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music · Sunday 13 September 2026 · 7:30pm 
Billy Ocean
At Millennium Forum · Newmarket Street, Derry, Co. Derry
At Millennium Forum · Newmarket Street, Derry, Co. Derry
Billy Ocean is one of those artists whose catalogue feels bigger than any single evening can hold. With over 30 million records sold, a Grammy Award, and an MBE to his name, the Trinidad-born, east London-raised singer had some of the most recognisable hits of the 1980s. This show at the Millennium Forum in Derry is the opening night of his two-date Northern Ireland autumn run, so it carries a particular energy - the first crowd of the tour, in a room that seats just over 1,000 people. For anyone who grew up with his songs on the radio, or who simply wants a proper live show in a well-regarded city-centre venue, this is a solid evening out.
The set is built around the hits, and there are plenty of them. Expect “Love Really Hurts Without You”, “Red Light Spells Danger”, “Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)” - the song that won him his Grammy - “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going”, and “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car”. Billy Ocean has played Derry before, and the Millennium Forum is a venue he suits well: the room is compact enough to feel genuinely intimate for a pop soul act at this level, but with proper theatre acoustics and sightlines. Tickets are in the £72 - £78 range (including a development fee), so this is firmly an evening-out occasion rather than a casual drop-in - dress up a little and make a night of it.
Derry is about an hour and 20 minutes by road from Belfast via the A6, and roughly two and a half hours from Dublin on the N2/A5. The Millennium Forum is on Newmarket Street, right in the city centre, so it is easy to find on foot once you arrive in town. The venue has no car park of its own, but there are over 2,500 off-street spaces within a five-minute walk - Foyleside East Car Park stays open until 11:30pm on evenings, which makes it a practical choice for concert-goers. If you are travelling by train or bus, Translink’s Northern Ireland Railways connects Derry to Belfast, and the city’s Foyle Street Bus Station is served by local and regional routes; the railway station is about a 15-minute walk from the forum.
September is a good time to be in the city - the summer crowds have eased but the days are still long enough to walk the walls or cross the Peace Bridge before a show. There is more to see in Derry and across Co. Derry.
Heading to Millennium Forum in Derry? Derry has plenty more to see. Read the Derry area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.