What's On / Bristol Gigs

Bristol Gigs

— All Bristol's Live Music

Buy tickets for Bristol's best gigs and live music.

Live music gig with great Bristol bands.

Bristol’s best gigs

Every week, the Headfirst editors trawl through all of the live music listings on the website and pick the best gigs for you to go to. Our event selections range from classical music concerts at St George’s Hall to smaller, local musician’s gigs at The Canteen or the Exchange.

Check out this week’s Bristol gig selections over on the Headfirst Facebook page and don’t forget to join our weekly email list for ticket alerts and announcements about interesting bands coming to Bristol including our biggest venues like SWX.

All tickets for this concert were sold through Headfirst Ticket Shop.

Tickets for Bristol gigs

In 2016, Headfirst Bristol launched an online ticket shop for live music events. Inspired by local cooperatives and community interest companies like the Bristol Cable and The Island, Headfirst provides an ethical and respectful place to buy tickets for gigs in Bristol. Our booking fees are low (usually 65p per ticket) and we strive to help support independent live music events as much as large concerts at venues like Bristol Beacon or Marble Factory.

Upcoming gigs in Bristol

Fri 21st February
Onyx & Friends at Lost Horizon
Thu 9th October
Feeder at Bristol Beacon
— Bristol Beacon

Feeder in Bristol Tickets

Sat 15th February
Grief Ritual at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Grief Ritual in Bristol Tickets

Tue 25th March
Hannah Raw at The Wardrobe Theatre
— The Wardrobe Theatre

Hannah Raw in Bristol Tickets

Live music venues in Bristol

Bristol’s gig venues play an essential and often overlooked role in the city’s music scene. A spectrum of venues provides a ladder for new bands and musical talent to ascend. DIY spaces like Lost Horizon and Strangebrew provide a testbed for the screaming synthesisers and the guitars that will undoubtedly become part of Bristol’s future. Check out Headfirst’s Bristol venues page to discover which kind of performances and concerts you can expect from each gig venue.

First live gig for one of Bristol's best guitarists.

Our editor's top live music recommendation

Sell out warning! Sonic ritualism and spiritual liberation through psych funk, hip-hop and Afro-punk legends-in-the-making BCUC. The Soweto seven-piece returns triumphantly to Bristol at the feverish demands of you, the people, after many many sell-out shows at their Jam Jar home. Do not miss this! BCUC at The Jam Jar.

Sell out warning! Get yer fill of scuzzy DIY punk across three days at Red Lion, Exchange and Moor Beer… the Punx return with Crass-approved anarcho legends Zounds alongside queercore heroes The Menstrual Cramps, Welsh skate-thrashers Pizzatramp, riot grrrl ragers Pussy Liquor + looooads more TBA. Bristol Punx Picnic 2025 - Saturday at Exchange.

Sell out warning! Japanese power-poppers Shonen Knife were once Cobain-beloved cult faves bringing girl group sunshine to an era of sour-faced grunge hegemony. These days they’re a 40-year-strong bona fide institution, with a sprawling back catalogue of idiosyncratic rock covers and bubblegum punk bops. Timeless, unstoppable! FFO: The Muffs, The Ramones, Otoboke Beaver. Shonen Knife at Exchange.

Sell out warning! Hazy country rock dreams will come true with Wooden Shjips / Moon Duo journeyman Ripley Johnson. Rose City Band’s gorgeous pedal steel, soothing harmonica and soft drumming mix the hushed, anthemic beauty of Mazzy Star or Yo La Tengo with the freewheeling cosmic pastoral of the Grateful Dead. Rose City Band at Strange Brew.

Recommended Gigs

Sat 10th May
Real Ale & Sea Shanty Festival at Freemasons Hall, Park Street
Sat 15th March
LUXE  + special guests at Strange Brew
Fri 10th October
Chaosbay at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Chaosbay in Bristol Tickets

Tue 4th March
Premonition Series | SHLUG at Rough Trade Bristol
Mon 10th March
KYROS - Fear and Love Tour at Rough Trade Bristol
Fri 21st November
The Saints '73 -'78 at The Trinity Centre
Wed 14th May
Preoccupations at Strange Brew
Fri 31st October
Stone Foundation at Thekla

Gigs in Bristol today

Most of Headfirst’s visitors come to discover new bands and live music in Bristol. We’re proud to be Bristol’s most complete gig listings resource, complete with a full breakdown of gigs in Bristol today and tour dates for the next six months. A sterling selection of open mic nights (particularly along Gloucester Road), provide ample midweek entertainment for would-be talent scouts.

Sell out warning - buy tickets while you can!

Support your local swamplords! Bristol’s premiere amphibious-sludge-doomers are back with another full length of masked metal theatrics, blazing red hot after a triumphant slice of horror cinema mythmaking and victory at Bristol M2TM 2024. Essential FFO: Electric Wizard, Devil's Witches, Acid King. FROGLORD ALBUM LAUNCH + Warpstormer, Kraken Waken at Moor Beer Co.

British folk music at it’s most beautiful. With every pluck of the guitar and bow of the fiddle, Kit and Aaron’s music beams humble integrity and inimitable prowess. Kit Hawes and Aaron Catlow at Bristol Folk House.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!
Sell out warning! Activist, comedian and radical troubadour Grace Petrie brings her unique brand of fist-in-the-air protest folk to the Trinity, examining social and political issues of austerity-ravaged modern Britain with Bragg-approved anthems of solidarity and solace. Big FFO: Frank Turner, Laura Jane Grace, Kirsty MacColl, Onsind, Mischief Brew. Grace Petrie at The Trinity Centre.

Sell out warning! Like a delightfully broken Ben Webster, Alabaster dePlume's fragile, breathy saxophone playing is as immediately captivating as it is extraordinary. Expect delicate solo work, warm ensemble and spoken word in turmoil from the Mancunian's bitter tongue Alabaster DePlume + Lucy Gooch at The Trinity Centre.


Local bands and musicians

Local musicians are the lifeblood and new energy that constantly rejuvenates Bristol’s venues and performance spaces. Graduates from Bristol University’s Music course and BIMM provide regular injections of talent ranging from electronic music producers to classically trained pianists and orchestral musicians. Some of Bristol’s most successful bands are the first to point out that their inspiration comes from other local bands and gigs they’ve attended; with this in mind Headfirst is careful to include as much local talent as possible in it’s gig guide.

In addition to attending gigs you can also support Bristol’s musicians by buying their records from independent stores like Idle Hands Records, Shall Not Fade and Christmas Steps Records.