Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Saturday, August 12, 2023
Weston Olencki and Vaina at Revolve (experimental music night!)
Aug 12 all-day
Revolve

Revolve is proud to present Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Weston Olencki who will be presenting a new percussion piece for computer-controlled woodblocks and drums. Local experimental maestro Vaina will be opening with a drone and projection extravaganza.

WHO: Weston Olencki (Berlin) and Vaina (Asheville)
WHERE: Revolve, 821 Riverside Drive, Asheville
WHEN: Saturday, August 12 at 8pm
DETAILS: $10 suggested donation, all ages

More information about Weston can be found here: http://www.westonolencki.com/

More information about Revolve can be found here: http://www.revolveavl.org/

4th Annual One Act Play Festival
Aug 12 – Aug 13 all-day
The Magnetic Theatre

The Magnetic Theatre’s One Act Play Festival returns for its fourth year of short plays, featuring a variety of different stories, playwrights, local directors, and incredible performers.

The process began with an open call for plays. A team of readers poured through hundreds of submissions to select a group of plays that varied in theme, subject matter, and style. The result? A two-weekend extravaganza featuring 24 playwrights, 17 directors, and 70+ actors, all working to bring a kaleidoscope of stories to Asheville! The Festival will run August 4-13, 2023: Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 7:30pm, and Sundays at 4pm. There will be two shows, a Show A and a Show B, which will run from August 4-12, 2023, with the August 13th performance being a Best of the Fest show featuring audience voted favorites from both Show A and B! Be sure to come out and vote for your favorites.

Sunday, August 13, 2023
Sourwood Festival
Aug 13 @ 9:00 am
Downtown Black Mountain

Voted #1 WNC festival in 1977, Black Mountain transforms four streets into a two-day festival filled with handcrafted artisan products, two music stages, a petting zoo, food, demonstrations, and of course – Honey!

LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Aug 13 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
LEAF Famtastic Sunday talent Showcase
Aug 13 @ 1:00 pm
Burial Beer Co. South Slope
We are gearing up for a youth talent showcase to be held at Burial Beer (South Slope location) at our August 13 event: LEAF Famtastic Sunday.

The Talent Showcase will kick off at Burial starting at 1 p.m. Want to be part of it? Auditions are on Saturdays in July at LEAF Global Arts. The talent showcase is free to enter and the August 13 event is free as well. 

Please pass this along to any young performers who might be interested! For more information, email Melissa McKinney at [email protected].

LEAF’s Family Jam
Aug 13 @ 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Burial Beer Co. South Slope
Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session
Aug 13 @ 3:00 pm
Jack of the Wood

 

Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session 

Sundays

1 till who knows when?

Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.

Jack of the Wood

95 Patton ave

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 252.5445

http://www.jackofthewood.com/

Pisgah Sunday Jam – Hosted by Spiro + Friends
Aug 13 @ 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Pisgah Brewing Company

Join us for Black Mountain’s original Sunday Jam! Hosted by Spiro and Friends, this jam features original jams and favorite covers. Bring your instrument! Sign-ups at the stage starting at 6 PM!

Pisgah Beer, Gluten Free and N/A options available. Family and dog friendly venue.

The taproom is open from 2:00 to 9:00 PM with music beginning at 6:30 PM.

Slice of Life Comedy Open Mic + Feature Comedy at Asheville Pizza
Aug 13 @ 6:30 pm
Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co

Another Great Comedy Show at Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co, Theater 2! Sunday August 13 6:30p, 18+, Get Dinner, Drinks & Laughs with the area’s best standup comics. Featured and Open Mic Comedy. Performing comics get FREE entry and pizza. Get Your Tickets Now, They Go Fast!!
Feature comics Moira Goree & Jason Webb! Special guest to be announced! Hosted by Morgan Marie with a #comedyopenmic [free entry/pizza for performers]
TICKETS:
https://www.ashevillebrewing.com/movies/
Facebook:
https://facebook.com/events/s/stand-up-comedy-at-asheville-p/592425949719588/

Death Grips
Aug 13 @ 7:00 pm
Rabbit Rabbit
LAZOOM Tours: GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR
Aug 13 @ 7:00 pm
LaZoom Room


GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR

Grab a local beer, crucifix and a rubber chicken* —You might survive this hour long hilarious haunted ghost tour of Asheville.

