Winter in Wilmington has been in full effect for the past week or so, but you know what? Enough shivering in a corner at home, it’s time to brave the weather and get some culture.
This weekend’s Port City events feature lots of live music (tribute bands, local heroes, classical music and more), as well as comedy from a well-known touring performer, a theatrical treat for families and one of the hottest art exhibits of the year.
Let’s get into it.
If you’re looking to plan out beyond this weekend, check out our list of concerts coming to the Wilmington area in 2026.
ALL WEEKEND
Scott Thompson
Jan. 23-24 at Dead Crow Comedy Room: Canadian comic and actor Scott Thompson is best known for his time with legendary sketch comedy group Kids in Hall, which gained a cult following in the 1990s and reunited briefly in 2022. As an actor, Thompson has been seen on “The Larry Sanders Show,” Netflix’s “Fubar” and “Reno 911!” among many others. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, tickets are $36 and $48.
FRIDAY
Fourth Friday Gallery Nights
Jan. 23 in downtown Wilmington: The main attraction at this month’s edition of Fourth Friday Gallery Nights, a self-guided tour of downtown and downtown-adjacent art galleries sponsored by the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County, will be the No Boundaries International Art Residency’s 2026 exhibition at Acme Art Studios, 711 N. Fifth Ave. Founded in 1998 by Wilmington artists Pam Toll, Gayle Tustin, and Dick Roberts, No Boundaries brings artists from Wilmington and around the world to Bald Head Island each year for two weeks of art-making, much of it inspired by Bald Head’s wild natural setting. The Acme show will showcase the fruit’s of this year’s labors. Other Fourth Friday shows this week include “Unique: A Rachard McIntyre Retrospective” at public radio WHQR’s MC Erny Gallery. 6-9 p.m. Friday. For a full list of participating galleries, go to ArtsWilmington.org.
Tantric
Jan. 23 at Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern: Veteran Louisville band fronted by vocalist Hugo Ferreira is touring for the 25th anniversary of its 2001 self-titled debut album, which went gold and scored a hit with the grungy song “Breakdown.” 7 p.m. Friday, tickets start at $22.
Cape Fear Brass Quintet
Jan. 23 at Beckwith Recital Hall, Cultural Arts Building, University of North Carolina Wilmington campus: Veteran Wilmington ensemble will perform a program titled “The African American Musical Diaspora” as part of the UNCW music department’s Beckwith Recital Series. Featured composers are Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein, and featured styles include spirituals, Dixieland, jazz, showtunes and more. 7:30 p.m. Friday, $14.
Thurston Howell
Jan. 23 at Bowstring: Touring “yacht rock” tribute band will play songs by Michael McDonald, Toto, Steely Dan and many more at this Princess Street destination. 7 p.m. Friday, $23.
SATURDAY
‘Beanstalk’
Jan. 24 at Thalian Hall: Annual public performance by Wilmington’s veteran Pied Piper Theatre troupe, which performs for hundreds of field-trippin’ area schoolchildren each year at Thalian Hall. For many of these kids, it’s their first exposure to live theater. “Beanstalk” is a family-friendly musical based on the classic “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale. 2 p.m. Saturday, 910-632-2285.
Trae Crowder
Jan. 24 at Cape Fear Community College Wilson Center: Touring comic and actor is well-known for his “liberal redneck” persona, and has appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “The View” and elsewhere. 8 p.m. Saturday, tickets start at $35.
Sheme of Gold
Jan. 24 at Luna Caffe, Castle Street: Wilmington hip-hop artist’s new LP, “The Sweetest Escape,” dropped Nov. 21. It has Sheme showing artistic growth, with bleary sound paintings and laid-back rap stories used to build a stream-of-consciousness concept album that’s about, in part, a relationship’s good times, bad times and ultimate sad end. With alt/electronic hip-hop artist blvckhndz. Part of Luna’s monthly Tiny Caffe series. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show, $10.
Glow in the Dark Scars
Jan. 24 at Bottega Art & Wine, North Fourth Street: Wilmington indie rock band with a bevy of indelible songs is playing out again after a 15-year hiatus. With The Shelby Smoak Duo. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show.
Shot Through the Heart
Jan. 24 at Bowstring: Don’t Runaway — touring tribute band will Always be There For You when they play the hits from ’80s and ’90s rock gods Bon Jovi, from Livin’ on a Prayer to To You Give Love a Bad Name. 7 p.m. Saturday, $27.
SUNDAY
Terra String Quartet
Jan. 25 at Beckwith Recital Hall, Cultural Arts Building, UNCW campus: Acclaimed, world-traveling ensemble will play the first concert of the year for Chamber Music Wilmington. With Chamber Music Wilmington director Oskar Espina Ruiz on clarinet, the program will include works by Schubert (“Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703”), Mozart (“Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581”)and others. 4 p.m. Sunday, tickets are $39, $19 for youth.
Badfish
Jan. 25 at Bowstring: For over two decades, veteran touring act has been paying tribute to the music of seminal ska-punk, reggae-rock band Sublime, playing such songs as “Santeria,” “Wrong Way” and “What I Got.” 7 p.m. Sunday, $33.
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