Brighton Rock!
Current Local Band Scene in Brighton

Brighton is a wonderfully colourful and artistic place with a rich history of embracing indie acts, street art, and cutting-edge cultures of openness and inclusion. There’s a long list of indie outfits, singer songwriters and rock bands who all graced the grungy and glittering stages of Brighton before they hit the big time.

These days, Brighton is more than ever a desirable destination for internationally acclaimed artists, and the city continues to serve up aural offerings for every taste.

“The whole of Brighton has essentially transformed into a musical dynamo: the music-loving, alternative, artsy crowds are drawn to the city from all over the UK and around the world; Brighton has been called Europe’s answer to San Francisco. With such a steady flow of fresh and passionate audiences, artists, too, are drawn down to Brighton.” - Matt @ Warble Entertainment who hire rock and Indie bands in Brighton.

Laid Back Magic

Countless venues have popped up over the years to fulfil the city’s thirst for musical magic. Some are stalwarts with impressive back-catalogues, while others are young and raw but arguably even better places to find Brighton’s local rising stars.

photograph of Brighton music scene A few decades ago, Brighton was geared so strongly towards dance music that an indie rock outfit would have found it hard to get a booking. These days Brighton can lay claim to having nurtured the careers of Primal Scream, Royal Blood, the Popguns, Sharkboy and The Park.

There’s something wonderfully laid-back about Brighton – a rare combination with the sort of cosmopolitanism that generates such a frenetic live performance schedule. There’s a rumour that Brighton is home to the lowest-paid (but happiest) PhD graduates in the country, and we know for a fact that Brighton has more pubs per head than anywhere else in England.

Here’s a look at the best regular events and venues to hunt down Brighton’s enigmatic and eclectic acoustic, indie and rock scenes.

Best Local Hangouts

The Hope & Ruin (known as The Hope until 2015) was refurbished last year and transformed into a bigger, better venue. There’s a dedicated gig venue upstairs called Hope Live, made to fit a sizeable audience of 100. The Hope & Ruin isn’t exclusive to acoustic stylings but it does host regular acoustic evenings. Decent range of craft beers, too.

another photograph of Brighton's lively music scene Thomas Kemp also offers up regular acoustic gigs: see TK acoustic nights on Thursdays. They’ve got more or less updated gig listings on some of the various online pin boards like Bright Noise, but the Thomas Kemp Facebook page is the only dedicated and up-to-date Thomas Kemp page I could find.

More acoustic sounds can be found on a monthly if not weekly basis elsewhere in Brighton, namely the Greys, the Lord Nelson, the Pavillion Tavern, the Hare & Hounds, the Windmill, Komedia, and even famous club venue Concorde2. If acoustic is your thing, you could visit The Secret Level, running every Thursday evening at the Brunswick, or Loose Tuesdays at the Mucky Duck – both events are free!

Best Local Unsigned Acts

If you come to Brighton to see unplugged local artists in 2016, you might run into folksy duo Liemba, solo artist Tim Boat, solo performer Spec, Sam Jefferson (bio here on Brighton Unsigned) or Ella Fence. Local pop/swing acoustic duo Dot’N’Bang will be tearing it up at The Secret Level this May.

Photo of the MP3s The Great Escape Festival, happening on the 19th – 21st of May 2016, will bring over 450 fantastic emerging artists from around the world, many of them out of the woodwork of Brighton’s committed home turf. The festival will be sharing the love between just about every venue in Brighton. You can read the first 300 acts to be announced over at the Great Escape Festival Line-up.

Local bands pictured
Top pic - RIOT!
Middle pic - Bloxed Beatbox
Bottom pic - The MP3s

WHAT'S ON

MUSIC PAGES

WEST SUSSEX TOWNS

STAY INFORMED

SUSSEX INFO

Brighton Rock! Current Local Band Scene in Brighton

Laid Back Magic

Best Local Hangouts

Best Local Unsigned Acts

Brighton Rock!
Current Local Band Scene in Brighton