Event type: Performance

Festival preview and launch feat. Enda McCabe

The Festival begins here.

Join us at Liverpool Irish Centre — the spiritual home of the Irish community in the city — to toast the start of Liverpool Irish Festival 2026. This is an evening for old friends and new faces, for community and conversation, and for raising a glass to everything the Festival stands for. Book ahead to claim your free arrival drink.

This year’s launch is centred on the theme I Am Here and there are few better embodiments of that spirit than our guest musician, Enda McCabe. A Dubliner by birth — who spent 24 years in England before returning to Ireland — Enda is back on the road after receiving a kidney transplant in October 2021, following almost seven years on dialysis. His return to performing is, in itself, a statement of presence; of life claimed back, of music that refused to be silenced. (Links: Dreamers, Folk Folkinoxford)

His show combines songs, music and stories — most based on personal experience — delivered with warmth and craft that have won him audiences across Ireland, Britain, Europe and the United States. On the night, Enda will weave music with reflections on his transplant journey: a story of resilience, compassion and the gift of being here at all.

Guests will also hear from Festival organisers, sponsors and partners. This event is supported and hosted by the Consulate of Ireland who will be present and to whom we offer our thanks.

The Phogues

If you appreciate the music of Shane MacGowan and The Pogues, you cannot miss The Phogues. Keeping alive the very songs that defined the genre ‘Celtic Punk’.

Going way beyond a tribute band The Phogues diligently recreate the way The Pogues tempered Irish Music with subtle influences of Flamenco and Middle Eastern music on some songs.

The Phogues live performances will give you songs penned by one of the best lyricists of our time, Shane MacGowan, played by musicians at the top of their game, commemorating 40 years since the release of the first Pogues album Red Roses for Me.

“A guaranteed good night!” in the words of Shane MacGowan: ‘It’s brilliant’.

We have reserved four wheelchair + respective carer/companion spaces for this event. If all four sell, we will add more. Tickets are unreserved and on a first-come first-served basis, but we will ensure front-of-house space is available for those booking these seats. This is an honour-based system for those who need it. Please use responsibly. If you want to buy tickets for more than this user, please add other general admission tickets when placing your order.

PK’s seisiún

Simple opportunity to come along for a tune. The first seisiún of two in the Festival, the other takes place the following Fri (23 Oct 2026).

Bring an instrument, your voice and a will to play along. There’ll be Festival friends to help bring the gang together. A fully stocked bar — in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool — eases you towards the dawn. This event gets busy quickly and sometimes it’s ‘standing room only’. Be prepared to ‘hotch up’ and swap places so everyone can get a piece of the action. This is a night that almost guarantees high kicks ’til dawn.

Kíla

Some bands fill arenas. Kíla fill the air itself.

For over three decades, this seven-piece Dublin collective have been one of Ireland’s best-kept secrets and greatest musical forces. They are a band that defies genre, rewires tradition, and leaves audiences physically changed by their experience.

Having played some of the world’s most legendary stages, to audiences of thousands, tonight they play to fewer than two hundred. This is that show.

Rooted in the ancient pulse of Irish folk — uilleann pipes, fiddle, bodhrán, bones — yet propelled by djembe, brass, electric guitar and a restless, world-hungry imagination, Kíla’s sound is unlike anything you will hear elsewhere. It is furious and tender, primal and precise. The jigs hit like percussion. The melodies haunt for days. Their IFTA award-winning film scores — for Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated trilogy The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers — hint at their cinematic scale. But nothing prepares you for the live experience.

Eight years since their last gig in the city, Kíla return to Liverpool to one of the finest acoustic rooms in the country. Every note will reach you. Every rhythm will find you. Kila’s Gaeilge will transform you.

This is rare. This is intimate. This is a band of genuine, extraordinary talent playing close up.

Resonating with this year’s festival theme, I Am Here, Kíla’s deep Irish roots provide precisely the kind of night that grounds you in identity, purpose and place. Don’t miss it. Truly, you won’t get another chance like this.

Samhain Céilí

The veil between our world and the Other is at its thinnest — and The Armagh Rhymers wouldn’t have it any other way.

As darkness falls on Samhain night, join us for the creepiest ceíli of the season: music to make your bones rattle, games to make your skin crawl, and dancing that might just raise the dead. Bring the little ones in their finest frightful dress-up — or don’t, if they dare to face the spirits plain-faced — and adults, consider yourselves warned: you will be expected to join in.

Children’s gift bags await the first 50 arrivals, and fiercely contested prizes go to the best Samhain costumes. Eye patches, false teeth, masks and props all welcome — shop-bought, homemade, or borrowed from something that goes bump in the night. Grab the face paint, unroll the spider webs, dig out last year’s glitter slime, and practise your most bloodcurdling ‘Woooooo’; the judges will be watching.

Activities are geared for children aged 4–12 (with supervision), though anyone aged 13 to 113 is welcome — children will just need to keep a close eye on their adults. Only pretend broken bones on this dance floor, please.

This event is held in partnership with Liverpool Irish Centre, with support from Comhaltas’s musicians.

High Tea

High Tea is a one act play, written by Victoria Fradgley.

Set against the weight of Irish family history, the play explores how love curdles into resentment, how our memory can betray us, and whether reconciliation is possible when the past refuses to stay buried.

Land is the fault line that has shaped this family’s history — fought over, bled for, and worshipped above all else. With both parents gone, two estranged sisters are forced to face each other once more, drawn back by the land that bound them and broke them. As they battle over ownership, decades of silence give way to long-buried secrets and inherited wounds.

