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Free Gigs in Bristol

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Bristol's Free Gigs Scene

Where to find free music in Bristol Free music's pretty easy to find in Bristol. Whilst most gigs outside of the big venues are usually only a few quid, it's always nice to see some bands for free or a couple of pounds in a bucket (if they're good!) For guaranteed free music with your pint, go to a venue which has a free entry policy.

The Old Duke, The Canteen and The Golden Lion (except fridays) should probably be your first port-of-call to check out Coronation Tap are also very reliable and popular for free gigs. Luckily free gigs can happen anywhere, this means you can keep things interesting and not get bored of rotating the same Bristol venues. Free live music can crop up anywhere from the Grain Barge and Lousianna to Colston Hall and even St Georges.

The economy of free gigs. Can it survive Covid?

Good news: gigs in Bristol are more likely to be free than anywhere else! General ticket prices seem to be more common between free and £5; the £20+ bracket is a rare one compared to the capital’s high-end arts and theatre gigs. Bristol’s pandemic response has opened up some extra local music funding. Will free gigs disappear with the added financial pressures of covid? Indoor gigs may soon be possible, but how many of them will remain free and accessible?

Free outdoor gigs and festivals in Bristol

From mid June to the beginning of September Bristol Council and independent organisations put on some great free music events. Best of all there's something different almost every weekend and they don't cost any money! Significant large events include St Werbergh's Fair, The Harbourside Festival and St Pauls Carnival. In addition there are some great smaller, open air gigs with free entry to be found in places like Queens Square, Stokes Croft and Castle Park.

Buy tickets for free gigs events in Bristol

Our recent free gigs recommendations

A biiiig Shitty Futures four-band tasting platter, headed up by Finnish power-pop-punk marvels Tiikeri. Their timeless sweet-n-snotty Ramonescore hits hard alongside needs-no-introduction garage wunderkind crew Bruno & The Outrageous Methods of Presentation, Cydernide’s scrumpy-soaked breakneck hardcore and Scarebears’ aggy post-punk. Tiikeri / Bruno BOMP / Cydernide / Scarebears at Exchange.

Art Ensemble of Old Market assemble! 8 of our finest jazzers throw the kitchen sink at you with many arms a-skronking across two totally improvised and unrepeatable sets, tugging at the very edges of that thing we call music. Pizza Express this ain’t, so you best like your jazz freer than free. 8tet Clarkson / Grigg / Helson / Hill / Kelly / Langford /Skerman / Sneddon at Exchange.

Free entry! Unabashed Bolan worship done properly – Weird Bloom know how to craft the perfect hand-clapped power-pop nugget like it was ‘74 all over again. And if you were just a twinkle in your Daddy’s glittery eyes back then, this post-Ariel Pink sunshine glam (with a side of space kitsch) is all the sweeter. Weird Bloom at The Elmer's Arms.

Old-time Americana and Irish trad, stripped back to the grain. With finely-worked folk weight, Kate Griffin and Ford Collier pull together hypnotic clawhammer banjo runs, intricate whistle lines and soft honeyed vocals. All profits go to Bristol Tree Craft’s community craft programmes – another good reason to dig deep FFO: The Furrow Collective, Leveret, Rhiannon Giddens. Griffin and Collier is the new folk duo from the creative voices behind the critically acclaimed global folk band Mishra.