Wednesday 4 November, 8pm in The Box, £17 including fees, fully seated. Niall McNamee on the Bury night that sold out and the songs he is bringing back.

The Irish singer-songwriter and actor Niall McNamee opens his Limited Edition tour at The Met in Bury on Wednesday 4 November, and Bury is the first night of a twelve-date run through the UK and Ireland. The venue’s own listing for the show gives an 8pm start in The Box, tickets at £17 including fees, and a fully seated room.

He has played the room before. He told The Bury Post that his first Met show sold out, and that he had not expected it to.

“That was December 2024, and it meant loads to me because Bury wasn’t somewhere I could just assume people were going to turn up. When you’re doing everything independently, there’s always that bit of you thinking, is anyone actually coming? Then you walk out and the room’s full and all of that disappears. I just remember the crowd being really warm. They listened when it got quiet and they went with us when it got rowdy. You can’t really ask for more than that.”

A singer with an acoustic guitar reaching an arm above his head at the microphone, an audience member in front of the stage
An arm raised at the microphone, with the audience close to the front of the stage. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee

Asked what audiences in this part of the world give him that others do not, his answer was about having to earn them.

“There’s a really honest feel to audiences around Manchester and Bury. You feel like you’ve got to earn them a bit, which I like, but once they’re with you, they’re really with you. I’ve always felt at home up there. There’s the Irish connection obviously, but also the songs, the humour, the football, the way people talk to you after a gig. There’s not much messing about. If they liked it, they’ll tell you. If they didn’t, you’d probably know that as well.”

A smaller band on purpose

Last year’s touring line-up ran to six or seven people on stage. This one is deliberately cut back, which is the point of the whole run: The Met is one of the small rooms on a tour built around them.

“It’ll be a pretty stripped-back band for most of this tour. Last year was brilliant, but at times we had six or seven people on stage and I wanted to pull it back a bit and put the songs right in the middle of it again. That said, stripped-back doesn’t mean tiny. Between us we’ll still be playing loads of instruments and percussion, so we can make a fair bit of noise. Magpie With A Mullet is always great craic, but I love the quieter ones too, Donegal Hill and To Leave My Home especially.”

A singer gripping a microphone and singing, an acoustic guitar slung across his chest, orange stage lights behind
Singing into the microphone with the acoustic guitar slung across his chest. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee

Those songs come from Glass & Mirrors, his debut album, released in 2025. He says it reached the Top 40 in the folk charts. The Met’s listing describes it as a Top 40 debut and credits him with a string of singles that have passed 300,000 streams.

Live footage of the band on stage in black and white, with fiddle, drums and keyboards. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee
A second clip from the same black and white live footage, the full band playing. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee

New songs, and a second record

The tour is also a place to try out material that has not been recorded yet. On how the writing has gone this year:

“It’s been a strange year for writing, really. Every year seems to bring a different way of doing it and I’ve never had much of a proper process. After a fair bit of soul searching and a difficult spell, the songs have definitely gone a bit more inward, but there’s lightness in there too. I think I’m asking bigger questions now. I never sit down and think, right, I’m writing an album. I just write songs. Then, a bit like magic, after struggling for a while, something shifted recently and now they’re flying out of me.”

His press pack lists a second album as due in 2027.

A man sitting alone on a wooden stool in the middle of a dark stage under a single light
Alone on a stool in the middle of a dark stage. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A split-screen performance clip, the singer and his guitar in two frames at once. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee

The acting job that keeps landing on the tour dates

McNamee acts as well as tours. The Met’s listing puts it plainly: he is taking time out from his acting career to go back on the road, after a year on screen in Saipan and The Hardacres and on stage in Mick Flannery’s The House Must Win. His press pack adds that he played the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Alan Kelly in Saipan, that The Hardacres was a Channel 5 series, and that he played Frank in The House Must Win alongside Tommy Tiernan. Fitting the two careers together, he says, is the hard part.

“I love both, but honestly they’re a nightmare to balance. Every time I book a tour because the diary looks quiet, an acting job seems to turn up at exactly the same time. Last year I was filming in Ireland, flying back for gigs in England, then heading straight back again. It’s stressful to organise, but when you’re in the middle of it, it’s actually brilliant. Acting roles don’t usually turn straight into songs, but they must seep in somewhere. I got to know Alan through Saipan, we’ve stayed in touch, and he actually came to my last Bury gig, which was lovely.”

