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 1st November
Speed at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Speed in Bristol Tickets

Wed 19th March
Melin Melyn at Strange Brew
Wed 29th January
Young Knives at Strange Brew
Fri 7th March
CHALK at Strange Brew
Fri 7th February
The Olllam at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

The Olllam 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! Darlings of chaos boogie Getdown Services are back on home soil for their first full band show on the road to almost certain infamy. If you know them, they need no introduction. If you don’t: picture two drunk dads spitting razor-sharp semi-nude social commentary to a screaming crowd. Getdown Services - Full Band Extravaganza at Strange Brew.

Bristol’s beloved gonzo-hardcore / absurdist-thrash underground icons steer HMS Disaster straight into Exchange for a night of Gong meets Crass meets Bad Taste punk pantomime. Herb Garden at Exchange.

Sell out warning! The jazz gods have spoken, allotting us mortals in Bristol one final chance to reach true transcendence and achieve a love supreme. Get down on your knees - the greatest reedsman of the 21st century is about to lift the roof off St Mary Redcliffe. Praise be the Worms! SHABAKA in concert at St Mary Redcliffe.

Sell out warning! Fingerpicking guitar, flute and the pure, raw, soul of the unstoppable voice behind Honeyfeet and Band of Burns. Ríoghnach Connolly is simply the best folk singer in the British Isles. Seeing her in the celestial Mount Without? Simply unmissable. Ríoghnach Connolly and guests at The Mount Without.

Recommended Gigs

Wed 12th March
The Weather Station at The Fleece
Mon 31st March
THUS LOVE at Bristol Beacon
Sat 10th May
Dean Friedman at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Dean Friedman in Bristol Tickets

Tue 29th October
137 + Fantastic Stranger at Dareshack
Fri 28th February
Waldo's Gift at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Waldo's Gift in Bristol Tickets

Fri 13th December
The Horrors at Strange Brew
Fri 14th March
Nieve Ella at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Nieve Ella in Bristol Tickets

Sun 30th March
Antony Szmierek at The Trinity Centre
Tue 4th February
Kawala at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Kawala 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! Torpor sit at the unearthly apex of post-metal, doom and sludge - seismic bass rumbles, melancholic ambience, bleak spoken word, crushing noise, monumental riffs moving at a glacial pace. This is music for watching planets implode. For fans of: Conan, Neurosis, Aerosol Jesus, Thou, Divide and Dissolve. TORPOR + HOST BODY + WARREN SCHOENBRIGHT at The Louisiana.

Sell out warning! Industrial doom meets cerebral shimmering darkwave: Khost sound like Godflesh summoning Ragnorak from a Birmingham steel mill furnace, Deep Cross are a subaquatic Lycia kept alive by glitching plankton. Where else but Dark Alchemy? Khost + DEEP CROSS at Art Club.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!
Sell out warning! Vulnerable, tender and epic, seemingly all at once, Piglet pair gorgeously emosh pop music with masterfully disciplined arrangements. Think Caroline and Shovel Dance Collective meets Phoebe Bridgers and you’re getting warm... it’s gorgeous. piglet EP Launch at Cloak.

En Masse lands at The Island with an evening of gurgling live modular seeping through the cellars! At the forefront of the UK’s late 90s free party scene, Steevio performs his raw, free-form jazz-techno paired with Suzy’s tripped-out visuals. Plus local noize-maker Tina Hitchens with her eye-wateringly gorgeous flute tapestries, eerie electronix & FXX. The Island w/ Steevio+Suzybee &more at The Island.


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.