WHATS ON / Bristol Club Nights

Bristol Clubs & Nightlife

— All Bristol's electronic & dance music listings.

The best place to buy tickets for dance music events in Bristol.

DJs playing at Bristol's nightlife hot spot.

Bristol’s best club nights

Dance music dominates Bristol’s musical landscape with the city’s electronic music producers and DJs considered some of Bristol’s finest exports. Outsiders and bloggers frequently fail to understand Bristol’s dance music, using resorting to sweeping statements about dubstep, disco or house music or cringe-inducing references to the ‘Bristol Sound’. The truth is that Bristol’s musical integrity is a direct result of sheer variety and the passion of individuals working in the music scene today.

Like Manchester’s Warehouse Project, Motion is the first nightclub many visitors to Bristol will be introduced to. While Headfirst is generally focused around the city’s smaller nights and events, the value Motion adds to Bristol’s musical culture in undeniable. The ability to book DJ’s like Ricardo Villalobos and Laurent Garnier or live acts like Moderat, inspires the next generation of promoters that will bring their own talent to venues like dare2, Lost Horizon and Lakota.

Bristol Club Listings

Buy club tickets

Since 2016 clubbers have been able to buy tickets for events at venues like Coroner’s Court, Lakota and The Small Horse here on Headfirst. We work directly with the club promoters providing an ethical and independent place to buy your club tickets. Headfirst provides barcode-based club night tickets which are scanned by staff outside nightclubs and venues in Bristol on a nightly basis.

DJ Culture & Nightlife

Stokes Croft’s Idle Hands record shop has earned international recognition from both international and Bristol DJs and is frequently listed alongside Rush Hour Records and Public Possession as one of Europe’s best sources of electronic music. The rise of house music (and with it disco) has seen the club focus begin to shift from headline producers to experienced djs and record collectors. Where true DJ bookings were once the domain of small niche nightclubs like Cosies and Take 5 Cafe, recently promoters like Simple Things and PTS have brought international dance music purveyors to larger venues like Propyard and The Island’s prison cells. Clubbers rush to buy Dropout Disco tickets before the full line-up is announced while Dirty Talk and Alfresco Disco’s innovative approach to the typical ‘nightclub venue’ sells out on the promoter’s reputation alone.

Bristol's lesser-spotted unicorn DJs at our favourite nightclub. Club night at the Thekla in Bristol.

Sell out warning - buy tickets while you can!

Oosh! Love Saves pulls in a super dreamy lineup ahead of their annual knees-up over at Ashton Court in Spring. DRIIA will be bringing the 90s DnB nostaglia and old-skool breakbeat for a night of undiluted dancefloor euphoria and kaleidoscopic rave energy. Essential FFO: Eliza Rose, TSHA, Angel D’lite, Bakey. Love Saves Weds w/ Driia + OhMyRosh & Bawler at The Love Inn.

A big nod to International Womxn’s Day as Bristol Babes gather a top-notch line up at Bristol Temple Meads’ underworld for a night of bassline whompers, side-winder garage and fiery drum and bass. BRISTOL BABES at The Loco Klub.

Rave bangers and techno rollers after dark in the museum? Sign us up. It’s a huge one at Bristol Museum to round off the IWD celebrations, featuring euphoria queen BBY GOOSE on the trance and hard dance heaters, A for Alpha’s slinky, 90s-indebted house and garage stompers and jaw dropping circus magic from the Circomedia crew. International Women's Night at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

A righteous Bristol return for Worldwide FM’s much-loved Coco Maria, with her Afro-Latino rooted selections spanning cumbia, bossa nova, samba and retro-futuristic rarities. Expect pure dancefloor fire and showers of dub siren + Brakery’s Miss Mash sprinkling some rare groove and lovers rock all over the place. Club Coco w/ Coco Maria + Miss Mash at The Jam Jar.

Tickets Available

Fri 7th March
Wide Eyes: SHOSH + SOULECTA at Lakota
Fri 28th March
Teachings in Dub - O.B.F x Concrete Lion at The Trinity Centre
Fri 21st February
Wide Eyes: Frazer Ray at Lakota
Sat 8th March
SUZY: Bellaire at The Prospect Building
— The Prospect Building

SUZY: Bellaire Tickets

Electronic music in Bristol

Experimental dance music and boundary-pushing techno will always be found in Bristol’s smaller club venues. The Island’s cells space for example, continues to provide opportunities for new promoters that have vision beyond simply booking a DJ and running a publicity campaign. With no permanent sound system or DJ equipment, the old prison cells is blank canvas club - at it’s very best when an innovative event organiser puts in the time to transform the whole dancefloor space.

Club audience bought their tickets on Headfirst Bristol.

Editor's club recommendations

Our editor's top live music recommendation

Sell out warning! The Houghton mastermind and Fabric svengali floats down off club cloud9 to bless the Brew with another mighty round of Collisions - a soundclash-esque feat with longtime pal Dave Harvey (Team Love / Futureboogie). Techno, house and electro excellence guaranteed! Collisions w/ Craig Richards + Dave Harvey at Strange Brew.

Sell out warning! A master of the ‘ardkore melting pot, wubbing you all night long. Djrum sits alongside Burial as one of few UK artists to have successfully recaptured the emotional ebb and flow of 90s rave culture. Melding the excessive tempos of gabber and hardcore with the mind-boggling time signatures of jazz and classical. Strange Brew presents Djrum at Strange Brew.

Rootikal day party of soundsystem veterans from the esteemed Downbeat Melody. With Pappa Steve and Paul Solution at the controls running ska, rocksteady, roots, early reggae and rubadub soothers and skankers - a true education this one! Downbeat Melody: A Ska & Rocksteady All-Dayer at The Jam Jar.

Sell out warning! Kiko Bun left unsuspecting Jam Jarrers weak-kneed with his silver-tongued lovers rock, now he’s back to serve the sound of his Panama youth for the Latin Link. Another damn fine dancefloor education from those-that-know, guiding you through searing típico, delectable salsa and snaking reggaeton heat. The Latin Link w/ Kiko Bun at The Jam Jar.

Alternative Spaces and New Club Venues

One of the main strengths to Bristol's club scene is it's relentless dynamism, every year enthusiastic new promoters bring new experiences to the table. Unlike raves of the previous decades, new events shirk the crusty, rebellious connotations of free party culture in favour of organised, party-centric events in interesting locations.