What's On / Bristol Gigs

Bristol Gigs

— All Bristol's Live Music

Buy tickets for Bristol's best gigs and live music.

Live music gig with great Bristol bands.

Bristol’s best gigs

Every week, the Headfirst editors trawl through all of the live music listings on the website and pick the best gigs for you to go to. Our event selections range from classical music concerts at St George’s Hall to smaller, local musician’s gigs at The Canteen or the Exchange.

Check out this week’s Bristol gig selections over on the Headfirst Facebook page and don’t forget to like us for ticket alerts and announcements about interesting bands coming to Bristol.

All tickets for this concert were sold through Headfirst Ticket Shop.

Tickets for Bristol gigs

In 2016, Headfirst Bristol launched an online ticket shop for live music events. Inspired by local cooperatives and community interest companies like the Bristol Cable and The Island, Headfirst provides an ethical and respectful place to buy tickets for gigs in Bristol. Our booking fees are low (usually 50p per ticket) and we strive to help support independent live music events as much as large concerts at venues like Bristol Beacon or Marble Factory.

Upcoming gigs in Bristol

Sat 27th April
Bar Stool Preachers at Lost Horizon
Sat 21st September
Pem at Dareshack
Tue 4th June
Big Sleep at Crofters Rights
— Crofters Rights

Big Sleep in Bristol Tickets

Live music venues in Bristol

Bristol’s gig venues play an essential and often overlooked role in the city’s music scene. A spectrum of venues provides a ladder for new bands and musical talent to ascend. DIY spaces like Dareshack and Strangebrew provide a testbed for the screaming synthesisers and the guitars that will undoubtedly become part of Bristol’s future. Check out Headfirst’s Bristol venues page to discover which kind of performances and concerts you can expect from each gig venue.

First live gig for one of Bristol's best guitarists.

Our editor's top live music recommendation

Brutal anarcho-crust-noize like the most careening Crass moments mashed into Merzbow’s greatest power electronic ballads. Bad Breeding summon the unholy voice of disenfranchised Stevenage youth - the most crucial punk bands of the last 10 years? Essential for fans of: Flux of Pink Indians, Pissed Jeans, Killing Joke. BAD BREEDING plus supports at Exchange.

Gorgeous folk-noir awash with bowed chamber strings and otherworldly harmonies. Aussie sister duo Charm of Finches summon an indie-baroque heartache of epic proportions FFO: Kate Bush, Gillian Welch, Agnes Obel, Sufjan Stevens. Charm of Finches + Mia Kelly at Bristol Folk House.

Pummeling, whacked-out, 1 minute Mississippi hardcore tracks about dogs and cyclops babies. Trading politico-punk rage for a joyfully frantic weirdness; devotees of Grandma’s House, Plastics or Poison Girls will swoon in the pit for Judy. JUDY & THE JERKS, GIMIC, SNEER and TENSION at Exchange.

Sell out warning! Cerebral, meditative jazz-rap from a singular universe of the underground/overground. FKA milo & Scallop Hotel - Ferreira’s settled into the core shifting sands of self-mythologizing poetry and esoteric boom-psych, and there ain’t nothing quite like it FFO: Quelle Chris, Armand Hammer, Digable Planets R.A.P. Ferreira + AJ Suede + G's at Strange Brew.

Recommended Gigs

Sat 8th June
Masca at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Masca in Bristol Tickets

Wed 29th May
Quade at Strange Brew
Thu 23rd May
PAV4N x Sonnyjim at The Trinity Centre
Wed 15th May
Faux Real at Dareshack
Fri 30th August
WOMBO at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

WOMBO in Bristol Tickets

Tue 22nd October
Maxïmo Park at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Maxïmo Park in Bristol Tickets

Fri 21st June
Fenne Lily at Strange Brew
Thu 12th December
The Skids + Spear of Destiny at The Trinity Centre

Gigs in Bristol today

Most of Headfirst’s visitors come to discover new bands and live music in Bristol. We’re proud to be Bristol’s most complete gig listings resource, complete with a full breakdown of gigs in Bristol today and tour dates for the next six months. A sterling selection of open mic nights (particularly along Gloucester Road), provide ample midweek entertainment for would-be talent scouts.

Sell out warning - buy tickets while you can!

Southern Lord-signed spacious guitar brutalism. Droney and torturous sonics with Tasy Hudson’s vocals adding sweet barbs that set them apart from the crop of sludge metal machismo acts. For fans of: Divide and Dissolve, The Body, Earth. BIG BRAVE + AICHER at Dareshack.

Sell out warning! Grubby Aussie garage-pub-sludge played at near-thrash speeds with pure petroleum vocals. Pure rippers FFO: Hard-Ons, Zeke, Motörhead, Youth of Today, the Spits, Amyl and The Sniffers. C.O.F.F.I.N at Exchange.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!
Snarling, chaotic, punked-out rock burners, Pleasure Dome are the high octane Bristol band you need to curb your Idles obsession. Catch them before they blow the hell up. Alpaca Presents | The Pleasure Dome + Supports at The Louisiana.

Rapturous adventures in guitar and percussion, RIP the chord! Taking Steve Reich’s mallet-based minimalism and Glen Branca’s guitar orchestras to their logical peak - Ex Easter Island Head muster transcendental waves of drone and chiming bell-like tones from prepared electric strings. Norther Album Launch at The Cube.


Local bands and musicians

Local musicians are the lifeblood and new energy that constantly rejuvenates Bristol’s venues and performance spaces. Graduates from Bristol University’s Music course and BIMM provide regular injections of talent ranging from electronic music producers to classically trained pianists and orchestral musicians. Some of Bristol’s most successful bands are the first to point out that their inspiration comes from other local bands and gigs they’ve attended; with this in mind Headfirst is careful to include as much local talent as possible in it’s gig guide.

In addition to attending gigs you can also support Bristol’s musicians by buying their records from independent stores like Idle Hands Records, Shall Not Fade and Christmas Steps Records.