Right then, Ireland.
You appear to have absolutely no intention of giving our bank accounts a quiet few months.
Fair enough. 🤘☘️🔥
Welcome to The Riff Report Ireland Gigs & Tours Tracker — our constantly growing guide to rock, metal, punk, alternative, indie and generally noisy gigs happening across the island of Ireland.
And when we say Ireland, we mean the whole island.
That means shows happening in:
- 🇮🇪 Dublin
- ☘️ Belfast
- 🇮🇪 Cork
- 🇮🇪 Galway
- 🇮🇪 Limerick
- 🇮🇪 Kerry
- 🇮🇪 Waterford
- 🇮🇪 Kilkenny
- ☘️ Derry
- ☘️ And everywhere else the amplifiers are being turned up
Because riffs don’t particularly care where somebody drew a border.
And looking at what’s coming up, neither do we.
We’re talking:
Korn. Papa Roach. Skindred. Fear Factory. The HU. Manic Street Preachers. The Strokes. Placebo. Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter. The Pogues. Five Finger Death Punch. Lamb Of God. Electric Callboy. Nothing But Thieves. Trivium. In Flames. Sabaton. Thirty Seconds To Mars. Weezer. Taking Back Sunday. Fontaines D.C.
Yeah.
Ireland is absolutely eating.
This tracker covers currently announced dates from September 2026 onwards, and we’ll keep adding more as bands, venues, promoters and festivals announce new shows.
Right.
Get the diary out.
🍂 September 2026
September wastes absolutely no time getting stuck into things.
🤘 Friday 11 September
Nirvana Tribute
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
If you’re after a night of grunge nostalgia, Cork has you covered.
🎸 Sunday 13 September
Faster Pussycat – Celebrating 40 Years
📍 Empire Music Hall – Belfast
Four decades of sleazy hard rock rolling into Belfast.
Big hair optional.
Swagger absolutely mandatory.
🖤 Tuesday 15 September
As It Is
📍 The Limelight 2 – Belfast
Pop-punk and alternative-rock emotion kicks off a little Irish run.
🖤 Wednesday 16 September
As It Is
📍 The Academy – Dublin
Belfast one night.
Dublin the next.
That’s how you do it.
🎸 Wednesday 16 September
Death Cab For Cutie
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
One of alternative rock’s most beloved bands takes over the beautiful 3Olympia.
That’s going to be one seriously emotional Wednesday night.
🍋 Saturday 19 September
The Lemonheads
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
Alternative-rock royalty in one of Cork’s most important live rooms.
Lovely stuff.
🖤 Wednesday 23 September
She Past Away
📍 The Button Factory – Dublin
Darkwave atmosphere comes to Dublin for anyone who likes their gigs several shades darker than the average Wednesday evening.
💀 Saturday 26 September
Genitorturers
📍 The Limelight 2 – Belfast
Industrial metal and wonderfully filthy theatrical chaos.
Exactly the sort of thing Belfast’s rock crowd does rather well.
🔥 Tuesday 29 September
YONAKA
📍 The Limelight 2 – Belfast
Modern alternative rock with enough energy to turn The Limelight into one gigantic bouncing floor.
💀 Wednesday 30 September
(Hed) P.E. + Cold
📍 The Limelight 2 – Belfast
Nu-metal and alternative nostalgia closing September properly.
🎃 October 2026
October is where Ireland starts getting seriously heavy.
💀 Monday 5 October
Fear Factory
Fear Factory + Crystal Lake + Hate + The Nocturnal Affair
📍 The Academy – Dublin
Industrial-metal legends Fear Factory bring their Cybernetic Domination Tour to Dublin.
Mechanical riffs.
Machine-gun drums.
Neck pain.
Absolutely beautiful.
🐎 Monday 5 October
The HU
The HU + Skáld
📍 The Telegraph Building – Belfast
Mongolian Hunnu rock in Belfast.
That is already one of the coolest sentences we’ve written all week.
🐎 Tuesday 6 October
The HU
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Belfast gets them first.
Dublin gets them the following evening.
Traditional Mongolian instrumentation meeting massive rock riffs should sound absolutely gigantic in the Olympia.
