What's On in Bristol
Gig guide & event listingsBristol's local and trusted what's on guide.
Events in Bristol
Headfirst is Bristol's leading gig guide with a freshly launched online ticket shop. We work directly with the city's promoters to provide the most up-to-date guide what's on in Bristol you'll find. The events calendar includes all events happening in Bristol tonight and for the forthcoming weekend. If you're a musician, band member or club night organiser be sure to add your event to the Headfirst Bristol calendar.
Made famous by the legendary Lakota, Bristol's warehouse events are the keystone to the city's clubbing culture. These no-frills venues are the place to see Bristol's house and techno at it's best. If you need addmission to forthcoming warehouse parties, you can buy Blue Mountain tickets here.
Made famous by the legendary Lakota, Bristol's warehouse events are the keystone to the city's clubbing culture. These no-frills venues are the place to see Bristol's house and techno at it's best. If you need addmission to forthcoming warehouse parties, you can buy Blue Mountain tickets here.
Gig Tickets
Bristol has always had it's fair share of what's on resources. While paper-based listings magazines like Venue and forums like Hijack Bristol favoured certain musical niches, Headfirst was Bristol's first truely comprehensive what's on resource. Our listings not only go far into the future (click on a date in the calendar) but also provide some great last minute resources. If you're planning a night out at short notice please see our list of live music tonight and events listings for this weekend.
Venues like Colston Hall and Thekla usually get most of the attention when Bristol's gigs are discussed online. Headfirst aims to put the focus on Bristols smaller live music venues. Here, you can buy tickets for concerts at Bristol's Louisiana and Exchange or browse our entire Bristol gig list.
Venues like Colston Hall and Thekla usually get most of the attention when Bristol's gigs are discussed online. Headfirst aims to put the focus on Bristols smaller live music venues. Here, you can buy tickets for concerts at Bristol's Louisiana and Exchange or browse our entire Bristol gig list.
Gig Of The Week
What's On: Featured Bristol Events
Illegal Data has come out of nowhere to become the most consistently surprising post-whatever 'club night' - with it's fingers so deep on the pulse that they're practically inside the vein. Four nights in and they've already hosted PC Music's SPINEE, a crushing nu-metal sets from SLACK ALICE's Kelan, sino-grime from L U C Y, and washes of modular noise from Silver Waves.
This instalment welcomes Central Processing Unit nu-electro king DADDY LONG LEGS, industrial trap from Kinlaw and Italian MC Franco Franco (from new Bristol firestarting collective Avon Terror Corps), vapor-dancehall from Mixpak's Don Sinini.
Part of some really eye-watering promoters flocking to make The Stag And Hounds Public House Bristol finest music pub of late (RIP Surrey Vaults).
🎫 Tickets hdfst.uk/E48378
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TheGreyArea welcomes The Scorpios to Bristol for their debut. Lead by vocalist Regia Ishag, they continue the legacy of legendary group The Scorpions. Fusing music old & new, rhythms from the Horn of Africa to Latin America, they’ve been out smashing the festival season. Now they hit The Lanes on 22nd Oct.
Local support comes from the Bloom Collective's s 8-headed Tezeta project, started in tribute to Mulata Ashtake and the Ethiopiques series.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E46902
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Pushing out thunderclap snares, lo-fi kicks and throbbing baselines from their Glaswegian home, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams have carved their name as a forerunners of pumped-up jackin’ dance music. Underpinned with a consistent commitment to deep, deep grooves, the label-running duo are true tastemakers of funky house, dropping acid tinged, emotive dance cuts and ‘rockin’ raw sat*t’ for the floor on Wednesday.
Absolute peache of a debut event for Rhythm Works at The Lanes - watch this space.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E48534
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Fusing the dubby, filtered haze of Basic Channel with a distinctive precision that’s pinned down by rolling percussive loops, Ed Davenport’s music touches on melancholia without wavering from its focused, driving core. No stranger to Berghain, his thundering DJ sets under his Inland alias explore the forefront of cutting-edge techno, melding intricate rhythmic patterns and hazy melodic textures with a progressive, hopeful outlook.
Currently exploring this artistic realm with an AV installation that’s premiering in the Big Haus just next month, there’s no better time to catch Inland in action than atMi Casa Su Casa's 3rd Birthday at The Island on Friday.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47870
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Brutal, twisted kicks contrast with delicate highs, nods of Aphex delight minds while bodies convulse to one of Europe's most uninhibited techno producers, Bjarki.
Since breaking through in 2015 with brash raver anthem 'I Wanna Go Bang', the Icelander has refined his output as a mainstay on Nina Kraviz’ трип label, crafting a brand of haunting horror-techno that gathers the influence of gabber, hardcore and 90s techno into a nightmarish whole.
Preaching ‘creativity without order,’ Banoffee Pies Records’ eclectic discography holds testament to its founders’ wide-reaching and well-developed tastes. Birthed from a passion for house and disco, the label’s releases span from the leftfield jazz of the likes of Yadava and Seb Wildblood, to the pumping breaks of Liem and Eddie Ness.
Taking the helm of Lakota - Bristol’s main room for Deep Discs x Nebula at the end of the month, the Bristolian label will be joined by another homegrown hero, Housework co-founder Daisy Moon, alongside Lukas Wigflex, founder of Nottingham’s notorious Wigflex parties.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47829
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Preaching ‘creativity without order,’ Banoffee Pies Records’ eclectic discography holds testament to its founders’ wide-reaching and well-developed tastes. Birthed from a passion for house and disco, the label’s releases span from the leftfield jazz of the likes of Yadava and atSeb Wildblood, to the pumping breaks of Liem and atEddie Ness.
