pm
Sat 18 August: 1pm to 5pm
Tickets: £5 Web: www.residentadvisor.net Early-morning and sober-rave movements are the latest trend in London and this is your chance to try it out. Events such as this give you an energy boost and improve your overall sense of well-being, the idea is to “Dance yourself happy!” It’s in this spirit that SARC (Sonic Arts Research Centre) are combining their cutting-edge speaker system with Belfast-based DJ collective GIRL to invite you to roll out of bed and onto the dance floor! It is advised not to wear shoes with heels, and to wear comfortable shoes with a reasonably thick sole. Food and drink is not permitted in the lab, but can be consumed in the foyer. Water will be available in the foyer.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Gig-sitter Black Box
Sat 18 August, 12 noon - 3pm Tickets: adults £5, children £3, family ticket (4 people) £12 Tel: 028 9024 4400 Parents you can finally attend a proper gig, kid-free, guilt-free… enjoy a 90 minute session by local band, The Scallions, in the main space, while the kids attend a music workshop in the Green Room led by top Bounce Culture’s DJ Kwame Daniels. Collect your kids at the end of your session or let them enjoy the music too!
Please email belfastmusic@ belfastcity.gov.uk to register for the competition Belfast streets are full of skilled musicians from all walks of life. To celebrate, we’re inviting musicians and bands from all disciplines to take part in a The Great Belfast Busk Off – a competition which will run live across the city in just one afternoon. It will be judged by local music industry VIPs and prizes include recording time in Half Bap Studios, run of 100 CDs and vouchers for Dawsons Music. All participating bands will be invited to an exclusive gig hosted with Help Musicians NI in a secret location that evening to celebrate! In partnership with Belfast One, Destination CQ Bids and Help Musicians NI.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Caribbean Social at Writer’s Square
Good Vibrations: The Musical Pop-up Performances
Writers Square Sun 19 August, 12 noon to 3pm
Cathedral Quarter
Fri 24 August, 6pm to 7pm
Free to take part, come on down and join in on the day. Enjoy carnival vibes courtesy of Steel Drum maestros and Notting Hill stalwarts Tropical Heatwave at the inaugural Caribbean Social. Hosted by Destination CQ BID, ASCONI and BCC expect an afternoon of reggae, dance, DJs and Young at Arts kids workshops and much more as well as a range of genuine Caribbean Street Food stalls to provide you with a fresh alternative Sunday lunch.
For more info on the show: www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/ event/good-vibrations
BCC and Beannchor have teamed up with The Lyric Theatre to bring their much-anticipated Good Vibrations Musical to the city centre for a special pop-up performance from the cast to give you a taste of what’s in store for this sure-to-be hit musical opening at The Lyric on the 1 September. Join them in the Cathedral Quarter to reminisce about the hay day of Belfast Punk! Terri Hooley will make a guest appearance at a pop-up DJ Set in the Bullitt courtyard.
Floral Hall Comes to City Hall The Great Hall, City Hall
Fri 24 August, 1pm to 4pm Free but must be booked. Call: 028 9050 2073 Email: positiveageingmonth @belfastcity.gov.uk A retro afternoon of dancing and music celebrating the bygone era of music halls and show bands from the 1920s to 1950s. Entertainment by the Martello Jazz Band and Bellehoppers. Tea and refreshments provided. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Féile An Droichead, at Riddel’s
Fifty - Music and Arts Social
Riddel’s Warehouse
Duncairn Arts Centre Café
Fri 24 August, 8pm
Fri 31 August, 7pm
Tel: 028 9028 8818 Web: www.androichead.com Féile An Droichead, now in its tenth year is a four-day Irish culture and traditional music bringing national and international talents to various locations throughout Belfast. This is a special, pop-up concert we are presenting as part of Summer Season 2018. We are delighted to host this event in Riddel’s Warehouse, one of Belfast’s stand out gems of architecture from its industrial past, a stunning venue for a very special concert.
Tickets: £5 and BYOB Tel: 028 9074 7114 Web: www.theduncairn.com
Undergrowth - 24hr Festival
We’re fifty years on from the momentous worldwide push for social change (Counter Culture and Civil Rights Movement) of which artists played a pivotal role. ‘Fifty’, inspired by the historic events of that period is a series of monthly creative get-togethers in the Duncairn Cafe, which will be specially transformed to give a Bohemian nightclub or 1960s Greenwich Village Coffee House feel. It will feature a performance from one headline act, one local support act, a 30 minute open mic or stage slot and a visual artist and writer or poet to capture the event in image and prose.
12-13 Shaftesbury Square
From Fri 24 August at 9pm to Sat 25 August at 9pm and later (various gig times in between) Tickets: £20 Full Weekend, £10 One Day Tel: 028 9032 5881 Web: www.accidentaltheatre.co.uk Magik Door and Accidental present a city of music festival in a day! Bands, DJs, sound installations, poetry and performance art meld in a 24hour counter-culture fest, with two evening gigs, overnight and morning dance parties and chill daytime sets all happening in 12-13 Shaftesbury Square. Get a ticket to take you from dusk to dawn, dawn to dusk, or join in for the full non-stop weekend.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
Drive By Shooting Street Opera Girdwood Community Hub
Ulster Hall
Wed 29 August
Fri 31 August, 8pm
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich Thurs 30 August
Library Street, city centre Fri 31 August
12-13 Shaftesbury Square Sat 1 September
Vault Artist Studios, Tower Street Sun 2 September
Free to attend. For more information on times email belfastmusic@belfastcity.gov.uk
Focal Festival Crescent Park
Fri 31 August to Sun 2 September, various times For tickets and info visit www.focalfestival.com This three-day open-air night festival showcases the best that Northern Ireland has to offer. Unlike any other festival in Belfast, Focal Festival will exclusively focus on the best local music, food producers, brewers and distillers. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Rhythm and Blues meets the Ulster Orchestra!
