Greetings from Under the Arch
It is Race Week, so Ballybrit runs Monday to Sunday, the city centre absorbs the overflow every evening, and everything else in Galway this week is scheduled around the fact that half the population is either at the races or serving someone who was.
The Galway Plate goes on Wednesday and the Guinness Galway Hurdle on Ladies Day Thursday, both worth €270,000. WTAF plays out its final two nights in the Westend. Trad on the Prom runs four times at Leisureland, there is an organ recital in the Cathedral on Thursday, a Clash tribute in Róisín Dubh on Saturday, Daft Punk done live at Monroe's on Sunday, and Pride week opens the same day.
This is our pick of what's on in Galway this week. As always for a full event list check out the link at the bottom of the email.
Let's dive in 👇
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
Galway Races Summer Festival
Tuesday 28 July to Sunday 2 August · Galway Racecourse, Ballybrit
Seven days at Ballybrit, and the two that matter most are back to back. The Tote Galway Plate goes on Wednesday, first run in 1869 and still the race with the most history attached to it, and the Guinness Galway Hurdle lands on Ladies Day Thursday alongside the Best Dressed and Best Hat competitions. Both carry €270,000. Tuesday is Tribes Tuesday with eight races and the Colm Quinn BMW Mile, and Saturday's Weekender goes off from 14:02 with the BOYLESports Handicap Hurdle. Book the bus, not the car.
WTAF!? Westend Theatre & Arts Festival
Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 July · Venues across the Westend
Year two of the Westend's own festival, and it finishes on Wednesday after ten days of theatre, music, comedy, drag and circus spread across rooms that were not built for any of it. Getting a festival like this off the ground on the far side of the bridge during the same fortnight as everything else in Galway is a small act of stubbornness. Go while it is still small enough to feel like a secret.
Trad on the Prom 2026
Tuesday 28, Thursday 30, Friday 31 July, Sunday 2 and Tuesday 4 August · 20:30 · Leisureland
Thirty years of this show running through the summer in Salthill, built by musicians and dancers who have come off the back of Riverdance and the Chieftains rather than a casting call. It is aimed squarely at visitors and it is still one of the better nights of live trad in the country, which locals tend to find out only when someone brings them. Five dates in this stretch, so there is no excuse about the one night not suiting.
WTAF: Conor Kinsella with Band
Wednesday 29 July · 18:30 · Róisín Dubh
Kinsella brings six players with him and the set moves between ambient stretches, jazz arrangements, dance rhythms and songs with a clear political spine, which is a lot to hold together in one room. Half six start, so it is over in time to go somewhere else. This is what the festival is for.
Salthouse Jam Session
Wednesday 29 July · 20:00 · Raven Terrace
Open jam, all musicians welcome, and the standard swings wildly depending on who walks in. That is the appeal. Bring an instrument or bring a pint and see which way the night goes.
Latino Social Club
Wednesday 29 July · 21:00 · Seven
Salsa, bachata, merengue and reggaeton on Bridge Street, and the regulars will dance with beginners rather than around them, which is not true of every night like this. Race Week Wednesday and the town heaving outside makes it a decent place to hide.
Electric Galway: The Biggest Afterparty Of The Galway Races
Friday 31 July · 23:00 · Electric Galway
Where Ballybrit ends up on the Friday of Race Week, for better and for worse. Eleven o'clock doors, and the queue outside is part of the experience whether you want it to be or not. Book ahead if you are going.
El Clash Combo: A Tribute to The Clash
Saturday 1 August · 20:00 · Róisín Dubh
London Calling songs played loud in a room that suits them, which is more than most tribute acts get. The Clash catalogue punishes anyone who treats it as a covers set, so this either goes very well or not at all. Eight o'clock, so there is a night after it.
Powerhaus
Saturday 1 August · 23:00 · Róisín Dubh
The drag DJ collective take the late slot upstairs on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend, the week before Pride proper kicks off. Expect it to be packed by midnight.
Daft Punk Experience
Sunday 2 August · 21:00 · Monroe's Live
A live audiovisual run through the catalogue, from the Homework and Discovery material to the later hits, on the Sunday of the bank holiday weekend. Those records were built for a room with proper lights and a proper system, and a laptop has never done them justice.
Four Hands & Four Feet
Thursday 30 July · 20:00 · Galway Cathedral
Carole O'Connor plays the Cathedral organ through Bach, Buxtehude, Böhm, Chaminade and Langlais, then Raymond O'Donnell joins her at the console for Rutter's Easter variations for organ duet, which is where the title comes from. Suggested donation €15, or €12 concession. An hour of that instrument in that building on Ladies Day evening is the strongest possible argument against going out.
Sketch & Sip: Casual Drawing Session
Saturday 1 August · 12:30 · Bri Coffee and Art
Drawing over coffee with no tutor, no critique and no requirement to be any good at it. Half twelve on a Saturday of Race Week, when the rest of the city is either at Ballybrit or recovering from it, is a well-judged time to run this.
Galway Pride 2026
From Sunday 2 August · Across the city
Pride week opens Sunday and runs to the 8th, with panels, arts and performance nights, mental health workshops, music and late parties through the week, and the parade from City Hall to Fr. Burke Park on Saturday the 8th at noon. Programme goes up on galwaypride.ie as the week gets closer. Worth putting the parade in the diary now while you remember.
Festival of the Sea 2026
From Friday 31 July · Cleggan and Claddaghduff
Ten days of boat races, music, food and family events out on the Aughrus Peninsula, and it runs to the 9th of August so there is no rush. Connemara during Race Week is about as quiet as Connemara gets, which is the actual reason to drive out.
Galway Summer Market
Daily from 11:00 · City centre
The market runs through the whole stretch with the usual mix of crafts, clothing, hot food and whatever the stallholders have brought that week. Free, no plan required, and the best twenty minutes you will spend in town on a Race Week morning before the crowds arrive.
For a full overview of all events on this week in Galway check out our event listings page
UNTIL NEXT WEEK
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