  • Guided comedy bus tour of Haunted Asheville
  • 60 minutes; tours run nightly after dark
  • $33 per person (Ages 17+ only)
  • Departs from 76 Biltmore Avenue

*Legal Note: Crucifix not required to board the bus; we do not condone exorcisms, chickens, rubber, or any combination of the three.

TESO + AUSTIN (plus Mbrs of The Lugubrian Orchestra)
Aug 13 @ 7:00 pm
White Horse Black Mountain

Teso and Austin

The Legubrian Orchestra, a shadowy and unheard-of music collective, quietly emerges from the fringes of anonymity, evading the spotlight with remarkable finesse. The group remains hidden, never before seen or heard in public. Yet, their lack of visibility does not deter the intrigue surrounding their elusive persona. Whispers of their existence circulate among a select few, lending an air of exclusivity to their enigmatic allure. Their existence comes to light through cryptic messages and underground whispers, igniting curiosity and fascination among music enthusiasts. This ensemble infuses beloved melodies with a somber allure, transforming the familiar into haunting masterpieces.

Holiday at Peace
Aug 13 @ 10:28 pm – 11:28 pm
Peace Concert Hall

Edvard Tchivzhel, conductor

You’ll be brimming with holiday cheer when you leave this annual seasonal celebration! Gather your family and friends for Greenville’s favorite Christmas spectacular, which always features your favorites combined with fresh, new themes. Whether you’re carrying on a yuletide tradition or feeling inspired to start a new one, this concert is the perfect way to get into the spirit of the holidays.

Holiday at Peace

Monday, August 14, 2023
LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Aug 14 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
LAZOOM Tours: GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR
Aug 14 @ 7:00 pm
LaZoom Room


GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR

Grab a local beer, crucifix and a rubber chicken* —You might survive this hour long hilarious haunted ghost tour of Asheville.

  • Guided comedy bus tour of Haunted Asheville
  • 60 minutes; tours run nightly after dark
  • $33 per person (Ages 17+ only)
  • Departs from 76 Biltmore Avenue

*Legal Note: Crucifix not required to board the bus; we do not condone exorcisms, chickens, rubber, or any combination of the three.

ROBIN BULLOCK and SUE RICHARDS
Aug 14 @ 7:30 pm
White Horse Black Mountain

CAROLINA CELTIC, is a monthly concert series which showcases Irish and Scottish musical traditions and often explores their commonality with the Appalachian ballads and stories of the Carolina mountains..

Tonight’s show will be a solo concert by series hosts, ROBIN BULLOCK and SUE RICHARDS

A major new duo of two award-winning American masters of traditional Celtic music, Sue Richards and Robin Bullock blend the ancient and magical tones of the Celtic harp with the powerful resonance of the steel-string guitar, cittern and mandolin, drawing on Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Breton traditions to create something truly unique: beautiful and timeless, yet fresh and current.

Their individual achievements speak for themselves, with (among many other accomplishments) Sue being a four-time National Scottish Harp Champion and Robin being a longtime touring sideman with Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner Tom Paxton.

Sue and Robin have been friends and colleagues for decades, having both recorded WAMMIE Award-winning solo albums for the Maryland-based Maggie’s Music label and collaborated on many other projects over the years; now both transplants to the western North Carolina mountains, they’re delighted to be joining forces in a long-overdue chamber-Celtic duo. The magic of their combined artistic excellence and mastery of Celtic traditions is captured on their brilliant duo debut CD Highland Ramble.

