Remember me
The Out to Lunch festival returns to Belfast this weekend with another packed programme of arts and culture for your consideration from the fine folks behind the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.
Running from January 9 to 31 at The Black Box and various other venues throughout the city centre, Out To Lunch is now in its 21st year of providing a mix of catered lunchtime events (hence its name) and special evening shows to help Belfast awaken from cultural hibernation in the post-Christmas and New Year period.
As ever, the 2026 programme spans music, comedy, literature, spoken word and theatre.
Here’s a selection of highlights plucked from across all of those genres over the next three and a bit weeks...
Read more: From Honda 50s to Patti Smith: Inside Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
Music
Grant-Lee Phillips will be at Out to Lunch this year Former Grant Lee Buffalo leader Grant-Lee Phillips (January 20, Deer’s Head, 7.30pm) will return to Belfast on the tour for his 12th solo album, last year’s acclaimed In The Hour of Dust, a self-produced affair which finds Phillips at his most introspective and poetic.
“The mood on this album is contemplative,” he says.
“It’s about trying to find meaning in an age of confusion, feeling your way through the blinding dust of unreality.”
Known for their signature combination of spine-tingling acapella girl group sean-nós vocals and post-punky guitar-based noise, Cork’s I Dreamed I Dream (January 24, Ulster Sports Club, 7.30pm) make spiky dreampop with a distinctly Irish flavour, as showcased on their pair of excellent EPs Boypoisoning and Why Say A Lot? and highly-rated live shows.
I Dreamed I Dream Other musical events at Out To Lunch this year include Mary Dillon, Dónal O’Connor and Neil Martin, Yann Tierson, John Prine’s German Afternoons, Naima Bock, The Hans Zimmer Experience, Quire for Lunch, NI Opera, The Ulster Orchestra, Luka Bloom, The Duncairn Therapy Sessions, Women in Black, Lemoncello, Los Dramaticos, Red Sky July, Don Letts (DJ set), Celebrating 50 Years of Bob Dylan’s Desire with Arborist, John R Miller, The Darkling Air, Katherine Priddy, Wookalily, Classic Country for Lunch with The Boondocks, Amythyst Kiah, Ruth McGinley playing Einaudi for Lunch, Deloyd Elze and the Irish premiere of the new Jeff Buckley documentary, It’s Never Over.
Spoken Word and Ideas
Michael Smiley as Colly in Blue Lights series three Hireath: Yearning for Home? with Michael Smiley and Miranda Sawyer (January 11, The Black Box, 2pm) will find the London-based husband and wife duo in conversation, as journalist and author Miranda interviews her Co Down-born partner about his ‘journey’, the idea of ‘hiraeth’- a Welsh word meaning a deep longing for home - and the notion of what and where is home.
Menolicious authors Mariella Frostrup and Belles Berry in Conversation (January 27, McCracken Building, Ulster University, 7pm) will find the TV presenter and chef in conversation with broadcaster Mary-Louise Connolly about their new book, Menolicious, which provides women with a ‘survival toolkit’ of quick and easy recipes to ease key symptoms of perimenopause and the menopause.
Mariella Frostrup and Belles Berry will bring Menolicious to Belfast at Out to Lunch Other events include Zadie Smith in Conversation, Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia with former Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, Rachel Parris presenting her debut novel Introducing Mrs Collins, Historian John Gray on Belfast and the Age of the Enlightenment, and Michael Palin in conversation with Kathy Clugston.
Out To Lunch will also welcome back Tenx9, Paul Doran and Pádraig Ó Tuama’s storytelling event where nine people have up to 10 minutes each to tell a true story from their own lives.
Comedy
Robin Ince Billed as “a celebration of our possibilities in a time when we’ve given too many platforms to the mean and the bullying”, Robin Ince: The Universe and The Neurodiverse (January 23, The Black Box, 8pm) promises us “a journey through the minds that populate the planet and may populate the universe beyond” led by the presenter of the multi award-winning BBC radio show Infinite Monkey Cage.
Hal Cruttenden Hal Cruttenden Can Dish it Out But Can’t Take It (January 15, The Black Box, 8pm) finds the award-winning comedian pontificating on subjects like middle aged dating, social media, the insanity of modern politics and the fact that his daughters love him but don’t respect him. He believes that, after you’ve seen the show, you’ll feel exactly the same way.
Other comedy this year includes Conor Burns: Gallus and Caroline McEvoy: Train Man.
Stage and screen
Oscar Wilde studied at Portora Royal School, now Enniskillen Royal Grammar School Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes (January 18, The Black Box, 1pm/8pm) is an acclaimed one-man starring Will Govan as a brilliant but broken Oscar Wilde, exiled and reflecting on a life lived in the glare of fame and scandal.
Drawing on Wilde’s letters, essays, and irrepressible wit, Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes promises a tragicomic monologue that moves between humour and poignant heartbreak.
Other programme highlights include Out to Lunch with Vincent Price,(January 18, Harrison Hotel, 7pm) which will remind punters of the Hammer Horror star’s brief but memorable stint as an early-1970s TV chef.
Vincent Price, TV chef par excellence (Frank Barratt/Getty Images) Patrons will savour several specially exhumed episodes of ITV’s long-forgotten Cooking Price-Wise, which featured Price - who had by this stage already co-authored a trio of cookbooks with his wife, Mary - talking viewers through recipes like Fish Fillets NoordZee and American Ice Box Cake in his signature spooky tones.
Also on the menu this year are Simply Streisand and an evening of James Joyce with Jim Roche and Liam Hourican performing A Little Cloud and Counterpart from The Dubliners.
Tours
There will be an Arts Across Belfast Bus Tour during this year's Out To Lunch festival A selection of walking and bus tours are being offered as part of this year’s Out to Lunch Festival.
Arts Across Belfast by Bus (January 18, leaving from The MAC, 10.25am) promises to acquaint passengers with the city’s many arts centres, theatres, art galleries, music venues, street artwork and public sculptures, plus a plethora of homegrown creative talent, while enjoying tunes from Belfast’s most famous musical exports.
Other tours include the Historic Pubs of the Cathedral Quarter tour and the Clifton Street Cemetery Tour.
“We’re delighted to reach the milestone age of 21 this year,” enthuses Out to Lunch festival director Sean Kelly.
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival director Sean Kelly Out to Lunch offers a great range of comedy, music, theatre and film
— Sean Kelly“In spite of the ever increasing financial challenges for ourselves and the arts sector in general, I’m delighted to say that Out to Lunch continues to grow and attract new audiences. We always somehow find a way to keep it fresh, dynamic and affordable.
“People really need a pick-me-up in January and Out to Lunch offers just that, with a great range of comedy, music, theatre and film – something for everyone, to coin a cliché.
“Throw in some seriously great lunches too and there’s no longer any need to hibernate for the post-festive season.’
See cqaf.com for full Out To Lunch festival programme and ticket information
