We’ve reached the middle of July in the Wilmington area, which means most of you have probably already been to the beach a time or three.
Events and entertainment can sometimes take a back seat to the beach in Wilmington during the summer, but there’s still plenty going on this weekend. Lots of concerts for one, from big touring bands to intimate listening room shows. Plus, a big new musical opens at Thalian Hall and we’ve got a couple of fun film screenings as well.
For more ideas of things to do in the coming weeks, check our list of outdoor summer concerts in the Wilmington area, or our list of area mini golf courses.
ALL WEEKEND
‘Come From Away’
July 16-26 at Thalian Hall: Opera House Theatre Co. presents this Tony-winning, tearjerking musical with a folk-rock score. Based on a true story, it’s about when thousands of airline passengers were stranded in a small town in Newfoundland in the days after Sept. 11, 2001. Ron Chisholm directs an ensemble that plays multiple roles apiece. 7:30 p.m. July 16-18 and 22-25, 2 p.m. July 19 and 25-26. 910-632-2285.
‘The Shark Is Broken’
July 16-19 at Thalian Hall (studio theater): It’s summer blockbuster season, and this 90-minute play by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, presented by Wilmington’s Big Dawg Productions, goes behind the scenes of the biggest blockbuster of them all: “Jaws.” Katherine Vernon directs a three-man cast, with Woody Stefl as actor Robert Shaw (whose son co-wrote the play based partly on his dad’s stories), Jamie Lane as Richard Dreyfuss and Bradley Coxe as Roy Scheider. 7:30 p.m. July 16-18, 3 p.m. July 19. 910-632-2285.
Walt Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’
July 18-19 at Thalian Hall: Classic animated 1953 musical screens for Thalian Hall Cinema’s family series. 1 p.m. July 18 and 7 p.m. July 19, free.
FRIDAY
‘They Stole a City’
July 17 at Brooklyn Arts Center Annex: The new book “They Stole a City: Wilmington’s White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy” by Lauren Collins, a Wilmington native and staff writer for The New Yorker, was published July 14 by Penguin Press. The book is a comprehensive view of Wilmington’s racial history as seen through the lens of four families involved in the 1898 coup and massacre, either as perpetrators or victims. Collins will be in Wilmington for a promotional event with Wilmington’s Floodplain Books that includes a conversation with Dr. LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant, director of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Research in Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Copies of “They Stole a City” will be available for purchase and Collins will sign books following the talk. 6 p.m. Friday, free.
‘The Travel Companion’
July 17 at Jengo’s Playhouse: Debut feature from Travis Wood, whose work has screened in the past at Wilmington’s Cucalorus Film Festival. “The Travel Companion” premiered in 2025 at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, and was recently acquired by indie film distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories. It’s about Simon, a struggling documentary filmmaker who gets free flights via his best friend and roommate, Bruce, who works for an airline. But when Bruce starts dating someone rather seriously, Simon’s sweet deal is threatened. 7:30 p.m. Friday, $10.
Asheville Mountain Boys
July 17 at Live at Ted’s: North Carolina pickers are a top-notch practitioners of traditional bluegrass music. Great stuff. 8 p.m. Friday, $33.
Heavy Traffic
July 17 at The Listening Barn: Traditional bluegrass band will play this this folk music listening room located at Poplar Grove Plantation in Pender County at the New Hanover County line. With dance lessons from the Cripple Creek Cloggers. 5:30 p.m. jam, 7 p.m. show Friday, $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Free Concert Friday
July 17 at The Eagles’ Dare: Pearl Jam tribute band Deep 6 plays a double bill with Temple of the Dog tribute act Adam Evans for this downtown concert series 6 p.m. gates, 7 p.m. opener, 8:30 p.m. headliner. Free.
SATURDAY
Buffalo Traffic Jam
July 18 at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater: Indie folk and Americana band brings its popular sound to the shores of Greenfield Lake. After-party with Wolph at Bourgie Nights in downtown Wilmington. 7 p.m. Saturday, “verified resale” tickets start at $57.50.
Sean Thomas Gerard
July 18 at The Sandspur: After more than a decade in Wilmington, singer and songwriter Gerard recently moved with his wife and kids to the Triangle. But he’ll be back in town for this show in Carolina Beach, playing songs from new album “Stay in Your Light” (on Wilmington’s Fort Lowell Records). Its eight blissed-out bangers are about family life or, perhaps more accurately, about the thoughts and feelings that family life inspires. 7-9 p.m. Saturday, free.
‘Jurassic Park’ in concert
June 18 at CFCC Wilson Center: Watch this dinosaur movie as its soundtrack is played live by the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 910-362-7999.
Sunset Live Music Series
July 18 at The Boatyard: Outdoor concert series is located downtown, behind Marina Grill just off the Wilmington Riverwalk. This week’s headliner is Wilmington rock act The Hatch Brothers. 6-9 p.m. Saturday. Bring a chair. Free.
SUNDAY
Dickey Hazel
July 19 at Kure Beach: Psych country act led by the outstanding Wilmington singer and songwriter Jesse Stockton headlines the Kure Beach Boogie in the Park oceanside concert series. 5-7 p.m. Sunday at Oceanfront Park, 105 Atlantic Ave., Kure Beach. Free.
Natalie Boeyink Quartet
July 19 at Live at Ted’s: Former UNCW music professor and jazz bassist Natalie Boeyink returns to Wilmington for a concert of originals and jazz standards. With Serena Salome Wiley on saxophone, Jay Killman on guitar and Jon Hill on drums. 7 p.m. Sunday, $22.
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