Bristol: Home To The Best Music Scene In The World
Bristol’s music scene has never been lacking. Despite the absence of an arena, a number of world-wide, headline acts have performed in Bristol with more and more heading this way to perform at the Downs Festival or at Ashton Gate stadium. However, it’s not just the big names that can draw the crowds.
Local, independent venues all around Bristol host artists all year round, showcasing the best music we have to offer. Venues like The Louisiana, Thekla, The Fleece, Mr Wolfs, Café Kino, Crofters Right… the list goes on and on. Recently, independent venues have been at risk of closures due to the need for student housing and noise complaints from neighbours, this has been the case for Blue Mountain while Thekla and The Fleece have both, in the past few years, have had help from petitions and charities in order to stay open – artists all over are helping to keep Thekla afloat with even Katy B showing her support.
One of the things that makes Bristol so popular is the culture and art and it would be a shame for the much-loved music scene to shrink because of money-making landlords and grumpy neighbours. However, some good news was announced in December when the Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant agreed to help fund an upgrade for The Louisiana. All may not be lost yet.
Many award-winning bands have performed in Bristol before they managed to reach worldwide fame. I remember watching Blossoms for the first time in the small room above The Louisiana before they were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2017 and then dominated the Brit Awards. You can’t go to The Louis without admiring all of the band posters plastering the walls that have performed there, including Florence and The Machine and Coldplay.
Our love of music is evident in the number of Bristol based artists that have been making waves locally and nationally in the past few years. The most prominent band at the moment isIDLES, a punk rock band, formed in Bristol ten years ago that you can now hear on the likes of BBC Radio 1. It is hard to turn up at a gig and not find at least one Bristol based artist on the set-list.
From the age of 17, I have been lucky enough to go to several gigs and watch all different types of musicians on stage, with most of them of being based locally. Most of my friends are also in bands with a number of them playing at Dot2Dot festival, booking shows in Manchester or recording in London.
A passion for music is what leads people to showcase artists that wouldn’t normally have a platform. A popular live music night is Imagine That, hosted by Lucy Atkins and Daniel O ’Donoghue (better known as Dod). This night began in Liverpool back in 2014 before moving to Manchester and then returning to their hometown of Bristol.
“We wanted to do it because we were fed up of seeing ‘pay to play’ nights everywhere”, Lucy tells me. This is where the artists came away worse off than the promoters, and this was Dod’s experience while he was in a band; it was one they did not want to emulate with their venture.
Lucy praises Bristol’s music scene as “it has so many great venues that are all for supporting live music at grassroots level”, something that can sometimes be difficult when people focus more on how much money a performer is going to bring in rather than the music itself.
It hasn’t always been easy for independent promoters such as Lucy and Dod, however, with punters still not wanting to support the scene but rather only attending gigs for the social atmosphere. “We still often find people complaining on the door when we ask for a fiver which is not far off the price of a pint in Bristol now!” Surely you can trade 1 pint for a ticket to see some great live music – you never know who the next Brit’s Best Breakthrough Act or Mercury Prize winner might be!
They’re most recent night was at Café Kino, hosting a number of bands and artists with over half of the line-up being from Bristol. The diverse line-up included solo artist, Molly Cheek, The Pilton Stage Competition Winner Chrissie Huntley, South Wales band Cactus Haus and the rock and roll singer Mitch Sanders with his full band. A sold out show, the basement venue was packed with people there to support not only the artists but also charity as all takings on the door were donated to The Julian Trust, the Bristol based charity in aid of homelessness.
I credit Imagine That massively for introducing me to some incredible bands as well as the majority of my friends who I met at these nights all those years ago.
Our vibrant music scene caters to all genres of music, from rock to dub, rap to jazz and punk to folk, there is something for everyone. But it’s not just music that is celebrated in Bristol, all forms of artistic talent is welcomed with open arms; this could be spoken word and poetry evenings, theatre showcases or writing groups. Even if you’re not an established artist yet, you are able to show off your talented, musical skills all over with places such as Mr Wolfs who hold an open mic night every Monday.
Bristol celebrates music in all forms, never shunning anyone away but instead lifting them up, giving bands and artists a platform to create, produce and perform. There is a sense of community when gig-goers join to watch a well-loved band, knowing that their money is helping independent venues and local artists pursue their passion.
Bristol has always been synonymous with great music and talented people; by supporting artists as much as we can then it may just stay that way.
Written by Issy Packer
Hi! I’m Issy, I’m 23 years old and I’m an English Literature graduate currently living in Bristol. I’m very passionate about a number of things including travelling, writing, reading, film, music and feminism.