SUE RICHARDS, four-time National Scottish Harp Champion, has performed numerous times for the Embassy of Ireland in Washington DC, as well as for President Bill Clinton (twice!) and Queen Elizabeth II. She has served as president and distinguished judge for the Scottish Harp Society of America (SHSA) and founded the Washington DC Folk Harp Society. She has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, sat in with The Chieftains, toured Norway and Scotland with the Harpa ensemble, and can be heard on dozens of award-winning recordings. Sue is a popular instructor at workshops around the country and has written several books of arrangements and original tunes. In addition to her solo work, Sue is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Ensemble Galilei.

ROBIN BULLOCK has been hailed as a “Celtic guitar god” by Baltimore City Paper, “one of the best folk instrumentalists in the business” by Sing Out! Magazine and one of the 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com. His honors include the Association for Independent Music’s prestigious INDIE Award (with the world-folk trio Helicon), Player’s Choice and Album of the Year Awards from Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and the Swannanoa Gathering’s Master Music Maker Award. Robin has played hundreds of concerts as touring sideman with Grammy Award-winning folk legend Tom Paxton, and was the sole support musician on four of Tom’s “Together at Last” tours with fellow Grammy winner Janis Ian. Writing about Robin in The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Celtic Music, Thistle and Shamrock host Fiona Ritchie says “Bullock’s music accents the connections between Celtic and American traditional and acoustic music. That he is able to do so by playing almost any stringed instrument to perfection is his specialty.”

With the release of their duo CD Highland Ramble joining their many critically-acclaimed solo albums, Sue and Robin prove that their individual talents together create a world-class combination, carrying Celtic tradition into new and transformative realms.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023
LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Aug 15 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
PARENTS LOUNGE LEAF Global Experience
Aug 15 @ 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
LEAF Global Experience

LEAF isn’t just for kids! Join us in the Mezzanine while you wait for your youth to finish their class or just to hang out!

Asheville Symphony Chorus Auditions
Aug 15 @ 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
First Congregational United Church of Asheville

Calling all singers, songbirds, crooners, and chanteuses! Interested in joining WNC’s premier vocal ensemble and performing with Asheville Symphony?

The Asheville Symphony Chorus invites you to audition for the 2023-2024 season.

Auditions will take place August 8th and 15th, from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at First Congregational United Church of Asheville. Please use the form on the Auditions page of our website to request a slot, and be sure to read up on what to prepare and what forms to bring.

We can’t wait to hear you!

Free Intro to Improv Class
Aug 15 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Misfit Improv and Acting School

### Calling all adventurous souls in Asheville! Discover the magic of improv at Misfit Improv & Acting School’s FREE Intro to Improv Class! Unleash your creativity, boost confidence, and ace communication, all while having a blast. No performance pressure, just pure fun! Grab your friends and join the experience. Space limited. RSVP to claim your spot!

AGENDA:

  • Introductions
  • How improv can help you?
  • Warmups
  • Activities and Improv Games
  • Wrap up
LAZOOM Tours: GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR
Aug 15 @ 7:00 pm
LaZoom Room


GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR

Grab a local beer, crucifix and a rubber chicken* —You might survive this hour long hilarious haunted ghost tour of Asheville.

  • Guided comedy bus tour of Haunted Asheville
  • 60 minutes; tours run nightly after dark
  • $33 per person (Ages 17+ only)
  • Departs from 76 Biltmore Avenue

*Legal Note: Crucifix not required to board the bus; we do not condone exorcisms, chickens, rubber, or any combination of the three.

WHITE HORSE OPEN MIC
Aug 15 @ 7:00 pm
White Horse Black Mountain

We view our Open Mic as a service to the community, providing performance opportunities for musicians who rarely get to play on a nice stage. We like to provide opportunities for community members to come enjoy live music for FREE at least once a week, and sometimes more than once a week.

You’ll hear a variety of wonderfully talented folks on their way up. You never know what you’ll hear… original songs, covers, guitar, piano….. and often something quite surprising.

Each performer gets 15 minutes or three songs.

