What's On / Bristol Gigs

St Pauls Carnival Map and Set Times.

— Things get pretty disorientating at Carnival, don't get lost.

When is St Pauls Carnival?

This years carnival occurs on Saturday 1st July 2025.

Once the carnival has started it becomes a lot harder to work out which sound systems are where! Stages and sound systems are scattered throughout the streets of St Pauls. Closer to the time this page will include a Google map with each scheduled stage. These include the infamous PA systems and speaker stacks which the evening part of St Pauls Carnival is known for.

Our editor's top live music recommendation

A seismic earthstrong day for Two Step Forwards, basking in two years of flawless dub operations with Earl Sixteen up at the mansion on the hill. Lee Perry, Mad Professor, Jammy, Pablo: the Earl’s studio credits reads like a who's-who of roots and culture. Now the legendary toaster gives the Messenjah subs some real loving in a two room blow-out of reggae and revival sounds. TWO STEP FORWARD: EARL 16 & GLADDY WAX at Ashton Court.

PWYC daytime Carnival action featuring Da Fuchaman electrifying Circomedia with live ragamuffin roots and bubbling dancehall. Also inside: five piece Jamaican folk harmony sisters Tan Teddy flying the flag, jerk chicken fresh off the grill and colorful family-friendly frollicking to keep the kids distracted. St Pauls Carnival Presents - Community Celebration Day at Circomedia.

St Paul’s 2025 flagship happening with the ‘the sassiest DJ crew in town’. After their historic queer takeover of the Radical Roots stage in 2023, Booty Bass return to Carnival duties serving femme-fronted NRG For those who wish to D.A.N.C.E. Expect only the finest wile out bass anthems across the afro-diasporic dancehall / roots / baile / afrobeats / UKF / Latinx spectrum. St Pauls Carnival Presents - Booty Bass at Circomedia.

Free entry! A Trinity Centre community celebration of the Windrush generation’s journey and enduring legacy. Joyfully stacked to the rafters with a book fair, arts exhibition, storytelling from the spoken word luminaries of St Paul's Carnival Human Library, and music from acoustic Caribbean folk duo Artuba – plus food, DJs, and garden games. Windrush Celebration Day at The Trinity Centre.

Vibrant global bass hip-shakers melding highlife, afrobeats and the African diaspora with hometown UK club sounds. Busy Twist is at the peak of this particular game, riding the Jamz Supernova approval rating to a fever pitch alongside the sizzling Bristol / Ghana combo of Burland & Zongo Abongo. Busy Twist, Burland + Zongo Abongo at The Jam Jar.

Sell out warning! Explosive Afro-Colombian sound system rumberos bring the vibrant energy of Barranquilla Carnival to Jam Jar. With their patent mix of porro, electro-cumbia, hip-hop turntablism, ragga culture and anything else that gets sucked into their psychedelic vortex this is heavy revelry FFO: Bomba Estéreo, Sotomayor, Sidestepper. Systema Solar + Panther Panther at The Jam Jar.

Stage organisers can use this page to announce set times for the djs and mcs for the music stages and sound systems at Bristol’s 2025 carnival. While the main stages focus on Caribbean music, it’s foolish to consider St Pauls carnival as predominantly dub and reggae event. Programmed by sound system owners and local promoters, the lineups for the stages each bring different musical styles and artists to the 2025 event. From established drum & bass and dubstep djs to the cutting edge electronica and house producers that Bristol is becoming known for, St Pauls carnival by night is a celebration of Bristol’s diverse music scene.

When the sound systems switch off around midnight, the party moves indoors with almost every venue in Bristol boasting some form of St Pauls carnival after party. After parties range from big club events in venues like Lakota, Basement 45, The Black Swan and Blue Mountain, to free-entry all-nighters in the pubs and bars around St Pauls and Stokes Croft. The event listings below outline all of the free and paid after parties for this years carnival.

This year's carnival after parties

“Come and join us as we start the St Paul’s carnival weekend with talented producer and vocalist Eminence! Fresh from touring Australia and New Zealand, recently Eminence’s work has been released on some important hardcore jungle labels such as Future Retro, Mined, Code Name Records etc.”
From: Education Sessions with Eminence

“Its glorious uptempo sound is a bustling carnival of stabbing horns, rollercoaster keys, relentless guitar hooks, killer choruses, unbeatable beats and a sense of boisterous bonhomie. A blur of legs, arms, pork pie hats and tonic suits, the band is a frantic mass of kinetic energy, its members suddenly springing into life, leaping up and down, rushing backwards and forwards across the stage, with his Big Boss Band.”
From: Ya Freshness + DJ Oogie B

“His upfront rhythmic workouts join the dots between Afro, Latin and UK bass. A fun, fresh and sophisticated fusion that has taken him to play everywhere from Glastonbury to Nyege Nyege in Uganda, to the Barranquilla carnival on the Colombian coast, as well as releasing music on international labels like Jamz Supernova’s Future Bounce, Sony Colombia and Soundway Records.”
From: Busy Twist, Burland + Zongo Abongo

“Set in an imaginary country, The City of Lost Children sees a monster and his army of clones capture children and steal their dreams, in an attempt to discover the secret of happiness. One of the children captured is the friend of Miette, an orphan young girl, who decides to do all she can to find him. She's helped in her task by One (Ron Perlman), a gentle carnival strongman.”
From: THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN

“BENZO QUEEN fuse manic carnival energy with raw punk aggression, crafting a sound that's equal parts circus riot and basement show mayhem. This Bristol collective attacks stages like a deranged big band, wielding instruments as weapons of mass disruption.”
From: POHL + Dearthworms + BENZO QUEEN