Visitors to Belfast this bank holiday weekend won't know whether to laugh, cry or search the sky for UFOs as the city hosts its annual mixed bag of festival events.
The 39th Belfast Festival at Queens begins tonight with a concert by Van Morrison, but music is only a fraction of the attractions on offer over the festival fortnight.
Among the biggest comic crowd-pullers are likely to be comedians Jack Dee, Johnny Vegas and this year's winner of the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival, Garth Marenghis.
Don McClean joins Van Morrison on a musical ticket, which also features folk from Martin O'Connor and Charlie McGettigan and jazz from Dave Liebman and The Jim Hall Quartet.
Operas including La Boheme and the Barber of Seville will be performed.
Movie classics and films from around the world feature on the cinema programme.
Theatre highlights include The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, the Northern Ireland premiΘre of Oscar Wilde's Salome plus many more modern works and one-act shows.
Diverse lectures on subjects ranging from architecture to science fiction take place over the fortnight, which is also packed with art exhibitions and various, hard to categorise events, loosely described as alternative or experimental.
Much of the activity is based around the Queens University district.
However, venues also include the Ulster Museum, the Linenhall Library and the Lyric Theatre.