Taking the helm of Lakota - Bristol’s main room for Deep Discs x Nebula at the end of the month, the Bristolian label will be joined by another homegrown hero, Housework co-founder Daisy Moon, alongside Lukas Wigflex, founder of Nottingham’s notorious Wigflex parties.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47829
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On paper Danez Smith is a decorated poet and author - most recently for their collection Don't Call Us Dead - but it's their inspired and ecstatic delivery where these poems truly live. Co-ounder of The Dark Noise Collective
Danez deals with the realities of queer life in an America that denies its deep-rooted racism. Poems like 'Dear White America' set new standards for Youtube-hosted spoken word, while pieces like 'Self Portrait As A 90s R&B Star' showcase Danez uniquely subversive humour.
Raise the Bar - Bristol's beating pulse for international and local spoken word - have done us a huge favour by bringing a groundbreaking force and an urgent voice to Arnolfini for a night of the finest spoken word.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47839
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Buy Bristol Gig Tickets
Headfirst is the most objective Bristol gig guide on the internet. With no editorial to write, bands to interview or advertisers to please, we can focus on creating the best music listings & ticket shop this side of the Avon. From Bristol University’s music graduates playing a concert at St Georges Hall to an intimate gig at The Louisiana - we believe these events are what make Bristol special.
Bristol Nightlife & Nightclubs
Electronic music produced in Bristol has a knack of rewriting the rules and penetrating the international club scene. From Tectonic to Apple Pips to Eats Everything & Arkist - Headfirst has seen Bristol’s music scene grow and evolve since our humble beginnings in 2008.
Now Headfirst is working with Bristol’s best dance music promoters and providing a secure place to buy tickets for Bristol club nights. While Motion may catch most of the attention, Headfirst is the place to buy tickets for all Bristol's clubnights and maybe even the next Alfresco Disco party. Over the coming months we'll be adding buy tickets buttons to many of our what's on listings.
From Headfirst's Ticket Shop
Bristol Gig Venues
Nightclubs & Warehouses
Upcoming Events
Unsung city-wide opinion: Maasai Warrior Sound System is the mightiest dub sound around. Bolstered by Kai Dub's year 4000 steppas productions, they're the BS postcode Iration Steppas we all need. They'll power the switches in the The Black Swan main room alongside Bass-I and the mic talent of Murray Man from MELLOW VIBES STUDIO PRODUCTION and sometime Maasai wordsmith Joseph Lalibela.
Bristol Dub Club have done the right thing and added some 2 - 10pm rootical programming including Peng Sound resident Wilfy and Dub From Above
(bouncing back after an amazing session at the Swan with Soom T); plus record stalls from hand-picked local stockists.
West country dubheads, cancel all Saturday plans.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47974
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Melding deft soul and jazz samples with bluesy hooks and jangling rock n’ roll, Romare’s productions depict a learned passion for America's musical history. Like his namesake, the Afro-American master of collage, Romare’s multi-layered tracks flit between the borderlines of genre, yet his unique, dancefloor-ready sound remains unmistakeably his own.
Like his compositions, Romare’s DJ sets span the breadth of his influence, joining the dots between the many corners of his taste. The Ninja Tune mainstay heads to Lakota - Bristol on October 6th - where Dropout Disco pair him with O'Flynn's global disco selections and one 'very special guest'.
Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47829
Bristol's home-made anarchic circus troupe returns to our favourite subterranean arts and performance venue, The Loco Klub, for two evenings of renegade circus acts, wild storytelling and live musical scoring
Every event The Invisible Circus host is a new world and this round of site-specific performances (titled Renegade Fabulon) boasts a topical narrative "where communities are forgotten and profit is king". We're envisioning a night of immersive Cirque du Soleil entertainment with Mad Max grit and a Stokes Croft heart.
Renegade Fabulon runs for two nights only and 3 of 4 performances are already sold out.
Thursday 9:30pm Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47289
Bristol's home-made anarchic circus troupe returns to our favourite subterranean arts and performance venue, The Loco Klub, for two evenings of renegade circus acts, wild storytelling and live musical scoring
Every event The Invisible Circus host is a new world and this round of site-specific performances (titled Renegade Fabulon) boasts a topical narrative "where communities are forgotten and profit is king". We're envisioning a night of immersive Cirque du Soleil entertainment with Mad Max grit and a Stokes Croft heart.
Renegade Fabulon runs for two nights only and we've got a limited amount of tickets left for each.
Thursday Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47289
Friday Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47293
Cacophonous Sarcophagus invite you to again descend into one of the cities' unfrequented, under-foot spaces. Held at the captivating crypt beneath St. Paul's Church (Southville), the line-up is topped by New York State trio powerdove. Harnessing highly unorthodox instrumentation and creative songwriting, together they conjure an uncommon form of folk music that's equal measures noise as it is pop.
Joining them from Poland are FOQL and Copy Corpo, presenting a site-specific audio-visual installation, which will transform the space into a womb-like tomb of incubatory ambiance. Local support from Swir.
📷: Daniel Higgs by Simon Holliday
Tickets:
Worm Disco Club bring an infectious and singular blend of Cuban jazz and live electronics to Kuumba Community Centre in the shape of Ariwo - an integral part of the Manana // Cuba project of re-wiring the Afro-Cuban folkloric tradition. Support comes from the Tezeta segment of Bristol's multi-armed Bloom Collective (who share members with some of the best live acts in town via Run Logan Run, The Evil Usses and Yama Warashi).
A massive recommendation for fans of Moritz von Oswald Trio or any Markus Ernestus related projects.
🎫 Tickets: hdfst.uk/E47233
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