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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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n For more ideas of things to do in the coming weeks, check our list of\u00a0outdoor summer concerts in the Wilmington area<\/a>, or our list of area mini golf courses<\/a>.<\/p>\n Live music: <\/strong>These outdoor summer concerts will rock the Wilmington area in 2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n ALL WEEKEND<\/strong><\/p>\n July 16-26 <\/strong>at Thalian Hall<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n July 16-19<\/strong> at Thalian Hall (studio theater)<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n Play review: <\/strong>Well-acted Wilmington play takes on ‘Shark’-driven summer blockbuster<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n July 18-19 <\/strong>at Thalian Hall<\/a>: Classic animated 1953 musical screens for Thalian Hall Cinema’s family series. 1 p.m. July 18 and 7 p.m. July 19, free.<\/em><\/p>\n FRIDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n July 17 <\/strong>at Brooklyn Arts Center Annex<\/a>: 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<\/a>. The book is a comprehensive view of Wilmington’s racial history as seen through the lens of four families involved in\u00a0the 1898 coup and massacre<\/a>, either as perpetrators or victims. Collins will be in Wilmington for\u00a0a 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.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘They Stole a City’: <\/strong>CBS ‘Sunday Morning’ visits Wilmington for new book on 1898 massacre<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n July 17 <\/strong>at Jengo’s Playhouse<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n July 17<\/strong> at Live at Ted’s<\/a>: North Carolina pickers are a top-notch practitioners of traditional bluegrass music. Great stuff. 8 p.m. Friday, $33.<\/em><\/p>\n July 17<\/strong> at The Listening Barn<\/a>: Traditional bluegrass band will play this this folk music listening room located at Poplar Grove Plantation<\/a> in Pender County at the New Hanover County line. With dance lessons from the Cripple Creek\u00a0Cloggers. 5:30 p.m. jam, 7 p.m. show Friday, $10 in advance, $15 at the door.<\/em><\/p>\n July 17<\/strong>\u00a0at\u00a0The Eagles’ Dare<\/a>: Pearl Jam tribute band Deep 6 plays a double bill with Temple of the Dog tribute act Adam Evans for this downtown concert series\u00a06 p.m. gates, 7 p.m. opener, 8:30 p.m. headliner. Free.<\/em><\/p>\n SATURDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n July 18<\/strong> at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n July 18 <\/strong>at The Sandspur<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n STG: <\/strong>The Wilmington songwriter who’s making ‘dad rock’ cool<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n June 18 <\/strong>at CFCC Wilson Center<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n July 18<\/strong>\u00a0at The Boatyard<\/a>: 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.<\/em><\/p>\n SUNDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n July 19 <\/strong>at Kure Beach<\/a>: Psych country act led by the outstanding Wilmington singer and songwriter Jesse Stockton headlines the Kure Beach Boogie in the Park oceanside concert series.\u00a05-7 p.m. Sunday at\u00a0Oceanfront Park<\/a>, 105 Atlantic Ave.,\u00a0Kure Beach. Free.<\/em><\/p>\n‘Come From Away’<\/h2>\n
‘The Shark Is Broken’<\/h2>\n
Walt Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’<\/h2>\n
‘They Stole a City’<\/h2>\n
‘The Travel Companion’<\/h2>\n
Asheville Mountain Boys<\/h2>\n
Heavy Traffic<\/h2>\n
Free Concert Friday<\/h2>\n
Buffalo Traffic Jam<\/h2>\n
Sean Thomas Gerard<\/h2>\n
‘Jurassic Park’ in concert<\/h2>\n
Sunset Live Music Series<\/h2>\n
Dickey Hazel<\/h2>\n
Natalie Boeyink Quartet<\/h2>\n