Bristol Rave Events

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Bristol's Rave Scene

Bristol has long been the South West's rave mecca with bus loads of ravers coming to hardcore nights from lesser endowed cities like Bournemouth and Bath since the nineties. At the heart of Bristol's hardcore and old skool scene has always been Lakota, the only venue (until recently) large enough for huge, multi-room raves. The venue's industrial warehouse feel and non-central location also made it popular with Bristol's free party crews who's multi-rig 'linkups' (most notably the Gener8r parties) have also made Bristol a national attraction for oldskool, mash-up and breakcore nights.

The Black Swan in Easton is Bristol's other key rave venue, attracting promoters like Mongrel (formerly at the Croft), Tiki and Avalaf. Keep an eye on Lab's listings for occasional Wrong Music events and even check Whats on at Bristol's Motion for the odd large rave event like Battlegrounds.

Bristol Rave in the time of Covid
Bristol is easily the rave capital of the west, it’s clear from just the name of Rave on Avon - a multi-day multi-venue rave event where the streets of Bristol open themselves to fans of the whole spectrum of rave: drum n bass, hardcore, trance, techno house. Bristol never descriminates! But the only raves hitting the news recently was an illegal rave - the first of its kind in Bristol to receive a £10,000. Obviously no-one would condone raving in Bristol at this time, no matter how much we want it. The question on everyone’s lips is: what will raves look like after covid? Facemasks on entry? Dwindling crowds checking track and trace apps on their phones. Let’s hope Bristol can get its rave on, in the way remember, as soon as possible.

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Our recent rave recommendations

Education Sessions expand their road-tested workouts in dnb/jungle excellence into rave-ready hoover hardcore and darkside jungle techno. The second edition of Pitch Shift is here to serve you unruly vinyl-only ruffage in a collaboration with Distant Planet’s hardcore historians Louise +1 and Hughesee. Hardcore Jungle Techno

This is gonna go so hard! Double trouble as two rave crews combine for a noizy day party blow-out featuring Goreshit doing a live breakcore set, Obsidian23 delivering take-no-prisoners levels of hxc intensity, and gabba connoisseur Glitch Girl, + more speedcore and breaks than you can shake a stick at. Daytime rave packed with Hardcore & Breakcore plus more

Sell out warning! Where else are you gonna hear Coil on a Friday night? The fourth club outing from Dark Alchemy's occult ambient and harsh industrial ghouls promises intimate-capacity 80s pulses straight from the EBM / power electronics heartlands. Old school industrial & EBM bangers

The soundest new skool old skool night around celebrates 730 days of existence with Balter / Hardcore Energy viral euphoria from Time 2 Rush, freaky acid biz from Scritts and a dashing of hard house from resident DJ Them. This’ll be proper, trust us! Bringing the 90s sound to 2025!

More Photos of Bristol Rave Events

What our editors say

“Kick off your weekend early with OVERTIME, a Thursday night escape into rave. From 6 PM till late, our DJs will be spinning a mix of house, techno, disco, and electro—blending timeless acid house classics from the 1980s/1990s with fresh, feel-good tunes from every decade through to the latest cuts.”
From: Overtime

“Expect an all-night, improvised journey through textural ambience, acid house workouts and peak time techno, unfolding where the historic pub's maritime legacy meets Bristol's cutting-edge electronic underground.”
From: All Night Long: Thomas Ridley

“Crustacean maestros Ab Crab will send you spinning into a turbulent current of powerful euphoria. Hard, fast, relentless and genre-fluid, Ab Crab guides you on a swim through the seven seas of hyperpop, happy hardcore, jungle, nightcore, metal, trance and gabber. They are the music you love, but more. The duo’s last three sold-out shows in Bristol speak for themselves: they are more than a B2B; they are unstoppable evolution.”
From: TEMPLE CLOUD w/ qwerty-uiop B2B Dosage & dj osu

“Gary Spacepope is a UK underground legend with a knack for turning dance floors into intergalactic joyrides. Since the 80’s he’s been slinging psychedelic techno, acid house, and weirdo beats. A cosmic chef dishing out sonic goulash.”
From: Insieme Festival 2025

“Reactor 4 make their return to the Crown, following a sold out event in January, bringing another night of slamming old skool rave music.”
From: Reactor 4 - Jungle, Hardcore, Rave