Former US President Barack Obama will visit Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester this October for a series of live conversations exploring leadership, democracy, resilience and the challenges facing America and the wider world.
An Evening with President Barack Obama will begin at The O2 Belfast on Tuesday 13th October before moving to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on Wednesday 14th October and Manchester’s Co-op Live on Thursday 15th October. Tickets for all three appearances are now on sale.
The timing places the three events firmly in the middle of Black History Month and brings to Britain and Northern Ireland a political figure whose election represented one of the defining moments in modern African American history.
When Obama won the US presidential election in November 2008, he became the first African American elected President of the United States. He served two terms as America’s 44th president, from 2009 until 2017.
His election carried a significance that reached far beyond party politics.
Only a generation earlier, the American Civil Rights Movement had fought to dismantle segregation and overcome systematic barriers that denied millions of Black Americans equal access to voting, education, employment and public life.
Against that history, the sight of an African American family entering the White House had a symbolic power understood around the world.
Obama’s own journey to the presidency also reflected several strands of the modern Black experience.
Born in Hawaii in 1961 to a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, he moved to Chicago after graduating from Columbia University and worked as a community organiser on the city’s South Side.
He later attended Harvard Law School, where he became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, before returning to Chicago and working as a civil rights attorney. He entered elected politics through the Illinois Senate, went on to represent Illinois in the US Senate and was elected president in 2008.
Three October appearances
The 2026 events follow Obama’s live appearances in London and Dublin in 2025 and will see him address audiences in three different parts of the UK.
- Belfast — Tuesday 13th October 2026: The O2 Belfast. The main President Barack Obama In Conversation event is currently listed for 8pm.
- Glasgow — Wednesday 14th October 2026: OVO Hydro. Doors open at 6.30pm, with the final show time still to be confirmed by the promoter.
- Manchester — Thursday 15th October 2026: Co-op Live. General admission doors open at 6.30pm, with the event scheduled to begin at 7.30pm.
The conversations take place as the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, with organisers saying the evenings will consider what comes next for America while examining wider questions around leadership and the ability of individuals and communities to create change.
Organisers have also announced that 100 tickets in each city will be set aside for charitable organisations, extending access to groups that might not otherwise attend one of the arena events.
Since leaving the White House, Obama has continued much of his public work through the Obama Foundation, which develops programmes supporting emerging leaders and encourages civic participation and community-led change.
A significant Black History Month moment
For Black History Month audiences, Obama’s visit offers an opportunity to consider history not simply as something distant, but as something many people can remember happening in their own lifetime.
His election in 2008 did not mark the end of racial inequality in America, nor did one presidency resolve the much older struggles that shaped African American history.
Its historical significance lies instead in what had previously seemed impossible.
For most of the United States’ history, a Black president had been almost unimaginable. Obama’s election changed that fact permanently.
That distinction is part of why his story continues to resonate with audiences far beyond the United States.
His Kenyan and American family background, work as a community organiser and civil rights lawyer, rise through American politics and eventual election to the country’s highest office created a political journey closely watched across Africa, the Caribbean, Britain and the wider African diaspora.
Black History Month has always provided space to remember the people who challenged barriers before us. It can also provide an opportunity to hear from people whose lives became part of history while that change was happening.
Obama’s October appearances will offer audiences in Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester exactly that opportunity.
Presented by Seat Unique and brought to audiences by Fane, Kilimanjaro, Singular Artists and Regular Music, the three events take place from 13th to 15th October 2026, with tickets currently on sale.
For Black History Month 2026, the arrival of America’s first African American president for three major arena conversations is likely to be one of October’s most significant live events.