Summer holidays are in swing and our diaries are filling up fast, but make sure to keep the August bank holiday weekend free (Saturday, August 24) for the return of Old City Sounds. Making its debut last year, the free, family-friendly music festival will move into some of Bristol’s most iconic venues.
Old City Sounds will fill venues across the city centre with an eclectic mix of live music. Once again, King Street will set the tone, with The Old Duke hosting its famous Jazz Festival. The city’s legendary venue will host top jazz artists from 11am – 11pm – including Trudgeon’s Trad Jazz Troubadours, The Jiveoholics, Ruby Jazz and Jack Mac’s Funk Pack. Meanwhile, Bristol Old Vic hosts three top-secret gigs (at 2pm, 5pm and 8pm)…
For families, The Kids Zone at St Stephen’s Church will be a hub of activity from 2 – 5pm – featuring crafts, face painting and a variety of workshops and performances. Starting with a Circus Skills Workshop, where kids can learn juggling, hula hooping and other unique circus skills. This is followed by a Bhangra Dance Workshop (2.30pm) and an African Drumming Workshop (3pm) – the schedule repeats at 3.30pm.
Vicky Lee, Director of Bristol City Centre BID, said: “Old City Sounds is the perfect way to bring music, culture and family together in one big free day party in one of the city’s oldest and most beautiful areas. Not only will the event showcase the great musical talents in our city, it will also showcase the wide range of venues Bristol has to offer and we’re excited to get people into these venues to celebrate the incredible talents our city holds.”
Nearby, Welsh Back will see DJs take to the decks on board the 6 O’clock Gin Boat, curated by international DJ and live act booking agency, The Pool Agency. Elsewhere, Death Disco will serve slushies and frozen margaritas during the day and Dirty Martini hosts eclectic DJs from 6pm to keep the good times going. Blame Gloria has a ‘Lose Yourself To Disco’ Bottomless Brunch, while Tonight Josephine is also getting in the party mood.
For a lively line-up of alternative bands and DJs, look to The Mother’s Ruin – with Bristol-based music collectives VooKoo and Bristol Zoo each doing their own two-hour takeovers, followed by electronic DJ sets from Variable_self and Sam Lester. Neo soul artist O.Love will be taking over The Raven from 9.30pm nearby, while Seamus O’Donnells will see Irish country and folk band Woodchuck take to the stage from 2-6pm, before Just Jed takes over for an evening of good vibes and karaoke.
Mr Wolfs will host a range of live bands and DJs, with DJ Wooley on the decks at 2pm, 3.45pm, 5pm and 6.15pm, live music from Naughty Steps at 3pm, Chloe Et Al will be on at 5:30pm, Karolina Griškutė Quartet will take to the stage at 5.30pm and The Dusk Brothers will play at 7pm before Jambo closes the evening off with a DJ set from 8pm onwards.
Stewart Seydel, Landlord at The Old Duke, said: “I’m lucky enough to witness the joy that live music can bring to people, both the players and listeners, every single day. Supporting and encouraging live bands has been at the heart of what The Old Duke does since the first band played here in 1967. Spreading that engagement, with events like Old City Sounds, is wonderful.”
Old City Sounds line-up
The Old Duke
12:00 – 14:00 – Trudgeon’s Trad Jazz Troubadours
15:00 – 17:00 – Ruby Jazz
18:00 – 20:00 – The Jiveoholics
21:00 – 23:00 – Jack Mac’s Funk Pack
St. Stephen’s Church
14:00 – Circus Skills Workshop
14:30 – RSVP Dance – Bhangra Workshop
14:45 – Bubble Fairy
15:00 – Afidance Drumming Workshop
15:30 – Circus Skills Workshop
16:00 – RSVP Dance – Bhangra Workshop
16.15 – Bubble Fairy
16:30 – Afidance Drumming Workshop
14:00 – 17:00 – Face Painting
14:00 – 17:00 – Craft (make your own maracas) and colouring in for under 4’s
Corn Street & Small Street venues
16:00 – 22:00 – Death Disco, Street party with live DJ’s and frozen margaritas
18:00 – 00:00 – Dirty Martini, DJs
18:00 – 00:00 – Blame Gloria, DJ Aly
18.00 – Cocktail Club, Live drums accompany commercial house, party classics, R&B and Chart Pop
14:30 – Walkabout, Pete Hill
19:00 – 22:00 – Walkabout, DJ Lee Haskins
King Street & Baldwin Street venues
14:00 – 21:00 – Bristol Old Vic, secret gigs at 14:00, 17:00 and 20:00
19:00 – 01:00 – Tonight Josephine, DJs
Glassboat
The Pool at 6 O’Clock Gin at the Glass Boat:
14:00 – 15:00 – Dominic Pipe
15:00 – 17:00 – Meggy Mac b2b Hans
17:00 – 19:00 – Sarah Sweeney
19:00 – 20:30 – Spice Route
20:30 – 22:00 – Ben Terry & Matty J
Mother’s Ruin (The Rathouse)
16:00 – 18:00 – VooKoo
18:00 – 20:00 – Bristol Zoo
20:00 – 22:00 – Variable_self
22:00 – 23:00 – Sam Lester
Mother’s Ruin (Outside)
14:00 – 22:00 – live bands
The Crown
14:00 – 22:00 – Void Radio Takeover
21:00 – Silva
The Raven
21.30 – O.Love (Neo Soul)
Mr Wolfs
14:00 – DJ: Wooley
15:00 – Naughty Steps
15:45 – DJ: Wooley
17:30 – Chloe Et Al
17:00 – DJ: Wooley
17:30 – Karolina Griškutė Quartet
18:15 – DJ: Wooley
19:00 – The Dusk Brothers (Acoustic Set)
20:00 – DJ: Jambo
Seamus O’Donnells
14.00 Woodchuck
18.00 Just Jed
20.00 Karaoke hosted by Just Jed
To learn more about Old City Sounds head here.