💀 Tuesday 6 October
Fear Factory
Fear Factory + Crystal Lake
📍 The Limelight 1 – Belfast
Because apparently Belfast fancied getting flattened too.
Fear Factory head north immediately after Dublin.
🎸 Wednesday 7 October
PET NEEDS
With Keep Flying + So Good
📍 Voodoo – Belfast
A proper sweatbox punk-rock night.
Those are often the best ones.
🎸 Thursday 8 October
Cabaret Voltaire
📍 The Limelight 1 – Belfast
Industrial and electronic alternative history arrives in Belfast.
🔥 Friday 9 October
The Reytons
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
The independent South Yorkshire success story brings its massive indie-rock choruses across the Irish Sea.
🎸 Tuesday 13 October
Kristin Hersh
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
Alternative-rock songwriting royalty heads to Cork.
🎻 Friday 16 October
The Rock Orchestra
📍 The O2 Belfast
Rock and metal favourites turned into a gigantic orchestral spectacle.
🎻 Saturday 17 October
The Rock Orchestra – Arena Of Fire
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Fourteen classical musicians.
Rock and metal anthems.
Pyro.
Fire performers.
Subtle?
Absolutely not.
And that’s why we like it.
🎸 Sunday 18 October
Duran Duran
📍 The O2 Belfast
Yes, we’re stretching the Riff Report boundaries slightly.
But it’s Duran bloody Duran.
They’ve earned it.
🔥 Sunday 18 October
Tigercub
📍 Ulster Sports Club – Belfast
Meanwhile, anyone wanting something dirtier and considerably more guitar-heavy can head to Tigercub.
🐉 Wednesday 21 & Thursday 22 October
MANIC STREET PREACHERS
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Now we’re talking.
Welsh rock royalty Manic Street Preachers take over Dublin’s 3Olympia for two sold-out headline nights.
The Manics.
An intimate theatre.
Dublin.
Two nights.
Those are the sorts of gigs people will be bragging about attending for years afterwards.
🎸 Thursday 22 October
Levellers
📍 Mandela Hall – Belfast
A very different sort of British alternative institution takes over Belfast the same evening.
🎸 Friday 23 October
Shed Seven
📍 Mandela Hall – Belfast
Britpop and indie nostalgia continues.
Somebody locate the bucket hat.
🎃 Wednesday 28 October
THE STROKES
The Strokes + Fat White Family + Alex Cameron
📍 3Arena – Dublin
This is a big one.
The Strokes bring their global tour into Dublin’s 3Arena with Fat White Family and Alex Cameron joining them.
One of the defining guitar bands of the early 2000s.
A huge Irish arena.
And, unsurprisingly…
It’s sold out.
🎸 Saturday 31 October
The Frank And Walters
📍 Cork Opera House – Cork
Halloween with one of Cork’s own great alternative bands.
That’s a lovely way to round off October.
🔥 November 2026
November has looked at October’s calendar and decided:
“Nah. Needs more riffs.”
💀 Monday 2 November
KORN
Korn + Architects + Youth Code
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Oh.
Good.
Lord.
Korn return to Ireland for their first Irish show in more than a decade.
And they’re bringing Architects.
And Youth Code.
Nu-metal royalty and one of Britain’s biggest modern metal bands sharing the same Dublin stage?
That’s not a Monday night.
That’s an event.
🔥 Tuesday 3 November
PAPA ROACH – Rise Of The Roach
Papa Roach + LANDMVRKS + Sleep Theory
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Ireland barely has time to recover from Korn before Papa Roach arrive the following night.
And LOOK at that support bill.
LANDMVRKS.
Sleep Theory.
Papa Roach.
Someone might want to warn Dublin city centre what happens when Last Resort kicks in.
🎸 Thursday 5 November
The Undertones
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
Punk royalty heads south.
Few bands are woven into Irish punk history quite like The Undertones.
Seeing them in Cork should be a cracking night.
🐉 Friday 6 November
SKINDRED
Skindred + Alien Ant Farm + Cell Games
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Welsh chaos exported successfully.
You’re welcome, Ireland. 🐉😂
Benji Webbe and the boys bring the You Got This Tour to Dublin alongside Alien Ant Farm.
