Skip Navigation

The 2017 Belfast Tattoo

31 August 2017, The SSE Arena, Belfast

Runs to 02 September 2017

The 2017 Belfast Tattoo is now confirmed and will take place on Thursday 31st August, Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd September.

Thursday 31st August, Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd September 2017

*** Tickets on sale this Saturday 17th September @ 10.00am *** 

** Special Offer for Opening Night - Family Ticket @ £100.00 **

Tickets Available From: 

The SSE Arena Box Office           Tel:   028 9073 9074          Online @ www.ssearenabelfast.com

Ticketmaster                              Tel:   0844 277 4455          Online @ www.ticketmaster.ie 

The Belfast Tattoo Ticket Office   Tel:   028 90319 319          Online @ www.belfasttattoo.com

The Belfast Tattoo is now firmly established as an annual event for the City, and we are delighted that we are continually drawing people from outside the City to attend the spectacle of this amazing production, and that our overseas visitors are growing year on year.  

The 2016 Belfast Tattoo had a truly international feel, and we were joined by audience members who had travelled from United Kingdom, Republic Of Ireland, Germany, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Spain, France and Canada to attend The Belfast Tattoo.

Colin Wasson, Producer - The Belfast Tattoo said: “The Belfast Tattoo 2016 was, without doubt, the biggest and most memorable show we have presented to date.  

We are particularly delighted that The Imps Motorcycle Display Team will be performing in Belfast in 2017.  They have recently performed to sell-out crowds at The 2016 Edinburgh Tattoo, and their display is sure to wow the audiences in Belfast!  

We will also be joined by The Winnipeg Police Band, who have over 900years of history.  

Returning to perform in The 2017 Belfast Tattoo are Lume De Biqueira Bagpipe Band from Madrid, who first performed here in 1014.

We will once again stage performances from the best of our local talent, including the Coleraine Fife and Drum Band, Kellswater Flute Band, and welcome the return of Cahard Flute Band. 

We look forward now to The Belfast Tattoo 2017 which will be bigger and better than 2016.”

*** The 2016 Belfast Tattoo was filmed by BBC NI and a one-hour special will be broadcast on BBC2 NI, this Saturday, 17th September @ 9.00pm.   Hosted by Helen Mark, The 2016 Belfast Tattoo paid homage to the Centenary of The Battle Of The Somme.  Especially memorable is the Grand Finale of The Massed Pipes & Drums

Artists confirmed to date to perform at The 2017 Belfast Tattoo include:

-        The Winnipeg Police Band (Canada)

-        Lume De Biqueira Galician Bagpipe Band (Madrid)

-        The Imps Motorcycle Display Team (UK)

-        Coleraine Fife & Drum Band

-        Kellswater Flute Band

-        Cahard Flute Band

The Winnipeg Police Band (Canada)

The Winnipeg Police Band, have 900 years of history under their belt, and the Band has  been a focal point for the City of Winnipeg and beyond.  Many years of experience allows the Band to produce a magnificent sound.  The Band wears The Royal Stewart Tartan.  The Winnipeg Police Band travels all over the world and have entertained audiences in Las Vegas, Scotland and Afghanistan, and we look forward to welcoming them to Belfast.

Lume De Biqueira Galician Bagpipe Band (Madrid)

Lume De Biqueira Bagpipe Band first performed at The 2014 Belfast Tattoo.  They were initially a small band of bagpipers and percussionists, who set the foundations of what has today become one of the most solid performing bands and schools in Spain.  After performing at a local level for the band’s first years, their enthusiasm and devotion earned them their first international shows in 2003, and among other events since, they have performed in Dublin at the St Patrick’s Day Festival on  3 occasions, played in France and Italy and with The Chieftains in Spain in 2005.  They have also performed for The Spanish Royal Family, Pope John Paul II, and a tribute to Julio Iglesias. 

The Imps Motorcycle Display Team (UK)

The ‘IMPS’ is dedicated to educating children through, though not exclusively, their leisure time activities, this is delivered by a disciplined, dynamic and challenging programme of activities with a world-famous motorcycle display team at its heart.

