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

Wed 23rd April
Brown Horse at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Brown Horse in Bristol Tickets

Sun 16th March
Peter Doherty at The Trinity Centre
— The Trinity Centre

Peter Doherty in Bristol Tickets

Wed 30th April
6161 + Annie Gardener + Surgenos Girl at Rough Trade Bristol
Fri 28th February
Foot Foot at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Foot Foot in Bristol Tickets

Wed 5th March
Bitter Kisses at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Bitter Kisses 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! Like a delightfully broken Ben Webster, Alabaster dePlume's fragile, breathy saxophone playing is as immediately captivating as it is extraordinary. Expect delicate solo work, warm ensemble and spoken word in turmoil from the Mancunian's bitter tongue Alabaster DePlume at The Trinity Centre.

WARNING extreme trip music from the definitive freak-out group of the 21st century. Beyond-experimental psych, wildly improvised with extended atonal journeys through walls of noise. Unhinged music for unhinged fans of: Gong, Amon Düül, Stockhausen, Gnod, Bitches Brew, Comets on Fire, Frank Zappa. Acid Mothers Temple at Moor Beer Co.

Uplifting poetry melds with soul, spiritual jazz, dusty hiphop and rolling broken beat in the singular soundworld of Sons of Kemet wordsmith Joshua Idehen. Essential solo show FFO: Calabashed, Infinity Knives, Daedelus, Neue Grafik Ensemble. Joshua Idehen at The Jam Jar.

Future funk, astral jazz and bass-heavy trap combine in a swirling maelstrom of sound like BADBADNOTGOOD covering DJ Rashad’s greatest licks. Real hypnotising musicianship without a laptop in sight. ECHT + Support at The Jam Jar.

Recommended Gigs

Tue 4th February
Jon Udry's Having A Ball at The Wardrobe Theatre
Fri 21st February
Sweet Juno at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Sweet Juno in Bristol Tickets

Wed 12th February
M/X + More at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

M/X + More in Bristol Tickets

Wed 19th March
BEX + more at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

BEX + more in Bristol Tickets

Thu 8th May
Baths at Strange Brew
Sun 2nd March
Dery at Rough Trade Bristol
— Rough Trade Bristol

Dery in Bristol Tickets

Thu 8th May
Pom Poko at Bristol Beacon
Thu 3rd April
Pale Blue Eyes at Thekla
Wed 7th May
Modernlove at Thekla

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!

Free entry! Tonight, Mikhail, the Lanes is going to be…. the Leningrad Rock Club. London-based cover collective Soviet Underground replicate the sound of 80s Russia’s musical revolution and the legendary bands that leapt from Western rock-imitating subcultural secret to mainstream phenomena. Unique and unmissable. Sounds of Soviet Underground at The Lanes.

Monochrome made a blood oath to extreme ugliness in all forms, and the hex has not been lifted! Another weekend splatterfest of pummeling deathgrind, cybernetic queercore and….noise accordion? Gruelling highlights include Black Curse’s ludicrously blackened death-magick, Gretchen Guttersnipe in solo anarcho-gabber psychodrama, graveyard-bating OSDM from Coffin Mulch + all the bands we’ve never heard of, yet can’t unhear ….. Monochrome Festival of Ugly Music 2025 at Moor Beer Co.

Rapper announces our new Bristol gig guide on the microphone!
Sell out warning! Berlin hot shit jazz fusion trio stepping on Robert Glasper’s sophisto toes with their own deft broken beat / boom-bap inflected propulsion, florid funk bass fills and collabs with rappers like ENNY. This is bop for the broad-listening brigade! FFO: Emma-Jean Thackray, Madlib, R+R=NOW, Joe Armon-Jones. Moses Yoofee Trio at Strange Brew.

A true tenor innovator, Dave Brubeck’s right hand saxman brings his inimitable post-bop quartet to the Brew for a seated evening of jazz excellence and exuberance. A rare chance to commune with one of the greats! Jerry Bergonzi Quartet 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.