Christmas markets, live music, literature festivals and more great events happening this weekend
By Sarah Gill
16th Nov 2023
16th Nov 2023
Wondering how best to spend the weekend? Here are some of the best events happening across Ireland from Friday 17 — Sunday 19 November…
STIPE: Tribute to R.E.M
17 November
The Grand Social are hosting R.E.M tribute band, Stipe, who’ll bring you on a journey through all the top songs from the iconic band including Losing My Religion and Man on the Moon with all the atmosphere, attitude, emotion, and energy you’d expect. They’ll provide the same cagey mix of attitude, poetry and idiosyncratic sound built around jangling guitars and hazy vocals of frontman Michael Stipe.
Irish Design Week
Until 17 November
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Irish Design Week is a national programme with events taking place across the country. This year’s theme “Is folklore the future?” will explore Ireland’s world famous tradition of oral history – using folklore to communicate dense and complicated themes. Throughout the week, DCCI will host a series of events which relate to this theme, and will also be supporting and promoting third party events across the island. Find events near you here.
Going Coastal Festival
15—19 November
Going Coastal is a festival of contemporary original music featuring young, emerging and established acts from the western edge of Ireland. It takes place over five days, across nine venues in Galway City and includes events curated by The Black Gate, A Modern Movement, Free House, Strange Brew, West Coast Punx, Gash Collective, Ar Ais Arís, Rough Cut, Yawlag Collective, That’s Life, Genuine Irish and Livefeed. Check out the full programme here.
The Love Ball
18 November
An evening of art, music, culture, dance, fashion and radical self expression, The Love Ball is bringing a little slice of New York to Dublin for their final show of the year. In the main room, there’ll be a ‘love yourself walk off’ and music from PrYmary Colours, Minikimono, Kate Brennan Harding, Anziety, and Dave Kerr, while performances from Erik Burka, Fayeolo, and Wiseguy fill up the love bar. An evening all about self love and embracing authenticity, expect extreme vibrancy in every sense of the word.
Winterval 2023
Opens 17 November
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Winterval, Ireland’s largest Christmas festival returns to Waterford for its eleventh year with its biggest and most festive programme yet. Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city, will be transformed into a magical Winterval wonderland, featuring original attractions like Santa’s arrival to Waterford, Winterval On Ice, and The Carousel. There’ll also be newer events like the Winterval Circus, the Lego Exhibition, and magical reimaginations of festival favourites including a multi-dimensional light show, European-style food and craft markets, a packed programme of live music and performances.
Belfast Christmas Market
Opens 18 November
The award-winning Belfast Christmas Market is back and celebrating its 18th birthday. With over 100 international and local traders in the festive village, the market offers an authentic feast of quality Christmas fayre alongside a carefully curated mix of handcrafted goods and bespoke artisan products. Set against the spectacular backdrop of the Belfast City Hall, Belfast Christmas Market in the heart of the city is the perfect pit stop for coach parties, day-trippers and city shoppers looking to tick off that all-important shopping list.
IMRAM: Féile
10-18 November
IMRAM brings its audiences on a ‘voyage of discovery’ that reveals the rich diversity of modern Irish language literature. From the launch of thrilling new crime novels to a multi-media exploration on the theme of climate emergency, there’ll be poetry readings, celebrations of women’s lives, theatrical displays and much, much more. Find the full programme of events here.
Wonderlights
10 November — 2 January
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Embark on Wonderlights’ The Magic of Winter and be transported into a fairytale realm. Discover enthralling projections on the Castle and enchantment at every footstep. Meet the beloved Talking Tree, venture into the deep Arctic Oceans and explore life in the Frozen Lands as light explodes into life. Take a stroll among the Magical Flying Fairies, as you watch them dance in the night sky. Awe-inspiring displays of majestic Woodland Creatures await your admiration. With the integration of cutting-edge technology, Wonderlights offers new areas to explore, providing engaging and entertaining experiences for guests of all ages.
Wild Lights at Dublin Zoo
Opens 16 November
Wild Lights, the award-winning night-time spectacular returns with a brand-new theme, ‘The Enchanted Zoo’. Offering an incredibly unique opportunity to explore the secret life of Dublin Zoo like never before, you’ll be greeted by a wizard and presented with a choice of three pathways to explore first. From there, you’ll be transported to lands of magic and wonder, with fairies, mythical creatures, multi-coloured animals and even a candyland, all lit up as beautiful silk lanterns. As you journey through this immersive experience, you’ll also have the chance to meet the nocturnal keepers and guardians of the mystical animals and creatures, the Zoo gnomes, visible only in the Zoo at night.
Top 8 Street Dance Battle
18 & 19 November
Top 8 Vol. 8 returns to Dublin for the outreach workshops at Fade Street Studios and The Well for the Battles, Exhibitions and Cyphers to showcase street dance and hip-hop culture in its raw and authentic form. This year focuses on crew battles and exchanges paying homage to how the art-form came to be, and there’ll be both old and new crews taking to the stage to showcase in an exhibition battle where there are no judges or the pressure of having one, which will allow each crew to fully showcase their artistry.
Feature image via TULCA
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