Our Open Mic has been so popular that we typically have more folks wanting to perform than we’ve had room for. After consulting with some of our regular attendees and participants we want to make sure that everyone has a fair chance to perform on stage.

So we are trying out a new process and it seems to be very popular.

We’ve expanded the number of available performance slots to 10 per night.

  • Note: There are actually 12 spots on the list each night. . The host of Open Mic is spot 1, and the owner of White Horse (Bob Hinkle) is spot 3. That leaves 10 available spots to be drawn from the hat.

In place having folks lineup in advance for the signup list, we now pull names out of a hat.

We suggest that those desiring to perform on stage arrive prior to 6:30pm.

When you arrive, check in with the bartender and they will give you a piece of paper where you will write your name and drop it into “the hat”

Sometime between 6:30 and 6:45, the bartender will announce that the names are being drawn.  You must be present when the names are drawn to confirm your participation. Participants will be added to the nights performer list in the order in which they are drawn.

Any names left in the hat that do not make the performer list for the night , are automatically put first on the list for the following week. PLUS…. they get a free bottle of beer or soft drink “on the house” as a thank you for their patience and support of fellow musicians.

WICKED
Aug 15 @ 7:30 pm
Peace Concert Hall

So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.

WICKED, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle.  Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good” and the other one “wicked.”

From the first electrifying note to the final breathtaking moment, WICKED—the untold true story of the Witches of Oz—transfixes audiences with its wildly inventive story that USA Today cheers is “a complete triumph! An original musical that will make you laugh, cry, and think.”

Wednesday, August 16, 2023
LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Aug 16 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
Drumming with Adama Dembele
Aug 16 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Black Mountain Library

 

 

Drumming with Adama Dembele

Adama Dembele  is a master djembé player from the Ivory Coast.
LAZOOM Tours: GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR
Aug 16 @ 7:00 pm
LaZoom Room


GHOST COMEDY BUS TOUR

Grab a local beer, crucifix and a rubber chicken* —You might survive this hour long hilarious haunted ghost tour of Asheville.

  • Guided comedy bus tour of Haunted Asheville
  • 60 minutes; tours run nightly after dark
  • $33 per person (Ages 17+ only)
  • Departs from 76 Biltmore Avenue

*Legal Note: Crucifix not required to board the bus; we do not condone exorcisms, chickens, rubber, or any combination of the three.

WICKED
Aug 16 @ 7:30 pm
Peace Concert Hall

So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.

WICKED, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle.  Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good” and the other one “wicked.”

From the first electrifying note to the final breathtaking moment, WICKED—the untold true story of the Witches of Oz—transfixes audiences with its wildly inventive story that USA Today cheers is “a complete triumph! An original musical that will make you laugh, cry, and think.”

Disclaimer Stand-Up Lounge Comedy Open Mic
Aug 16 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Asheville Music Hall

Asheville’s longest running comedy open mic happening every Wednesday night. The show starts at 8:00, and there is no cover. Anyone wanting to perform can sign up starting at 7pm, and will get four minutes on stage. Local and not-so-local, professional and not-so-professional comics perform or just anyone wanting to get up in front of people and try to make them laugh. Always fun. Always free.

Thursday, August 17, 2023
LAZOOM: CITY COMEDY TOUR
Aug 17 @ 10:00 am
LaZoom Room

Learn Asheville’s history, discover hidden gems, and laugh at LaZoom’s quirky sense of adventure.

  • Guided comedy tour bus of historical Asheville
  • 90-Minutes – tours run daily
  • 15-minute break at Green Man Brewing
  • $39 per person (ages 13+ only)
Intro to Ukulele
Aug 17 @ 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
LEAF Global Arts

Students will receive a solid foundation in beginner Ukulele skills for vocalists. Chords, Rhythm patterns, and basic theory will be introduced through songs with an uplifting message. Students will also learn to play the song that the Songwriting Class will be writing and get to record it in the One Mic Studio.