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music · Friday 31 July 2026 · 7:30pm 
Cloudbusting - The Music of Kate Bush at Empire Music Hall
At The Belfast Empire Music Hall · 42 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, Co. Antrim
At The Belfast Empire Music Hall · 42 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, Co. Antrim
Cloudbusting are billed as the longest-running and most celebrated tribute to the music of Kate Bush, and that reputation has been earned over many years on the touring circuit. The show comes to The Belfast Empire Music Hall on Friday 31 July 2026 for an evening that will suit anyone who grew up with Kate Bush’s records, younger listeners who discovered her through the Stranger Things revival of Running Up That Hill, and anyone who simply wants to see a serious live band handle an extraordinary catalogue.
At the heart of the show is Mandy Watson, whose vocals have been described by one music publication as sounding more like Kate than anyone else alive. She is backed by a full live band that works through material spanning Bush’s career from Wuthering Heights (1978) through to Hounds of Love and beyond. The setlist draws on the hits - Babooshka, The Whole Story, Running Up That Hill, Army Dreamers - but a band with this depth of catalogue tends to include deeper cuts that reward the committed fan as much as the casual one.
Cloudbusting have notably performed with original Kate Bush collaborators including Del Palmer, her longtime bassist and sound engineer, and Preston Heyman, drummer on the Tour of Life and Never for Ever. The show has been featured on ITV’s This Morning and on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 5 Live. Classic Rock Magazine called it “Utterly, surreally brilliant.”
The Empire Music Hall is an intimate venue - capacity around 450-500 - which makes for a close, involved gig rather than a stadium watch. The setting is a converted Victorian building on Botanic Avenue, with three floors of bars and that particular combination of grandeur and informality that old Belfast buildings do well.
42 Botanic Avenue is in south Belfast, a short walk from Queen’s University. From the city centre, it is easily reachable on foot in about 20 minutes or by Metro bus services running down University Road and Botanic Avenue. The Europa Bus Centre and Great Victoria Street railway station are both under two kilometres away. If you are coming from Dublin, the Enterprise train from Connolly Station runs to Great Victoria Street in around two hours. Parking in the area around Botanic Avenue is limited on evenings; the university area streets fill up, so arriving by bus or taxi is the straightforward option.
The Botanic Avenue area has no shortage of good pubs and restaurants to stop in before or after the show, and the Ulster Museum is five minutes away on foot if you are making a day of it. There is more to see in Belfast and across Co. Antrim.
Heading to The Belfast Empire Music Hall in Belfast? Antrim has plenty more to see. Read the Belfast area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.