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

Sat 31st January

— Motion

EEK-A-MOUSE // DAWN PENN // SCIENTIST // TIPPA IRIE in Bristol Tickets

Sat 5th September

— Exchange

Downloaded - Download Festival Tribute in Bristol Tickets

Wed 22nd April

— Bristol Beacon

Bristol New Music 2026 in Bristol Tickets

Valentines Day

— The Tobacco Factory

Bristol Jazz festival presents Jazz in the Loft with The ADRIAN COX TRIO in Bristol Tickets

Tue 7th April

— The Trinity Centre

Joash + guests 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! If you’re wise to the Au Pairs, you’ve been their comment box champion, pushing their searing post-punk gender politics agenda to the top of the algorithm, waiting for this day. After 40 bloody years, they finally take to stage in a history-righting visitation of itchy punk funk FFO: Gang of Four, The Slits, Pylon, Shopping, Dry Cleaning. Au PAirs at The Trinity Centre.

Sell out warning! Dare you miss your annual dose of Pink Lady Lemonade? The definitive freak-out group of the 21st century unite with Teeth of the Sea’s crunchy mutant soundscapes for a potent dose of beyond-experimental psych. Unhinged music for unhinged fans of: Hawkwind, Amon Düül, Gnod, Comets on Fire, Föllakzoid. Acid Mothers Temple / Teeth of The Sea / Thee Alcoholics at Strange Brew.

Sell out warning! 2 years was well worth the wait for this colossal offering from the Bristol New Music gods. A feast of experimental-minded recitals, workshops and club nights, pushing the boundaries of contemporary classical, jazz, sound art and pop across multiple venues in our fair city. Bristol New Music 2026 at Bristol Beacon.

Angeline Morrison crafts hauntingly beautiful folk injected with a captivating blend of melancholy and darkness, accompanied by the poignant strings of the autoharp. Her latest works are visionary re-writings of Black people’s experiences into a tradition that largely ignored them. History in the making FFO: Buffy Sainte Marie, Shirley Collins, Shovel Dance Collective. Angeline Morrison at The Wardrobe Theatre.

Recommended Gigs

Sat 25th April

— Rough Trade Bristol

TWAT UNION + special guests TBA in Bristol Tickets

Sun 25th January

— Bristol Beacon

BEARPIT in Bristol Tickets

Fri 23rd January

— The Trinity Centre

The Eagle Has Landed in Bristol Tickets

Sat 25th April

— Thekla

The Undercover Hippy + Support in Bristol Tickets

Sat 23rd May

— Thekla

Dot To Dot Festival in Bristol Tickets

Fri 20th March

— DOCUMENT

EU & UK Tour in Bristol Tickets

Wed 4th March

— The Louisiana

Pem in Bristol Tickets

Wed 11th March

— Strange Brew

Mietze Conte in Bristol Tickets

Sun 8th March

— The Trinity Centre

Celebrating women in music in Bristol Tickets

Thu 2nd April

— Rough Trade Bristol

ORA COGAN 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! Dean Blunt-championed darlings Bar Italia continue their steady ascent to slacker indie superstardom, gifting Trinity a fifth album haul of seasick alt-rock polished with moody romanticism and nostalgic 90s hooks. Move over post-punk, the hour of wonky pop-grunge is upon us FFO: Sonic Youth, Elastica, The Velvet Underground, Wet Leg. Bar Italia at The Trinity Centre.

Sell out warning! Indestructible NY hardcore crossover heroes taking a wrecking ball to the pit since ‘89. Madball’s signature assault of bludgeoning thrash riffage, gobby gang-choruses and start-stop beatdown breakdowns is a classic kick in the teeth FFO: Agnostic Front, Comeback Kid, Biohazard, Sick Of It All. Madball at Strange Brew.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!

Sell out warning! 2019, Crofters Rights, Armand Hammer tore our tiny minds apart, then disappeared into the cloud. We’re still not ready for the pass-the-mic messages of pre-apocalypse tension, the soul-grinding bars of zeitgeist-baiting worldplay, a century of blues distilled in a single loop. Two of the century’s greatest in an untouchable rap communion FFO: Quelle Chris, Def Jux, Ka, Mobb Deep, Pink Siifu. ARMAND HAMMER at The Trinity Centre.

Sell out warning! Jan’s sampledelic impressionism quietly changed the game with ambient glitch perfection, forged from the cracks between jazz grooves. Warm static, mesmeric loping loops and AV wonderment herald the coming of a true GOAT; add in Ben Bertrand’s bass clarinet breath tunnels and this is iconic action FFO: Pole, Stroom, Moritz von Oswald, Wolfgang Voigt, Colin Stetson. Jan Jelinek + Ben Bertrand + mary hurrell at Strange Brew.

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.