First opened in 1987 by former Harp Bar owner Patrick Lennon, the Limelight has grown into one of Belfast's best-loved live-music and club complexes, on Ormeau Avenue in the city centre. Limelight 2 is the original room at the heart of the venue, a space that has hosted touring bands and club nights for well over three decades. The wider complex, now run by promoters MCD and Shine Productions, takes in the larger purpose-built Limelight 1, the adjoining Katy's Bar and an outdoor terrace known as the Rock Garden. Following a major refurbishment in 2012, the rooms were rebranded, with the former Spring and Airbrake becoming Limelight 1 and the original venue keeping its identity as Limelight 2. Limelight 2 carries genuine musical heritage: Oasis made their Belfast debut here in September 1994, and the room has welcomed the likes of The Strokes and Blur over the years. With a capacity of around four hundred and fifty, it retains some of its original wooden walls and pillars, lending an intimacy that bigger rooms struggle to match. Today it hosts a packed calendar of gigs across rock, indie and electronic music, along with late-night club events, making it a hotbed for the city's indie scene. Most shows are standing, keeping the energy high, while the neighbouring Katy's Bar serves as a popular pre-gig meeting spot. A short walk from Great Victoria Street station and the Europa bus centre, the Limelight sits conveniently in the heart of Belfast. As a proving ground for emerging acts and a reliable stop for touring bands, Limelight 2 remains one of Northern Ireland's most important grassroots music rooms. Its enduring reputation rests as much on atmosphere as on names: low ceilings, exposed brick and a stage close to the crowd give even mid-week shows a charged, communal feel. For Belfast audiences it remains something of a rite of passage, the room where many first saw a favourite band before they graduated to larger halls, and for the city's promoters it is a dependable home for a packed weekly programme.

Type: Theater / Concert Hall

Address: 17 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT2 8HD

Website: https://www.limelightbelfast.com

Capacity: 450

Opening Date: 01/01/1987