Devotion turns to resentment, love to rivalry, and the past rises up to demand its due.

This is a story of blood ties and boundaries, of what we inherit, and of the cost of putting land before family.

One daughter left, one daughter stayed. Both lives were changed forever.

This is a 3 hander all female cast. One actor’s voice is a memory; two characters remain on stage throughout the play.

Presented by Tús Nua in association with DTFilms. To contact Tús Nua email tusnuatheatre@outlook.com

Care note: High Tea contains some strong language and themes of family estrangement, mental health and pregnancy loss. We encourage attendees to consider carefully whether this work is right for them at this time. Though we don’t anticipate creating significant emotional discomfort, you are the expert in you, so please treat yourself carefully.

Family Day

A Festival-staple and must-see; we invite you to pop-by — or indeed, spend the day with us — at the Museum of Liverpool (Pier Head). There, we’ve a veritable array of activity to entertain kids (and adults) of all ages.

The Armagh Rhymers return with their (exclusive to the Festival) Liver Bird story helping to understand how the First Nations people of North America helped the Irish during The Great Hunger. The Bolger-Cunningham Dance School will give it their all in the morning, before the George Ferguson School for Irish Dance produce junior and senior dance sets, whilst Melody Makers will bring their intergenerational group to play in the space. You’ll also be able to collect a Brave Maeve Tír Na nÓg map. The day puts the Irish of Liverpool at the heart of everything; the programme, the Museum and the city.

Plus there’ll be Brave Maeve activities for all the family.

The Family Day is sponsored by Tourism Ireland and held in partnership with National Museums Liverpool. As part of the Family programme, you might also like the Samhain Céilí (Sun 25 Oct).

Téada

Celebrating 25 years on the road in 2026, Téada are one of Irish traditional music’s most celebrated and hard-working ensembles — described by one American critic as “arguably the most vibrant and hard-working traditional Irish music ensemble in the world today”.

Rooted in the living tradition yet alive to the wider world, the Sligo-based group have headlined major festivals across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, performing to audiences of up to 40,000 on their landmark Japanese and Taiwanese tours. Closer to home, they are a familiar and much-loved presence at Ireland’s greatest festivals, from Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann to Temple Bar TradFest.

The band’s current line-up brings together some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians: Oisín Mac Diarmada on fiddle, Paul Finn on button accordion, Damien Stenson on flute, Seán McElwain on guitar and bouzouki, Tristan Rosenstock on bodhrán and the award-winning step dancer and pianist Samantha Harvey.

Their most recent album on Gael Linn features special guest appearances by Hollywood actor and singer John C. Reilly and the late, great Séamus Begley — a fitting record from a band who carry the tradition with both pride and joy. Don’t miss them!

Presented in partnership by Return to London Town and Liverpool Irish Festival, with support from Culture Ireland. 

Obscured View

Geraldine Moloney Judge reprises her one woman show Obscured View, five years on from performing to a sell out crowd and standing ovation.

Now the Republic of Ireland are in the play offs, hoping to qualify for the next World Cup. It’s been 10 years since Ireland played in a competitive tournament and 24 years since that memorable World Cup in Japan/South Korea (2002). Geraldine is looking forward to reliving some of those memories in the hope it will spur the Republic to qualify for this year’s World Cup. Geraldine will also reflect on Liverpool’s 20th title win and pay homage to the sad passing of Diogo Jota.

A one-woman one-act play about how a love affair for football began when our narrator saw the Ireland qualify for their first World Cup (1990). Watch as the memories of travelling to see Ireland play their second World Cup final (1994) in the USA take shape, before witnessing Roy Keane’s ejection from World Cup 2002. Remember how the horrors of Hillsborough impacted the people of Dublin, as well as Liverpool, and consider how sexism and racism flag the parochial narrow-mindedness of some fans towards others. The finale is a whistle stop tour of Liverpool’s memorable night in Istanbul, whilst the play — as a whole — reflects the ties between Liverpool and Ireland via their shared love of football.

Written and performed by local writer, actor and Irish-Scouser Geraldine Moloney Judge.

Note to bookers: Once inside the venue there is single-level access throughout, with disabled access toilets. However, there are steps into the venue, which requires a set of ramps that can be requested. Please consider this access when making your booking.

Taking Flight in Kensington – free dance workshops and performances

After premiering at Africa Oye Festival, Movema will be delivering their show Taking Flight in Phythian Park on Saturday 26th September, from 11am to 4pm.

In the Taking Flight performance, Movema dance practitioners dress as four futuristic creatures whose bodies are part aircraft, part bird, part human. Symbolic and mythical birds from different cultures all share their stories of migration, flight and freedom: the Fung Huang (Phoenix) from Chinese culture, the Peacock from India, the Sankofa bird from Ghana and the Liver bird.

In the run up to the day, Movema will deliver family friendly dance session inspired by the show.

In these special sessions, Movema dance practitioners will bring the costumes for the performance and dance with children and families exploring the costumes and their story. You even have a chance to contribute to the story!

Sessions will take place on Thursday 17th and 24th September, 1pm-2pm, in Kensington Library, and on Sunday 20th September 10.30am-12pm at Shree Radha Krishna Temple. More sessions to be announced, follow Movema on socials for updates.

Don’t miss out on seeing the full show on Saturday 26th September in Phythian Park!

Performances and workshops are open to families and children of all ages and completely free, thanks to Culture Liverpool’s Creative Neighbourhoods programme: Home – A Celebration of Place.