As the 14th Annual Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival gets set to take the city by storm we’ve picked you out some of the hottest shows.
Log onto cqaf.com for a full schedule for the festival running from April 30 to May 10.
Here are 20 of the hottest CQAF shows:
1. Little Barrie
Thursday April 30, The Black Box
Little Barrie are best known as the composers and performers of the main title theme to Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul.
The group, who have a blend of rock, blues, garage and soul flavours, have also just released their fourth album Shadow.
Music event. Tickets are £10. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
2. Ulrich Schnauss (live) with Nat Urazmetova (visuals)
Thursday April 30, The Belfast Barge
Ulrich Schnauss is a German electronic producer with a number of critically acclaimed releases under his belt.
Schnauss’ music fuses electronics and the shoegazing textures of Ride, My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins.
Music event. Tickets are £10. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
3. Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz & Aoife O’Donovan
Friday May 1, Saint George’s Church
Three of the brightest talents in contemporary American music join forces for this unique concert.
Sara Watkins was a founder member of Nickel Creek, probably the most acclaimed progressive bluegrass band ever.
Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz’s last recording Build Me Up From Bones received great critical acclaim.
Aoife O’Donovan came to prominence as the lead singer and songwriter of the highly acclaimed Crooked Still.
This event is in association with the Real Music Club
Music event. Tickets are £12. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
4. Josh Rouse
Friday May 1, The Black Box
Josh is an American folk/roots pop singer-songwriter is currently promoting his forthcoming album The Embers of Time, due out on April 7.
He says the songs were inspired by an existential crisis: “my surreal expat therapy record”.
This event is in association with the Real Music Club
Music event. Tickets are £12. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
5. The Charlatans
Saturday May 2, The Festival Marquee
The Charlatans, an English indie rock band shot to fame in the late 80s and early 90s.
In January this year they released their new album Modern Nature to some of the finest reviews of their career.
Featuring eleven new tracks, including the 6 Music A List record Talking In Tones, the album was produced by The Charlatans and Jim Spencer and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Portishead).
Music event. Tickets are £20. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
6. Down And Out In Paris And London
Saturday May 2, 101 The Redeemer
A man drifting through life, in early 1930s Paris, teaching English and generally soaking up the rich underbelly of Parisian life, finds himself falling helplessly short and discovering a very different view of life, looking up from below.
Theatre event. Tickets are £10. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
7. Val McDermid – Killing People For Fun And Profit
Sunday May 3, The Black Box
Killing people is wrong. Killing people for fun is even more wrong. Making money out of it is just about as wrong as it gets. Unless the mayhem and murder is all in your head, of course. No. 1 best-selling crime writer Val McDermid will take you on the journey that led her from innocence to being guilty of entertaining millions
Words & Ideas Events. Tickets are £8. Doors 1.45pm. Event start 2pm.
8. Paul Durcan – Reading From The Days Of Surprise
Sunday May 3, The Black Box
A Paul Durcan public reading is like no other. Audiences come away drained and cleansed as if from a secular mass. He can be funnier than any stand-up, dramatic as many an actor, but once heard, thesotto voce incantatory style is never forgotten.
Words & Ideas Events. Tickets are £8. Doors 4.45pm. Event start 5pm.
9. Lucy Porter – Me Time
Sunday May 3, The Black Box
Finding modern life a bit difficult? Maybe you were born in the wrong era? In this show Lucy tries to find her rightful place in history. She ponders whether she’d rather be a bewhiskered Victorian explorer, a 1920s Hollywood starlet or Hatshepsut the Egyptian pharaoh.
Comedy event. Tickets are £10. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
10. The Staves
Monday May 4, The Festival Marquee
The Staves are a trio of sisters at the forefront of the UK indie-folk scene.
According to critics the band produce bewitching and memorable pop songs, rich in vocal harmonies and tender hooks.
Music event. Tickets are £12. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
11. Bec Hill – In Ellipsis
Monday May 4, McHughs
Bec Hill is a London-based Australian comedian who has gained an international cult following with her quirky and refreshing approach to comedy. In 2014, Bec Hill wrote a show about how she had never won an award. Then it won an award at the Edinburgh Fringe, thus ruining the whole premise.
This event is in association with Infinite Jest
Comedy event. Tickets are £8. Doors 7.45pm. Show 8pm.
12. Paul Muldoon reading from One Thousand Things
101 The Redeemer, May 9, 8pm
Leading Irish poet Paul Muldoon fresh from his home in the US reads from his acclaimed new collection..
13. Shot Glass presents Three Strikes
Dark Horse, May 4-5, 8pm
Belfast’s shiniest, newest theatre company are back with three short comic plays.
14. Cáit “Rocky” O’Riordan
Black Box, May 2, 2pm
Original Pogue Cáit recreates the manic fun and energy of the eraly days of the Pogues when they gigged in small sweaty clubs.
15. Rawlife Theatre Company presents Lanciatore – The Juggling Man
Belfast Circus School, May 7-17, 8pm
Allow yourself to experience up close the lengths some people will go to.
16. The Lost Brothers and Malojian
Black Box, May 5, 8pm
Lost Brothers return to the festival with their stunning fourth album New Songs of Dawn and Dust in tow.
17. Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope
101 The Redeemer, May 8, 8pm
This show traces the extraordinary life of The Naked Civil Servant Quentin Crisp.
18. Martin Rowson
Black Box, May 6, 1pm
Award winning political cartoonist Martin Rowson takes us on a romp through a 32,000 year old history of visual satire.
19. Lucy Rose
Festival Marquee, May 7, 8pm
With a stunning new album in the pipeline, Lucy Rose is set to become a household name for 2015.
This is her first headline show in two years in Belfast.
20. Camille O’Sullivan – Changeling
St Anne’s Cathedral, April 30
Expect high musical melodrama and the songs of Brel, Cave, Waits, Bowie and more….
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