{"id":43583,"date":"2025-11-07T13:28:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=43583"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:31:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:31:30","slug":"simple-things-festival-returns-to-celebrate-bristols-independent-music-venues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2025\/11\/07\/simple-things-festival-returns-to-celebrate-bristols-independent-music-venues\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Things Festival returns to celebrate Bristol&#8217;s independent music venues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/right-size-simple-things.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/right-size-simple-things.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/right-size-simple-things-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/right-size-simple-things-640x366.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/right-size-simple-things-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Picture: Soul Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simple Things Festival will return tomorrow, bringing a mix of live music, electronic acts and DJ sets to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now in its eleventh edition, the festival began in 2011 as a one-day event celebrating Bristol&#8217;s independent venues and its reputation for musical innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year&#8217;s headliner is Nala Sinephro, a Belgian-Caribbean experimental jazz musician currently based in London. Other performers include The Bug, who will be closing Beacon Hall, Warrior Queen, Blackhaine, and new-gen vocalists such as Scottish post-punks VLURE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/simple-things-correct.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/simple-things-correct.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/simple-things-correct-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/simple-things-correct-640x366.jpg 640w, https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/simple-things-correct-681x389.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Picture: Soul Media <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As in previous editions, performances will take place across multiple city venues, including Bristol Beacon, Strange Brew, Rough Trade, and Thekla, turning the city centre into a network of stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many a rising star has graced the Simple Things stage, with Irish rock band Fontaines D.C headlining back in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So while the programme continues to attract national attention, organisers have kept the focus on Bristol itself. The festival&#8217;s format aims to highlight the importance of small and mid-sized independent venues to the city&#8217;s creative economy, especially at a time when many face rising costs and closures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It comes after a summer which saw the closure of Motion, one of Bristol&#8217;s most iconic and well-loved music venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simple Things is a festival built entirely around existing urban spaces rather than temporary sites. Fourteen years after its debut, it still functions as both a showcase for new music and a celebration of the infrastructure that keeps the Bristol music scene alive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Simple Things Festival will return tomorrow, bringing a mix of live music, electronic acts and DJ sets to the city. Now in its eleventh edition, the festival began in 2011 as a one-day event celebrating Bristol&#8217;s independent venues and its reputation for musical innovation. This year&#8217;s headliner is Nala Sinephro, a Belgian-Caribbean experimental jazz musician [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":43652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1624,1780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-festivals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43583"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44666,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43583\/revisions\/44666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}