From the sound of revving engines to the awe of a billowing fire jump and the suspense of a multiple motorcycle combination ‘cross-over’ routine, The Imps will have you mesmerised by an unmissable display of discipline and skill. Furthermore, you will be stunned to learn that the youngest performer is only five years old!

The Imps Motorcycle Display Team, noted for its impeccable smart red tunics and highly disciplined spectacular show originated in the 1970’s from The Hackney Adventure Holiday Project – a charity founded by Roy Pratt MBE that provided holidays in the country for under privileged young people. Some of the children found a dysfunctional old ‘motorbike’ – one thing led to another and a motorcycle display team, uniquely comprising young people aged six to sixteen, emerged.

For over forty years The Imps have performed around the world to millions of people.

Regular appearances on prime time television and displays at major events, such as The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, have secured a reputation for excellence. Extraordinary discipline and incredible teamwork enable The Imps to deliver shows comprising complex ‘cross-overs’ requiring split second timing, breathtaking fire jumps and visually stunning pyramids of red tunics – all served up with a dash of humour and aided by the spell-binding mini Imp mascots.

Coleraine Fife & Drum Band

Coleraine Fife and Drum was formed in 1919 just after the First World War, and came through the amalgamation of two bands in Coleraine at the time. 

One was the Ramparts Band, known as the Park Band and the other was Killowen, made up of the Church Lads' Brigade. Many of the members of these bands joined the armed forces and played there fifes and drums in the Inniskilling Fusiliers. After the men returned home from battle the two bands amalgamated and became Coleraine Fife and Drum. It is thought that the Ramparts Band was the first part music flute band in Ulster, originally formed in Society Street by Frank M Edmundson and Tommy Crawford. 

As the two bands came together, the late Jim Baxter, who had been a member of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Band, became Coleraine Fife and Drums first bandmaster and the band began to flourish.

In our 90 year history we have only had 4 conductors Jim Baxter, Sammy Kane, Winston Robinson and the recently appointed Jayne Glass. 

In 1984 the band along with family and friends went to Toronto in Canada. There the band enjoyed parading alongside the Derry Flute Band of Toronto.  The Band recently played at The 2016 Spring Gatherin’ in Belfast

Kellswater Flute Band

The Kellswater Flute Band was founded in 1947, four miles south of Ballymena, and take their name from the Kellswater River.  Highlights of the Band’s history included taking part in The Lord Mayor’s Show in London in 2011.  In 2012 the band featured on BBC TV’s Ulster Scots programme, Santer, and in 2013 they performed on the island of Crete.

Cahard Flute Band

Cahard is a town land in the centre of Saintfield, Ballynahinch and Crossgar.  There has been a flute band in Cahard since 1892, so today’s band members represent over 120 years of local history, music making, tradition and community life, which will continue into the future. 

In 1987, Cahard Flute Band was the first flute band to will an Irish Championship under the direction of a female conductor.

Today’s Cahard Flute Band is the flute and percussion equivalent of a brass band or orchestra, with instruments of all shapes and sizes … from piccolo to contra brass … playing different musical parts.

The Band is part of community life in the Saintfield area and beyond, where it regularly plays at concerts, church services, parades and more.

Playing at The Belfast Tattoo in 2014, was not the first time Cahard Flute Band formed as part of a Massed Flute Band.  In 1992, as part of the band’s centenary celebrations, the Band invited players from other bands to form a Massed Band.  They have also recently performed at The 2016 Spring Gatherin’ Belfast.

Tickets Available From: 

The SSE Arena Box Office           Tel:   028 9073 9074          Online @ www.ssearenabelfast.com

Ticketmaster                              Tel:   0844 277 4455          Online @ www.ticketmaster.ie 

The Belfast Tattoo Ticket Office   Tel:   028 90319 319          Online @ www.belfasttattoo.com

For Further Information Contact:

anita@belfasttattoo.com

Tel     028 90222777

Comments

Please complete the following form to leave a comment about this article.

* Mandatory field - please complete