Belfast Music Week with MTV
Can you hear that? It sounds like an entire city readying itself for some sort of musical extravaganza. It sounds like guitars being tuned, drums being tapped and amps being rigged. It sounds like Belfast Music Week with MTV and it sounds good!
It’s not every day the MTV Europe Music Awards plonk themselves in your home town so it’s little surprise that Titanic’s home has a bit of a pep in its step. Belfast Music Week takes place from October 30th - 6th November so along with the influx of the pop-star elite you can throw in a music week glittering with NI Music Awards, Belfast Rocks, and All Ages gigs for up-and-coming music maestros AND...loads more.
And when that pied piper musical magic does draw you to Belfast, there’s no reason you need to rush off when the tunes stop rocking. Stick around, meet the locals (comedian Jimeoin can give you an idea of the accent), take a Black Cab tour, visit the Titanic’s birthplace, amble through George’s Market or treat your tastebuds to some Michelin-starred munchables.
Belfast Music Week
Give your iPod a rest - it’s Belfast Music Week with MTV and it’s live! For a delicious seven days, Belfast and its classy coterie of venues, clubs and haunts will be buzzing to the same tune. So should you pop into, say, Oh Yeah Music Centre, Limelight, Spring and Airbreak or the Ulster Hall don’t be too surprised if the likes of Ash, The Divine Comedy, Ed Sheeran, Duke Special or Bronagh Gallagher are singing their hearts out. And it’s not just stage shows at BMW either, oh no! The week will be interspersed with music workshops, photography exhibitions, all culminating in the gorgeously glamorous MTV EMAs on Sunday night. Count. Us. In.
Belfast: the music maker
It’s where Van Morrison played his first gig. Where the Oh Yeah music centre makes music and good vibes by raising funds for Oxfam, Amnesty International and the Prince’s Trust. Where trad music seeps from under pub doors, sending you dancing a jig back to your hotel. It’s where fun lives. As Jools Holland said, ‘If you can’t have a good time in Belfast, you can’t have a good time.' We suggest you take Jools’ advice and drop in to Belfast Music Week with MTV.
A bit more Belfast
This might come as a surprise, but Belfast is home to Napoleon’s Nose. And no, it’s not some gory body part, it’s a lovely grassy crag looking out over the panorama of the city and well worth a climb. For a sit-down afterwards, make yourself cosy at the Crown Bar Liquor Saloon. There’s no denying Belfast has a rich history (Titanic anyone?) – it’s literally etched on the walls. The crackingly colourful murals are best experienced with the commentary of a local on a Black Cab Tour. We’d also rate a leafy interlude at Belfast Botanic Gardens. Blooming brilliant, Belfast!
Bite Into Belfast
First things first – noshing in Belfast can be easily done on a budget. Of course there’s a time and place to push the boat out, and Michelin-starred Deanes is where that boat should be moored. Mouth-watering morsels are the name of the game at Cayenne (roast hake with chorizo ragu) and Coco (panfried Monkfish with sauce vierge). For some trendy eats have a taste of Made in Belfast while picnic baskets will be packed at the Yogi Bear paradise, George’s Market. Final word – nomnomnomnomnomnomnomonom….
Mind the App
Lucky for you, this music city of ours has been mapped out by all manner of smartphone apps. They’ll bring you on a music tour and to the best gigs. They’ll uncover the river of words that flows through Belfast, spoken by the native poets and writers themselves. They’ll even talk you through a pub tour and walking tour of the city. Prepare your phone to become very, very useful…
Word up, B
Belfast has a literary legacy worth writing home about. CS Lewis grew up here and his statue stands, by a wardrobe of course, by the Holywood Arches Library. Fall into the footsteps of other great scribes on the Belfast Literary Walking Tour, where great writers worked, walked and still live. The Titanic finds its voice in Susie Millar’s book 'Two Pennies'; her great grandfather's experience as one of the ship's engineers, and ill-fated passengers. The grace of poetry is in technology too, hence the Belfast Literary App. The story continues.