That room is going to bounce.
🐉 Saturday 7 November
SKINDRED
Skindred + Alien Ant Farm + Survivalist
📍 The Telegraph Building – Belfast
And twenty-four hours later…
They do it all again.
Belfast gets Skindred, Alien Ant Farm and Survivalist.
If a Newport Helicopter breaks out, try not to take someone’s pint out with the shirt.
🎸 Tuesday 10 November
Little Angels
📍 The Limelight 1 – Belfast
British hard-rock veterans hit one of Belfast’s great rock rooms.
🎸 Friday 13 November
Brian Fallon & The Painkillers
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
The Gaslight Anthem frontman’s solo catalogue gets the theatre treatment.
Expect huge songs and plenty of New Jersey heart.
🎸 17–19 November
Ocean Colour Scene – Moseley Shoals 30th Anniversary
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Tuesday 17 November
Wednesday 18 November
Thursday 19 November
Three nights.
All sold out.
Ocean Colour Scene celebrate 30 years of Moseley Shoals with a Dublin residency.
Apparently half of Ireland fancied catching The Riverboat Song live.
Can’t blame them.
🔥 Wednesday 18 November
Bicurious
📍 The Grand Social – Dublin
One for anyone wanting Irish instrumental alt-rock with serious bite.
🔥 Wednesday 18 November
Fat Dog
📍 Whelan’s – Dublin
Another brilliantly chaotic alternative option on the same evening.
💀 Tuesday 24 November
Avatar
📍 National Stadium – Dublin
Swedish theatrical metallers Avatar bring their circus of riffs to the National Stadium.
Face paint?
Likely.
Headbanging?
Definitely.
🌑 Tuesday 24 November
Harakiri For The Sky + Sunken
📍 Opium – Dublin
For anyone wanting something darker, blacker and significantly more miserable.
In the best possible way.
💀 Sunday 29 November
Evergrey
📍 Opium – Dublin
Swedish progressive metal to finish the weekend properly.
🖤 Monday 30 November
INTERPOL + BLOC PARTY
Plus Heartworms
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Now THAT is an alternative-rock double-header.
Two bands that helped define the sound of the 2000s.
Interpol.
Bloc Party.
One Dublin arena.
Anyone who owned skinny jeans in 2005 has just received their official summons.
🎄 December 2026
December.
The month traditionally associated with saving money for Christmas.
Ireland has other ideas.
🖤 Wednesday 2 December
PLACEBO – 30th Anniversary Tour
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Thirty years of Placebo.
The tour celebrates the band’s early era with material from Placebo and Without You I’m Nothing returning to the spotlight.
Moody.
Glorious.
And almost certainly accompanied by thousands of people remembering the exact point at which Brian Molko changed their teenage wardrobe forever.
💀 Saturday 5 December
Saor
📍 Academy 2 – Dublin
Atmospheric black metal with Scottish roots heading across the Irish Sea.
December gets considerably darker.
🧷 Monday 7 December
SEX PISTOLS FEATURING FRANK CARTER
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Fifty years of punk.
Steve Jones.
Paul Cook.
Glen Matlock.
And Frank Carter up front.
That’s one potentially explosive evening.
The Pistols’ music was designed to cause chaos.
Frank Carter appears professionally incapable of standing still.
You can probably see where this is going.
☘️ Wednesday 9 December
THE POGUES
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Now THIS feels like Christmas.
The Pogues.
Dublin.
December.
Enough said.
☘️ Thursday 10 December
THE POGUES
📍 The Telegraph Building – Belfast
The party heads north the following evening.
☘️ Saturday 12 December
THE POGUES
📍 Gleneagle Arena – County Kerry
And then south-west.
Dublin → Belfast → Kerry.
That’s how you do an Irish run.
🎸 Monday 14 December
Razorlight – America 20th Anniversary Tour
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Yes.
America is twenty years old.
No.
We’re not discussing what that means for our age.
Moving on.
🔥 Thursday 17 December
Bleech 9:3
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
Cork gets another dose of alternative noise before Christmas properly takes over.
🤘 2027 – Ireland Is Already Looking Mental
New year.
