Bristol Rave Events

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Bristol's Rave Scene

Bristol has long been the South West's rave mecca with bus loads of ravers coming to hardcore nights from lesser endowed cities like Bournemouth and Bath since the nineties. At the heart of Bristol's hardcore and old skool scene has always been Lakota, the only venue (until recently) large enough for huge, multi-room raves. The venue's industrial warehouse feel and non-central location also made it popular with Bristol's free party crews who's multi-rig 'linkups' (most notably the Gener8r parties) have also made Bristol a national attraction for oldskool, mash-up and breakcore nights.

The Black Swan in Easton is Bristol's other key rave venue, attracting promoters like Mongrel (formerly at the Croft), Tiki and Avalaf. Keep an eye on Lab's listings for occasional Wrong Music events and even check Whats on at Bristol's Motion for the odd large rave event like Battlegrounds.

Bristol Rave in the time of Covid
Bristol is easily the rave capital of the west, it’s clear from just the name of Rave on Avon - a multi-day multi-venue rave event where the streets of Bristol open themselves to fans of the whole spectrum of rave: drum n bass, hardcore, trance, techno house. Bristol never descriminates! But the only raves hitting the news recently was an illegal rave - the first of its kind in Bristol to receive a £10,000. Obviously no-one would condone raving in Bristol at this time, no matter how much we want it. The question on everyone’s lips is: what will raves look like after covid? Facemasks on entry? Dwindling crowds checking track and trace apps on their phones. Let’s hope Bristol can get its rave on, in the way remember, as soon as possible.

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Our recent rave recommendations

Plunderphonic acid, bruised breaks and chill out room revelations are on the menu from Bellyache, making their biggest statement yet with a rare AF appearance from Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia’s Robert Heynen. A true titan of tribal tech, joined by LNR’s goa trance explorations and a whole 2nd room of deep club/not-club excavations. Plastikman, KLF and Coil devotees come get spiritualized. 2 rooms of immersive, psychedelic dance music ft. Eat Static (DJ Set- replacing eXquisite CORpse) LNR, Mackenzie, Angelkin, fig and AKA.Zato. Psychedelic house / techno / trance & experimental

Another deep clurb rumbler down at Stokes Croft’s humble DIY art abode. Prepare for killer psych-dub meditations, lush breakbeat, lunar ambient techno and sublime shape-shifting rhythms — powered by the MEGA Bristol via Cardiff custom Sain Audio sound system for maximum immersion. Cirrina Sessions are bringing their debut party to KIT FORM with residents Casino Flats, DJ Vetiver and DJ Yulian.

Gary is an alien! He landed in the Hague’s 80s italo scene and is keeping clubkind under control with Martian-endorsed acidic stompers, oddball komische transmissions and an ancestral knowledge of freak electro-funk happenings. Lupini may also not be human, if her dub-wise new beat and sludge-wise dancehall stylings are anything to go by…. There is a cosmic hole and we want to be in it.

Mix Nights / Idle Hands L.E.G.E.N.D. Danielle is slaying every aspect of club culture possible. After minting the expansive Soft Raw label with a slew of future bassbin bangers AND gifting us Stingray at the Brew last year - now she’s corralling Ogazón’s old school house and techno stylings for a back-to-basics night of unadulterated dancefloor purism. Danielle’s Soft Raw is back in the backroom with Berlin-based Ogazón, bringing her old school approach to longform DJing, journeying through wiggy leftfield minimal, pummeling techno and percussive house

What our editors say

“Realist Alive doubles up on the debuting London wunderkinds + genre-bending locals formula to set Portland Square off with 5 hours of tunes ranging from glitched-out experimentalism to overpowering hardstyle.”
From: Realist A: Synapsefirer, DJ 3t13 & more

“Room Two hosted by dance-punk upstarts Bellyache- dealing out a dose of acid house and rave utlitarianism on the Murmur Soundsystem. Room Three will be the chillout room, hosted by everyone’s favourite cyber sorceress and meme admin Zeobat.”
From: PTS 12 ϟ Iglooghost, AKA Hex, gyrofield

“glas___skin - It'd feel wrong to have one without the other. TU resident glas__skin brings an eclectic blend of blasted trap, cavernous hardstyle and hyperglitch with all the usual distorted trimmings. That b2b at TraumaExcalibur will be the stuff of legend, and we got you for an hour of each.”
From: Realist A: Naramnesia, glas___skin & more

“Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Dazegxd is a 22 year old producer & DJ currently spearheading the DIY dance movement of NYC. Dazegxd’s discography has been shaped by rave music of the early 00s, video games, his Jamaican and Ghanaian heritage, and growing up in Brooklyn. He intertwines different elements of hardcore, acid, jungle, trap, rap, house, techno + more to create illimitable sounds.”
From: Brooklyn to Bristol Connection

“Back before acid house changed the world Jaye was already ploughing a unique path playing weird and wonky musics of all flavours at squat parties and industrial based do’s. She flung herself whole heartedly and without concern for her safety into the oncoming tsunami of what we would end up tagging as house, techno or the multitude of varying descriptive titles it has been given and has stayed true to ‘our thing’ ever since.”
From: CLUB LOVE MEMBERS PARTY