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 17th April

— Lakota

Tribute Fest Is Coming To Bristol in Bristol Tickets

Tue 26th May

— Rough Trade Bristol

Gitkin in Bristol Tickets

Tue 12th May

— Moor Beer Co

The OBGMs in Bristol Tickets

Sun 26th April

— Moor Beer Co

Burglar in Bristol Tickets

Sun 3rd May

— Strange Brew

Milkweed 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! Rotting Christ! In Bristol? The first time in a GENERATION!? We’d get a ticket just for that and 11 hours of silence. But hell there’s also mythical Fenland black metal cvltleaders Infernal Sea, hostile deathgrind veterans Benighted, raw and ritualist Scottish atmoblack from Fuath + your only chance to see Kranuum’s slam brutality this year without hopping a plane. Praying to Baphomet for Extreme Fest 2027 already... BRISTOL EXTREME FEST 2026 at The Trinity Centre.

Sell out warning! Just like Glasto, but with blastbeats instead of hippies! The Blastonbree battle jacket utopia is spawning at the arse-end of Stokes Croft for 12 hours of unrelenting grindgore and brutal death metal cloaked in unreadable typefaces. It’s the only place in Blighty you’re gonna see Dutch slam monsters Korpse this year, so make this act of wanton sonic lobotomy truly count kids! BLASTONBREE 2026 at The Full Moon & Attic Bar.

Sell out warning! Norwich’s super-underrated Algae Bloom take a final Bristol bow with a playthrough of their now-classic debut release. The skramz duo are masters of dark transcendental bliss brewed through yelpy bursts of energy, scattershot rhythms and spindly arpeggios. Unmissable ferocity FFO: Snowing, Dreamwell, Unwound, Algernon Cadwallader. Algae Bloom 10 Year Anniversary Show at Cafe Kino.

Sell out warning! Reverent folk blues played on 12 string guitar with the poetic fervour of Townes Van Zandt, summoning the same ghosts of mental illness and the mundane country sprawl. Parr isn’t a revivalist - he’s one of the last of the true originals. Charlie Parr at Exchange.

Recommended Gigs

Sun 5th April

— Thekla

The Underdog 2026 | Semi-Final B in Bristol Tickets

Sat 14th March

— The Old England Pub

Uncanny Valley Festival Warmup Party - "A Prelude" in Bristol Tickets

Thu 14th May

— The Trinity Centre

Maisie Peters - early show in Bristol Tickets

Thu 18th June

— The Louisiana

Gimmy in Bristol Tickets

Sat 27th June

— Strange Brew

JK Flesh + special guests in Bristol Tickets

Fri 10th April

— The Trinity Centre

ML Buch, Purelink, Okkyung Lee & Rashad Becker, DIALS, YE in Bristol Tickets

Thu 11th June

— The Trinity Centre

Theo Katzman in Bristol Tickets

Thu 29th October

— Electric Bristol

2026 Autumn Tour in Bristol Tickets

Thu 14th May

— The Trinity Centre

Maisie Peters late show in Bristol Tickets

Tue 5th May

— The Fleece

GANS in Bristol Tickets

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!

Sell out warning! Luring the Brew into holiday mode: Austin two-piece Summer Salt are millennial dad rock with doo-wop softness and sultry bossa nova sway, blended over ice into sunshine bop perfection. Stick the out of office on and get to know! Irresistible FFO: Peach Pit, Real Estate, Kruanghbin, Pop Etc. Summer Salt + special guests at Strange Brew.

Sell out warning! DFA-flavoured Yorkshire post-punks DEADLETTER take on Trinity with twitch-wired rhythms and acid-etched wit. One of the most deliriously danceable live acts around – their jittery percussive swells fist-bump with sharp-edged guitars, sassy basslines, and that signature siren sax that dares you not to move. Irresistible FFO: LCD Soundsystem, Magazine, Gang of Four, Viagra Boys. DEADLETTER at The Trinity Centre.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!

Sell out warning! Stormy alt-folk, hewn straight from the earth. Sean Rowe’s bluesy, soul-steeped ballads are utterly captivating, his deep, moody baritone and narrative chops effortlessly conjuring the spirit of Cohen and Waits. Guaranteed emotional reckoning FFO: Iron & Wine, Gregory Alan Isakov, Nick Cave. Sean Rowe at Exchange.

Sell out warning! For WOMAD-ready festival phreaks, this is the biggest Bristol day of the year: 14 hours of forward-thinking global bass antics and infectious live riddims across 5 venues in St Jude’s. With massive DJ sets from Ninja Tune globe-trotter Quantic and formative downtempo acid-jazzers Zero 7, Dar Disku’s winning Levantine disco squelch, electrifying ancestral afro-funk from Raz & Afla + much much more. Jam on the Horizon 2026 at Sawmills.

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.