Fresh calendar.
Bank account briefly showing signs of recovery.
Absolutely unacceptable.
Here come more gigs.
❄️ January 2027
🖤 Thursday 7 January
Black Veil Brides
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
Ireland wastes just seven days before the eyeliner comes back out.
Black Veil Brides kick off the heavy 2027 calendar in Dublin.
💀 Tuesday 19 January
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
Five Finger Death Punch + Lamb Of God + Bleed From Within
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Stop everything.
Look at that bill.
Five Finger Death Punch.
Lamb Of God.
Bleed From Within.
In one arena.
That’s not a gig.
That’s an organised assault on the structural integrity of Dublin’s docklands.
One of the heaviest arena packages of 2027 lands in Ireland on 19 January.
⚡ Thursday 21 January
ELECTRIC CALLBOY – TANZNEID World Tour
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Forty-eight hours later, Dublin switches from crushing groove metal to…
Techno.
Breakdowns.
Neon.
Dance routines.
Ridiculous outfits.
Confetti.
Electric Callboy.
Ireland may require a week off afterwards.
🎸 Saturday 23 January
Two Door Cinema Club
📍 3Arena – Dublin
A huge home-island arena date for one of Northern Ireland’s biggest alternative exports.
💀 February 2027
🤘 Monday 1 February
Haken
Haken + Black Orchid Empire
📍 The Limelight 2 – Belfast
Prog fans assemble.
🔥 Tuesday 2 February
NOTHING BUT THIEVES – The Stray Dogs World Tour
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Nothing But Thieves bring their biggest headline era yet to Ireland.
Big vocals.
Big riffs.
Big arena.
This should be absolutely enormous.
🎸 Thursday 11 February
Black Stone Cherry
📍 The Telegraph Building – Belfast
Southern-rock heaviness hits Belfast.
🎸 Saturday 13 February
Black Stone Cherry
📍 Cyprus Avenue – Cork
And then Cork gets them two nights later.
Black Stone Cherry in Cyprus Avenue sounds like the sort of sweaty rock ‘n’ roll show that reminds you why smaller venues rule.
🌧️ March 2027
💀 Monday 29 March
TRIVIUM
Trivium + In Flames + Paleface Swiss + VOLA
📍 3Arena – Dublin
There are strong metal bills.
Then there’s this.
Trivium.
In Flames.
Paleface Swiss.
VOLA.
Trivium headline the opening night of this enormous European run in Dublin.
The circle pit department has been notified.
🌸 April 2027
⚔️ Wednesday 7 April
SABATON – The Legendary Tour Part 2
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Sabaton return for their first Irish show in more than a decade.
And because merely playing heavy metal apparently wasn’t theatrical enough, they’re bringing The Legendary Orchestra with them.
Expect:
- Explosions
- Orchestration
- Historical storytelling
- Power-metal choruses
- An amount of production equipment normally associated with invading a small country
Subtlety has left the building.
🎸 Monday 12 April
Foreigner – Unplugged
📍 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
One of classic rock’s biggest catalogues gets stripped back for an unusually intimate acoustic show.
That’s going to be something very different from the arena madness surrounding it.
🌼 May 2027
🖤 Saturday 1 May
THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
A Beautiful Lie vs This Is War
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Two massive albums.
One night.
Thirty Seconds To Mars close their European run in Dublin with a show built around A Beautiful Lie and This Is War.
And former guitarist Tomo Miličević is returning to the stage alongside Jared and Shannon Leto.
For longtime fans, this could be a monster nostalgia trip.
🎸 Wednesday 12 May
WEEZER – The Gathering
Weezer + Taking Back Sunday
📍 3Arena – Dublin
Oh come on.
Weezer.
Taking Back Sunday.
On the same bill.
Somewhere, a 2005 iPod Nano has just switched itself back on.
This is basically an alternative-rock playlist becoming sentient and booking the 3Arena.
☀️ June 2027
☘️🏰 Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 June
FONTAINES D.C. – SLANE CASTLE
Fontaines D.C. + Hayley Williams + Damien Dempsey + Madra Salach
📍 Slane Castle – County Meath
Now we’re talking proper Irish music history.
