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Bristol's Drum & Bass Events

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Bristol's Drum And Bass Scene

Is Stokes Croft a drum and bass Mecca?

Drum and bass in Bristol needs no bigger homes than Lakota and Blue Mountain. Both on the same street in Stokes Croft - they’ve continued Bristol’s drum n bass lineage from DJ Krust and Roni Size through to Intrigue Music and the more experimental UVB76 crew. Bristol’s place in the history of drum n bass is assured. Figureheads like DJ Die draw the line between the jungle and drum n bass scenes, jungle is key in Bristol - a city with so much Caribbean heritage, roots reggae’s influence on drum n bass comes through the language of jungle. But with both Lakota and Blue Mountain closing their doors soon to developers, is Bristol in a drum n bass crisis?

Drum and bass in Bristol encapsulates the genre in the wider world. Big venues play host to big acts with nights such as Bedlam, One Nation and Shit the Bed offering International stars including Pendulum, Chase and Status, Andy C and Noisia on a regular basis. In addition to this, alternative venues like the Dojo Lounge, Basement 45 and the Black Swan foster the rarefied sounds of dnb's many sub genres offering the city a unique depth to its plethora of drum and bass music. New years eve in Bristol clubs sees the city's venues rammed to the brim with all of the drum and bass's big players djing somewhere in Bristol.

Agro, Dissident and Mongrel offer dnb of a techy, dark variety while the bastion of the deeper sound, Intrigue, continues to push artists such as Marcus Intalex, Calibre and Fabio. Torque, straddling the line between dark and deep is a drum and bass monthly of significant recognition, hosting label nights and affiliated artists from Club Autonomic to Critical and Shogun Audio.

With drum and bass such a popular genre in Bristol, most clubs present dnb of some description at least once per month. Basement 45 has emerged as a consistent venue, with Torque, Abstraction and Nine Tree all on regular rotation at the club. Dojos plays host to the aforementioned Intrigue while Lab is home to Signal which runs as a bi-monthly event.

Of the larger venues Motion has a throng of events that are less frequent but larger in scale. Although many of these nights are multi-genre affairs, Run and Shit The Bed routinely promote dnb artists as their headline acts.

Lakota is another important dnb venue, housing Concrete Beat, Agro and since September 2010, Bedlam. Hospitality's residency at the Thekla ensures dnb is consistent fixture on the ship, while the rave-ready Black Swan is the spearhead for the harder jungle-tek sounds of the dnb genre.

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Our recent drum and bass recommendations

Flying the flag for proper dubstep these last 13 years, Foundation Audio are the Bristol DMZ heads’ go-to brand for unstoppable dread pressure. Flying in for the big buffday: pirate radio royalty N-Type, DJ Chefal and Youngsta will be giving the younguns an absolute schooling in golden eara dubs, testing RC1’s rumble pack to the absolute max. Hoods up heads down bassweight as it should be! Foundation Audio Powered by RC1 at Green Works.

Free entry (before 9:30)! So Carnival’s not not (not?) happening this year… at least one thing we’ll know for sure, there’ll be some St Paul’s heritage dubwise at The Canteen from Bristol’s Roots Ambassadors. Chewing Glass rig up the place with Ras Kama at the controls and Aqua Levi chanting down the mic as always. Unstoppable! Carnival Afterparty CGC Sound System Presents: NEGUS MELODY at The Canteen.

Resting on their much-deserved laurels after Marcellus Pittman tore some serious holes in Brewstory, Deep Street dial in a residents session with unstoppable b2b duo Jay L & Andy Mac exploring the sunshine dimensions of clublandia. Expect hard-dug cuts of soulful house, jazzed-out techno, string-laden diva disco and everything in between. Deep Street Summer Jam w/ Jay L & Andy Mac b2b all night at Strange Brew.

Sell out warning! He’d hate us for this, but Vlad is this generation’s definitive DJ’s DJ (RIP Andrew Weatherall). Conjuring dark, hypnotic and psychedelic journeys of pan-genre, wrong-BPM eclecticism with two decks and a mixer... you just gotta witness this master at work! Blanco’s pulling power is infinite here: you’re damn lucky to see the grand Salon wizard crammed into such a likkle room. Club Blanco w/ Vladimir Ivkovic & Chez de Milo at The Love Inn.

More Photos of Bristol's Drum & Bass Events

Crowd at a drum and bass night in Bristol 2026

What our editors say

“Fantazia returns to Bristol on the 30th August, this time for a bank holiday day rave in the brand new Document Open Air space! We're taking it back to the old school roots that built rave culture - uniting generations of ravers, DJs, MCs and music lovers under one roof for a day driven by pure energy, connection and nostalgia. From the raw warehouse atmosphere to the euphoric sounds that defined an era, this is a tribute to the nights that changed everything. Expect uplifting old school piano anthems, hardcore classics, acid house, jungle, and trance colliding with cutting edge production and sound. Let us be your fantasy.”
From: Fantazia | Document Open Air

“Join us for our August bank holiday event back at our spiritual home of Basement 45 in Btistol. We welcome back multi award winning mc HARRY SHOTTA as our headline act plus a huge supporting lineup. In the the main room we have drum n bass and jungle all night and in room 2 we have 140 and dubstep from colour of sound. DNB JUNGLE 140 DUBSTEP @ BASEMENT 45 FROM £6”
From: Bass in the basement HARRY SHOTTA

“No Fixed Tempo is a multi-genre party accessible for everyone. Expect dubstep, garage, grime, jungle, hardcore and DnB all night long, with the energy and BPMs building as the night goes on. Made for the people skipping Boomtown this year, bringing together big energy, heavy sounds and good vibes! Come as you are. No Fixed Tempo, no fixed expectations. [A-Z] CUTMESUM.FLAC IZZLA ORCHID SHADDOWS SPINELLI BRAVO Free entry all night - no ticket needed.”
From: No Fixed Tempo: CUTMESUM.FLAC, IZZLA, ORCHID, SHADDOWS, SPINELLI BRAVO

“4ToThaFloor is an event at the Take Five Café on stokes croft, showcasing a range of underground dance music genres, powered by Sensi Sounds. Get yourselves down there on the 7th of August For 11pm, latest entry at 1am. Whether you like heavy hard trance, phat 4x4, subby jungle or nasty prog, you won't wanna miss out on this one! Behind the decks we have: Camat1k ET-Tronic Thunda Jimbo DJ Soup Loud Biz Don't miss out - get your tickets now before it's too late”
From: 4 To Tha Floor

“We’re back at Clock Factory Bristol for our FREE RAVE Summer Series. All summer long we’re dedicating Friday nights showcasing some of the finest bass music talent around - completely FREE. Stressing over festival and day-party prices? Don’t fear - we’ve got you covered. Friday 7th August, we bring together a mixed drum & bass curation taking you through the raw sounds of jungle, minimal and dancefloor, featuring Bladerunner + MC Felon, VISLA & Siren.”
From: Rave • Bladerunner + MC Felon, VISLA & Siren