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music · Sunday 30 August 2026 · 7:30pm 
The One and Only 80s Night: ABC, Marc Almond and Chesney Hawkes
At Millennium Forum · Newmarket Street, Derry, Co. Derry
At Millennium Forum · Newmarket Street, Derry, Co. Derry
Three artists, one night, a full decade’s worth of pop history. This concert at Millennium Forum Derry brings together ABC, Marc Almond and Chesney Hawkes for an evening built around the music that defined British radio in the 1980s. If you were there the first time around, this is the kind of line-up that earns its nostalgia honestly - none of these acts need an introduction, and each of them had hits that still get sung back word-for-word. If you came to it later, this is a good chance to hear those songs done properly, by the people who made them.
ABC are best remembered for the lush orchestral pop of their 1982 debut The Lexicon of Love - “The Look of Love” and “When Smokey Sings” are the standouts most crowds know, and both are the sort of thing that sounds enormous in a good live room. Marc Almond made his name with Soft Cell, whose cover of “Tainted Love” became one of the defining synth-pop records of the era, and he has had a long solo career besides. Chesney Hawkes - the act that gives this bill its title - shot to number one in 1991 with “The One and Only”, a song that spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts when he was just nineteen years old, and one that audiences reliably lose their minds to live.
The Millennium Forum is a 1,000-seat purpose-built theatre with one of the largest stages in Ireland, opened in 2001. It is a proper sit-down venue with good sightlines and clear sound, well suited to this kind of concert event. Tickets are paid; check the Millennium Forum website for pricing and booking.
Derry sits in the north-west of the island, straddling the River Foyle. By road from Belfast, the A6 runs direct and takes roughly 70 minutes. From Dublin, it is about two and a half hours via the M1 and A5. Bus Eireann and Translink both operate services into the city from Belfast and further south. The Millennium Forum is on Newmarket Street in the city centre, a short walk from the bus station, and there are several car parks within easy reach in the surrounding streets.
Derry is a compact city that is easy to cover on foot - the 17th-century walls are intact and walk-able in under an hour, the Guildhall is close by, and the Bogside murals are a short walk from the centre. 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.