Bristol's Festival Scene

Bristol festivals draw huge crowds year on year - from commercially run events like Tokyo World Festival in Eastville park to free (and community minded) events like Trinity Garden Party and St. Paul's carnival. There are a string of multi-venue festivals (in the style of Sonar in Barcelona) around the Stokes Croft area including Simple Things and Rave on Avon. Simple Things has expanded somewhat in the last few years and taken over the city's flagship venue, Colston Hall.

As well as music festivals, Bristol's deep historical connection to street art is celebrated in day events like Upfest. Centred around the recently created (and unofficial) street art district - North Street - you can spend the day watching apartment blocks getting a new lick of paint from head to toe. Truly a festival not to be missed!

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Our recent festival recommendations

The concert film to end all concert films... before there was Woodstock, there was 68’s Monterey Pop, immortalised in this euphoric countercultural snapshot. D. A. Pennebaker captured some of the best live performances in history, not to mention Mama Cass’ rapturous gawping while Janis Joplin howls the sky down, the multiple counts of guitar destruction/fornication/arson, the priceless cutaways to a sea of blissed-out hippies… HIPPY TRIPPY SUMMER PRESENTS: MONTEREY POP at The Cube.

Kill all hippies! Eggshells perfectly simulates the death of the 60s in one batshit upheaval of free love, acid, utopian ideals and HAUNTED COMMUNES. Yes, this is the shoestring art-house prelude to Texas Chainsaw Massacre you didn’t know existed, indulging Hooper's experiments in altered stop-motion states and supernatural psychedelia way before Leatherface invaded his sleep. Colour us intrigued… { horror movie legend Tobe Hooper's little-seen otherworldly stoner odyssey }

Superlative, high-camp satire of family-values conservatism via Hollywood’s take on French stage comedy La Cage Aux Folles. Miami cabaret couple Robin Williams and Nathan Lane go from drag glamour to farcical subterfuge as they play it straight for the sake of their son and his would-be in-laws. A watershed moment for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media, and a real gem in the Williams oeuvre. Join Queer Vision with the special screening of The Birdcage at the Bristol Megascreen!

Sell out warning! Bristol > Abergavenny summer getaway par excellence, Come Bye hosts a steaming pre-festival warmup with this Sauna + DJ session in Horfield Common’s community wellness retreat. Sweat out to residents spinning acid chug, bumpin’ garage and sunshine-filled house before taking the deep cold plunge. A 1 day sauna festival featuring music, drinks & sauna