Stunning and Boomtown Rats take Cork City Hall

Three nights from 23 October pair Galway favourites with a Rats anniversary set and a Rory Gallagher tribute. Tickets from €20 are already selling fast for the weekend.

The Cork City Hall Series runs from 23 to 25 October 2026 as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, with a three-night bill that puts Irish rock craft front and centre on one of the city's landmark stages. Tickets are on sale through Eventbrite, priced from €20, and availability is limited for the Friday and Saturday shows.

Friday 23 October opens with Galway band The Stunning headlining a double bill, with special guest Mundy in support.

Galway live force still drawing crowds

The Stunning formed in 1987 in Galway and built their name on strong live performances and a run of singles that still work a room: Brewing Up a Storm, Romeo's on Fire, Half Past Two and Heads Are Gonna Roll. The early albums Paradise in the Picturehouse (1990) and Tightrope (1993) set the foundation. After a long gap they returned with the single Run and Hide in 2013 and Always You in 2017, then the album Twice Around the World in 2018. We Come Alive followed in 2024, with the single Stand Up In This Wicked World arriving in 2025. That arc — two early records, a later second wind, and a catalogue that still fills venues — explains why they fit a City Hall weekend built around crowd energy and songcraft rather than jazz orthodoxy alone. Mundy's slot beside them keeps the night rooted in Irish songwriting that audiences know from the road as much as from the charts.

Saturday 24 October brings Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats, performing as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. They are joined by Cork singer-songwriter Tomás McCarthy, ska-punk band Pontious Pilate, and The Naildrivers. The Rats' date also marks a return to the venue 49 years after their previous appearance — a long gap closed on home ground during an anniversary run that has already framed the band's early work as living repertoire rather than a museum piece.

Sunday for the Gallagher legacy

Sunday 25 October turns the hall toward tribute. The Rory Gallagher night The Legend Lives On features the Moonchild band with special guest Barry Barnes from Sinnerboy. Gallagher remains a reference point for players and audiences across the island; a City Hall set built around his work sits naturally inside a festival that has long mixed jazz programming with wider Irish musical memory.

Taken together, the three nights lean on names with deep roots — Galway, Dublin, Cork and the Gallagher catalogue — while keeping the ticket floor accessible. The series does not pretend to be a purist jazz bill; it uses the festival frame to stage Irish rock and blues that still fill rooms. With Friday and Saturday already tight on seats, the practical next step is clear: remaining tickets are on Eventbrite; the three shows run back-to-back from 23 October. Details beyond the City Hall line-up will surface through the wider festival programme as the month advances.