Drive-by Shooting is a Street Art Opera projected as a stencil style animation on city walls with its operatic soundtrack broadcast through headphones. As with much opera it’s a story of passion and revenge, but this comic story plays out an age-old scene of betrayal on a grimy city street. Come along and witness this fantastic 15-minunte opera about a scorned elderly lady out for revenge on her wayward husband.
Tickets: £12 Web: www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk Having heard Davy Watson play at an event, and impressed by his extraordinary voice and music, the Ulster Orchestra invited him to collaborate. Davy, a seasoned performer whose credits include Glastonbury, opening for Beth Hart at the Royal Albert Hall and touring with Bob Geldof, was subsequently given an ACES Award by the Arts Council of NI, enabling the production of special arrangements for Davy and the Orchestra by Graeme Stewart. The result is a unique night of original rhythm and blues and the magic of a live orchestra!
Summer Season 2018
Molto Vivo Gig @ Atypical Gallery Ground Floor, Cathedral Quarter Workspace Thurs 6 September, 6pm to 10pm
Tickets: free, booking required. Tel: 028 9023 9450 Web: www.universityofatypical.org They say that music is the art of rule breaking, and nothing could be more true for this alternative rock band, Molto Vivo. Described as “The Pixies met Green Day and had a baby”, Molto Vivo are sure to have you dancing along at this bewitching live show!
Song writing the Ravine - Sound Installation The Tropical Ravine, Botanic Gardens
Fri 14 to Fri 28 September, on the hour every hour during opening hours Free to attend. The Tropical Ravine is open Tues to Sun, 10am to 5pm.
Song writing the Ravine aims to explore and share local connections and experiences of Belfast’s rich musical heritage. Writer Jan Carson will work alongside a number of older people’s groups, including those with dementia and social isolation, to facilitate a range of workshops focused on tracking and exploring the participants musical histories. The participants will be recorded reading the pieces of writing aloud, this will be exhibited as an expressive installation piece in the Tropical Ravine, Botanic Gardens in September 2018. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Summer Season 2018
Summer Season 2018
City of Music @ Culture Night
18 Commemorating the Suffrage Centenary
Black Box
Fri 21 September, 1pm to 1am
Crumlin Road Gaol Sat 15 September, 7.30pm and 9pm
Tickets: £10 (£8 concession) Tel: 028 9024 2338 Web: www.crescentarts.org/ whats-on ‘18’ is a piece for 2 female choirs of 18 singers, electric string trio, keyboard and tape that celebrates and commemorates the history of women’s suffrage in Belfast. Performed at Crumlin Road Gaol, the piece is a site-specific work which, whilst highlighting the building’s unique structure, will draw on the stories from some of the key Belfast women involved in the struggle for equality in its 100th Year anniversary.
Through their very own words, interspersed with original text by poet Maria McManus, the piece will attempt to create a memory space in their honour.
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Shakespeare Songs
Harty Room, Music Building, Queens University
Event is free to attend.
Belfast City of Music will have its home at Black Box for Culture Night and they have a full programme of music, visual arts and performance to entertain the crowds from 1pm, including Big Wild Collective, Soup Du Jour, Lily’s Driftwood Bay and drumming workshops with Kwame Daniels. Enjoy music from local eight-piece band the Skallions, music by Dimebag DJ, live drawing by local artist Jamie Harper and a performance from our Outreach group Creating Connections.
Sun 16 September, 8pm Tickets £10 (£8 concession) To register interest email admin@thebelfastensemble.com The Belfast Ensemble, with their unique blend of music, performance and light, present a unique new work ‘in development’. Ophelia’s ‘mad songs’, Feste’s laments, Bottom’s risqué ballads, song forms a huge part of Shakespeare’s work. This piece explores two of Shakespeare’s favourite subjects in those songs: sex and death! A solo singer gives voice to an actor in a light and Shakespeare will do the rest! This is music-theatre for the 21st century - a window into new approaches to musical performance and interpretation. www.belfastcity.gov.uk/cityofmusic
Spotify Playlist Scan here for our Belfast Music playlist curated by Oh Yeah Music Centre.
Help Musicians NI is the Belfast office of the leading UK charity for professional musicians of all genres. We offer practical, positive support to emerging, professional and retired musicians. Our mission is to create a sustainable future for all musicians and the industry. Find us at www.helpmusicians.org.uk
Music Minds Matter is our 22/7 support line and service for the whole UK music community, offering information, advice, listening, emotional support and signposting to additional services, it can be accesses for free by calling 0808 802 8008.
Belfast 2023 Team Belfast City Council Belfast City Hall Donegall Square Belfast BT1 5GS
www.belfastcity.gov.uk/music
belfastmusic@belfastcity.gov.uk BCC 9629
028 9050 0543
@ourbelfastmusic @belfastmusic @belfastmusic
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