An actor in a red shirt and dark trousers standing alone in a blue spotlight on a theatre stage
Alone in a blue spotlight on a theatre stage, in a red shirt. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A stage set of a bar, an actor behind the counter with bottles on the shelf and another performer seated on a stool
Behind the counter of a bar set, with another performer sitting on a stool opposite. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A brightly lit stage scene, one performer leaping with both arms raised while another is carried across the stage
A stage scene with performers, one mid-leap with both arms raised and another being carried. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A black and white studio portrait of a man in a dark jumper against a plain background
A black and white studio portrait against a plain background. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee

Tickets, times and the room

On the practical details, in his own words:

“I’m back at The Met in Bury on Wednesday 4 November, with the show starting at 8pm. Tickets are £17 including fees and you can get them directly from The Met. It’s in The Box and it’s a fully seated show. There’ll definitely be a support act as well, which we’ll be announcing shortly. I’m really looking forward to getting back there, especially after how good the last one felt. It’s a lovely way to kick off the run.”

Niall McNamee at The Met, Bury, on 4 November 2026 Key details. Date, Wednesday 4 November 2026. Start, 8pm. Room, The Box at The Met, Market Street, Bury BL9 0BW. Tickets, 17 pounds including fees, booked through The Met. Seating, fully seated. Support act, to be announced. Source, The Met event listing. Niall McNamee, The Met, Bury Limited Edition Tour 2026, opening night DATE Wednesday 4 November 2026 START 8pm ROOM The Box, The Met, Market Street, BL9 0BW TICKETS £17 including fees, from The Met SEATING Fully seated. Support act to be announced Source: The Met event listing, themet.org.uk, and the artist. Graphic by The Bury Post
The booking in full, from The Met's listing and the artist.
Tour poster reading Niall McNamee, Limited Edition Tour 2026, The Met, Bury, 04 November, over a photograph of the singer on stage
The tour poster for the Bury date, The Met, 04 November. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee

The Met is on Market Street in Bury town centre, BL9 0BW. It is run by Bury Metropolitan Arts Association, a registered charity, number 701879, and the box office number on its site is 0161 761 2216. For getting there and back, our Bury tram times to Manchester page has the Metrolink frequencies and last trams, and parking in Bury has the town centre charges and the free evening periods.

The tour trailer, ending on the poster for the Irish dates. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee

The rest of the run

Bury is the first of twelve dates. The full list, as printed on the tour poster:

Date Town Venue
Wed 4 Nov Bury The Met
Thu 5 Nov St Albans The Horn
Thu 12 Nov Glasgow McChuills
Fri 13 Nov Liverpool Prohibition Studios
Sun 15 Nov Leeds Oporto
Thu 19 Nov Brighton The Prince Albert
Fri 11 Dec London The Camden Club
Sun 13 Dec Cork The Everyman
Wed 16 Dec Kilkenny Cleere’s
Thu 17 Dec Dublin The Grand Social
Fri 18 Dec Belfast Ulster Sports Club
Sat 19 Dec Derry Bennigans
Tour poster listing the full Limited Edition Tour 2026 dates for the United Kingdom and Ireland
The full Limited Edition Tour poster, with the UK and Ireland dates side by side. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
More black and white live footage, the singer and band mid-song. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee
A short clip filmed close to the stage, guitars in the foreground. Video: supplied by Niall McNamee
A singer at the microphone with eyes closed, holding an acoustic guitar upright, stage lights behind
Eyes closed at the microphone, the guitar held upright. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A black and white photograph of a man playing an acoustic guitar at a microphone under a single spotlight
Playing the acoustic guitar under a single spotlight, in black and white. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee
A singer leaning into the microphone with both hands, orange stage lights behind him
Leaning into the microphone with both hands, under orange stage lights. Photo: supplied by Niall McNamee

What it means for you

If you want to go, the room is small and it sold out the last time he played it, so the practical advice is to book rather than decide on the night. Tickets are £17 including fees and are sold through The Met’s own event page; the show starts at 8pm on Wednesday 4 November in The Box, and every ticket is a seat, so there is no standing queue to join early. A support act is coming but had not been named when we published this. It is a midweek night in the town centre, so check the last tram before you book: our Bury tram times to Manchester page has them, and parking in Bury has the evening charges. For the rest of the autumn, our things to do in Bury page is kept up to date.

If you run a venue, club or promoter in the Bury area and have a date worth telling people about, send it to us and we will list it.

Sources: The Met’s event listing for Niall McNamee, Wed 4 Nov; written answers and press materials supplied to The Bury Post by Niall McNamee, 18 September 2026.