Music / Previews
Bristol’s month in Metal and Prog: July 2026
This month we welcome back old chums Gong, Rosalie Cunningham and Steel Panther and say hello to Rival Sons frontman Jay Buchanan in solo guise. Something for everyone, then, except fans of extreme metal, who’ll have to wait until August.
Fleece, Thurs July 2
Who’d have thunk that the mighty Gong would not only survive Daevid Allen’s death but would also be thriving 11 years on with the most stable line-up in the band’s illustrious history and a string of three excellent studio albums with Kavus Torabi at the helm? This latest of these, Bright Spirit, was hailed by Prog magazine as “cosmic rock of the highest order”. If you haven’t seen them since Allen’s death, you may be surprised/delighted to find that the current Gong have dropped the Pothead Pixie nonsense in favour of hard driving psychedelia. In fact, the current Gong are the very definition of how to reinvent a ‘legacy’ act without abandoning the spirit that made them so popular in the first place.
Louisiana, Fri July 17
Last seen locally at the Thekla back in 2022, former Purson frontwoman Rosalie Cunningham is one of those artists who really ought to be a lot more successful than they are. But her defiant independence probably works against her. There’s been no new album since 2024’s To Shoot Another Day but her rich catalogue of psychedelic prog more than justifies Classic Rock’s claim that “if Kate Bush and The Beatles had a baby it would have been Rosalie Cunningham”.
O2 Academy, Fri July 24
By rights, the self-styled “greatest heavy metal band in heavy metal” should have run out of steam years ago. Okay, so preening Lexxi left in 2022 and the following year’s On the Prowl album was a bit of a stinker, but the joke has always been rooted in genuine affection for the genre and it helps that they can really play. There’s no new album out for this tour, their latest release being The Mother’s Day Song – an “anthem to loving mothers around the world”. The entire show should probably carry a ‘trigger warning’ for timorous Gen Z, who are likely to find the whole thing offensive if they wind up here by mistake. Such a shame this show clashes with . . .
Lantern Hall, Fri July 24
The Rival Sons frontman plays a (relatively) intimate show in support of his debut solo album Weapons of Beauty, which he wrote in a windowless bunker in the Mojave Desert and includes a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love.
Main pic of Steel Panther by Dave Jackson
COMING SOON
Here’s our essential diary of upcoming gigs that should be of interest to anyone of a rockin’ disposition.
ArcTanGent Festival (Primus, Igorr, Napalm Death, Alcest, Amplfier), Fernhill Farm, Aug 19-23
Bristol Extreme Fest (Rotting Christ, etc), Trinity Centre, Aug 29
Devin Townsemd, Komedia Bath, Sept 2
Todd Rundgren, Bristol Beacon, Sept 10
Holy Holy, O2 Academy, Sept 11
Voyage 35, O2 Academy, Sept 15
Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks, Bath Forum, Sept 17
Marillion, Bristol Beacon, Sept 18
Big Big Train, Komedia Bath, Sept 27
The Hu, Prospect Building, Oct 1
Steve Hackett, Bristol Beacon, Oct 7
Baest, Croft, Oct 8
John 5, Thekla, Oct 13
Robin and Bina Williamson, The Cube, Oct 23
LA Guns, Electric Bristol, Oct 27
Von Hertzen Brothers, Trinity, Nov 1
Anna von Hausswolff, Fleece, Nov 9
The Sheepdogs, Trinity, Nov 16
Urne, Fleece, Nov 17
Ricky Warwick and the Fighting Hearts, Thekla, Nov 22
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Trinity, Nov 24
Little Angels, O2 Academy, Nov 26
The Temperance Movement, Electric Bristol, Nov 29
These Wicked Rivers, Thekla, Dec 4
Evergrey, Strange Brew, Dec 4
Dominum, Electric Bristol, Dec 9
Sevendust, Electric Bristol, Dec 11
Green Lung/High On Fire/Gnome, Electric Bristol, Dec 17
Mother Vulture, Trinity, Dec 18
Rick Wakeman, Bristol Beacon, Feb 19
Elder, Trinty, Feb 23
Saxon, Bristol Beacon, Feb 24
The Rasmus, Electric Bristol, March 4
Focus, Fleece, April 18
Francis Rossi, Bristol Beacon, April 22
Yes, Bristol Beacon, May 7
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