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 2023.

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.

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Sell out warning! Bristol’s revelatory and adventurous deep dive into butchness and dancefloor somatics celebrates one year of reshaping queer clubbing with an extra special lineup ft. VJ Jasmine Creusson, poetry from Leilah King + DJ Lexx and DJ Devolicious serving heaters across dancehall, dnb and afrobeat. A somatics-infused night celebrating all butchness, for women, Non-Binary and Trans folk to dance freely together.

Ghetto Kumbé bring ritualistic carnival spirit and afro-futurist digital rhumba to the world stage. Straight outta Bogotá with a whirl of hand drums and funky house earworming melodies. One of Colombia’s most prominent alternative acts gone global

Your last Halloween gasp kept lingering past the witching hour by the wicked people at Erratic Batting with pure gothic EBM/newbeat sleaze from DJ October, live darkwave techno from Falmouth’s Snake Gang and naughty 140 biz from Rea. Part 2 of Crofters Frights Mini-Fest - 140 - Jungle - Darkwave - 90s Techno

Cult ‘all tribes / all genres’ soundsystem night promising no two songs of the same genre b2b for slice of pure club ADHD escapism. Expect everything from congotronics to gospel, jungle to lovers rock, bhangra to dancehall. Let's get silly, let's get strange

Warm, woozy, tropical-tinged delights breathing in the full scope of worldwide Creole culture, David Walters is a visionary of globe-trotting textures and sounds. Legendary French Caribbean tropicalista returns to Bristol!

A proper celebration of blues parties, patties and sound system culture with a screening of Steve McQueen’s sensual and nostalgic Lovers Rock (part of BBC’s Small Axe mini-series) plus tales from the Bristol heads who remember! We explore Bristol Sound System scene through the film “Small Axe” Lovers Rock

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 2023 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 2023 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

Crofters Carnival: Brown Excellence, Club Siren ++ at Crofters Rights
— Crofters Rights

Crofters Carnival: Brown Excellence, Club Siren ++ Tickets

Club Djembe Carnvial After Party at The Love Inn
— The Love Inn

Club Djembe Carnvial After Party Tickets

DTYM - Bristol Pride Fundraiser at Phoenix Pub
— Phoenix Pub

DTYM - Bristol Pride Fundraiser Tickets

St Paul's Carnival All Dayer + Afterparty at The Canteen
— The Canteen

St Paul's Carnival All Dayer + Afterparty Tickets

BRISTOL NORTHERN SOUL CLUB at The Old Market Assembly
— The Old Market Assembly

BRISTOL NORTHERN SOUL CLUB Tickets

Strange Brew Nights - Dirtytalk DJs + Fig b2b Suze at Strange Brew
— Strange Brew

Strange Brew Nights - Dirtytalk DJs + Fig b2b Suze Tickets

Carnival Afterparty w/ Joker & King Original at Lost Horizon
— Lost Horizon

Carnival Afterparty w/ Joker & King Original Tickets

DJ Folu's House Party - carnival special! at To The Moon
— To The Moon

DJ Folu's House Party - carnival special! Tickets

FOLU'S AFROHOUSE PARTY - CARNIVAL EDITION at To The Moon
— To The Moon

FOLU'S AFROHOUSE PARTY - CARNIVAL EDITION Tickets

Disco Dinner Carnival Day Party Takeover at New Bristol Brewery
— New Bristol Brewery

Disco Dinner Carnival Day Party Takeover Tickets

Propaganda - Indie vs Pop-Punk Special! at The Fleece
— The Fleece

Propaganda - Indie vs Pop-Punk Special! Tickets

Eject x Uprise: St Paul's Afters// Rominimal, Free at The Cock and Tail
— The Cock and Tail

Eject x Uprise: St Paul's Afters// Rominimal, Free Tickets

Carnival showdown at Revs de cuba
— Revs de cuba

Carnival showdown Tickets

Jungle Connoisseur & The ASBO Disco: Bristol Fire at The Jam Jar
— The Jam Jar

Jungle Connoisseur & The ASBO Disco: Bristol Fire Tickets

Rockit Science at No. 51s
— No. 51s

Rockit Science Tickets

All Out 90's at The Lanes
— The Lanes

All Out 90's Tickets

FNUK de House'D Afters with Slipmatt and Tenacious at Dare to Club
— Dare to Club

FNUK de House'D Afters with Slipmatt and Tenacious Tickets

SUBVISION CARNIVAL AFTER PARTY at The Loco Klub
— The Loco Klub

SUBVISION CARNIVAL AFTER PARTY Tickets

FNUK de HOUSE'D - SECONDCITY & ELLIE COCKS at Dare to Club
— Dare to Club

FNUK de HOUSE'D - SECONDCITY & ELLIE COCKS Tickets

Lakota's St Pauls Carnival Day & Night Party at Lakota
— Lakota

Lakota's St Pauls Carnival Day & Night Party Tickets

Apocalypse Bristol - Metal // Emo // Alternative at Basement 45
— Basement 45

Apocalypse Bristol - Metal // Emo // Alternative Tickets

“Strange things happen in dreams, but stranger things can happen in waking life, and Jaz Delorean has never shied away from baring his tattered soul to anyone willing to listen. He’ll pull at your heartstrings and get you dancing to the rhythms of his fingers and forgetting your own worries for a time, before skulking off into the blackness behind the neon carnival lights again.”
From: Jaz Delorean & Beth Roberts

“Emerging from the sacred oak with a mission to spread love and joy, Cousin Carving, an ancient being, seeks to reunite his carnival troupe to protest against oppressive forces and create community in the face of adversity. Will you join him on this extraordinary journey?”
From: Carnifølk Presents: Carving's Carnival

“Expect all sorts from baile funk to balkan wedding bangers, latin american dancehall to cockney knees up slammers, congotronics to jigs/reels, soca to bhangra & ska to carnival samba with of course the occasional tease of jungle n hardcore ruffage.”
From: AnExperience Presents ~ A proper knees up

“We are hugely excited to welcome back David Walters and his group from France after their absolutely show stopping performance at The Jam Jar in 2021. The powerful tropical trio combine the sounds of Africa, America, Europe with the Caribbean roots of David Walters in a universal language of music and carnival.”
From: David Walters

“Kandi Sharma, international Multi genre Dj, entertains diverse crowds from Glastonbury Festival to the carnival masqueraders in the streets of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Having hosted a radio show on LUR Live for 4 years, and frequently creating mixtapes for BBC Sounds, Kandi also performs her original songs and models carnival costumes for Notting Hill's Tempo Mas UK. Her journey started when she joined an all female sound system in 2007 which was created by Barrington Levys daughter and niece. A star in the making, we're so excited to invite Kandi to Bristol!”
From: Ruffnek Diskotek