Fontaines D.C. are heading to the legendary Slane Castle for not one…
…but TWO enormous headline shows.
The first date sold so strongly that a second night was added.
And the support line-up?
Hayley Williams.
Damien Dempsey.
Madra Salach.
That is ridiculous.
Irish alternative music.
One of the world’s most famous outdoor concert sites.
Two gigantic summer nights.
These could become genuine landmark gigs.
☀️ July 2027
🎸 Saturday 3 July
Paul Heaton + Lightning Seeds
📍 Live At The Marquee – Cork
Summer gigs in Cork get a proper British indie-pop/rock double-header.
Live At The Marquee remains one of the city’s great seasonal music traditions.
☘️ Ireland Is Far More Than Dublin
Look, there’s no avoiding it:
Dublin gets loads of gigs.
The 3Arena alone has enough rock and metal heading through its doors to financially ruin a dedicated gig-goer.
But Ireland’s live scene is much bigger than Dublin.
You’ve got:
Belfast.
Cork.
Galway.
Limerick.
Kerry.
Derry.
Kilkenny.
Waterford.
And countless towns with independent venues, pubs, clubs and grassroots promoters keeping live music alive.
And that matters.
🍺 The Grassroots Scene Matters
It’s easy to look at Korn in the 3Arena or Fontaines D.C. at Slane and think that’s where the music scene lives.
It isn’t.
Those bands got there because smaller venues existed first.
Ireland is packed with brilliant rooms including:
Whelan’s.
The Academy.
The Button Factory.
Opium.
The Grand Social.
The Workman’s Club.
Cyprus Avenue.
The Limelight.
Voodoo.
Ulster Sports Club.
The Telegraph Building.
And loads more.
That’s where bands learn their craft.
That’s where scenes form.
That’s where somebody you’ve never heard of walks on as the first support and completely steals the night.
So:
Go early.
Watch the supports.
Buy the shirt.
Buy the record.
Grab a pint.
Tell somebody about the band afterwards.
That’s how scenes survive.
📣 Got An Irish Gig We’ve Missed?
This tracker is designed to grow.
Gig announcements happen constantly and grassroots dates can appear with only a few weeks’ notice.
So if you’re a:
- Band
- Artist
- Venue
- Promoter
- PR company
- Record label
- Festival organiser
- Photographer
- Or simply somebody who refreshes tour-announcement pages far more often than is medically advisable
…and there’s an Irish rock, metal, punk or alternative show we need to know about…
Give The Riff Report a shout.
Unsigned and grassroots acts are especially welcome.
You don’t need an arena.
You don’t need pyro.
You don’t need 100,000 streams.
You just need something worth turning up loud.
⚠️ Always Check Before Travelling
Tour dates can change.
Venues can change.
Support acts can change.
Shows can sell out, move or be postponed.
Always double-check the latest information from the official artist, venue, promoter or ticket provider before booking travel or setting off.
Because arriving in Dublin after travelling halfway across Ireland only to discover the gig moved six months ago would be…
An absolute dose.
🤘 Ireland Is Going To Be LOUD
Just look at what’s coming.
Fear Factory.
The HU.
The Strokes.
Korn.
Papa Roach.
Skindred.
Placebo.
Sex Pistols.
The Pogues.
Five Finger Death Punch.
Lamb Of God.
Electric Callboy.
Nothing But Thieves.
Trivium.
In Flames.
Sabaton.
Thirty Seconds To Mars.
Weezer.
Taking Back Sunday.
Fontaines D.C.
And that’s only what has been announced so far.
More tours are coming.
More festivals are coming.
More tiny venue shows are coming.
More support bands are going to appear and make us buy tickets we promised ourselves we weren’t buying.
It’s inevitable.
So round up the gig crew.
Check the trains.
Check the buses.
Book the hotel.
Charge the phone.
Pack the earplugs.
And make peace with the fact that your bank account was never really yours anyway.
KEEP IRELAND LOUD. ☘️🤘🔥
The Riff Report
Rock. Metal. Festivals. Gigs. Chaos.
Proudly independent. Proudly Welsh. Always loud. 🐉
