Roni Size Reprazent announced for Bristol Sounds 2027
Posted on: 02 Oct 2026Bristol’s own Roni Size Reprazent is the first headliner announced for next years Bristol Sounds, live at Canon's Marsh Amphitheatre on Friday 25 June 2027.
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Thirty years after the landmark Mercury Prize-winning album New Forms transformed drum & bass and put the city on the global musical map, Roni returns home for a very special open-air show, with special guests Fabio & Grooverider.
“30 years ago we started something that was never supposed to stand still. Three decades later, the sound is still moving forward. Reprazent are back — 30 years, one legacy, and a whole new journey. See you out there.” Roni Size
2027 marks 30 years since Roni Size Reprazent released New Forms, the landmark album that helped transform drum & bass from an underground movement into a global musical force. To celebrate three decades of one of the most influential albums in electronic music history, Roni Size Reprazent will return to the road in the UK for a limited run of live performances in June 2027, with special guest support from drum & bass pioneers Fabio & Grooverider (except London).
The story of New Forms begins in Bristol, where Roni Size grew up surrounded by the city's legendary blues parties and sound systems. After discovering music production as a teenager, he became part of the city's emerging electronic scene, meeting fellow producers DJ Krust, DJ Die and Suv in the early 1990s. Together they helped establish Full Cycle Records, becoming central figures in Bristol's developing drum & bass movement.
The Full Cycle sound brought together drum & bass, jazz, soul, hip hop, funk and live instrumentation, helping distinguish the Bristol sound from the darker jungle emerging from London. Tracks including It's a Jazz Thing began attracting attention beyond the underground, eventually leading Roni Size and his collective to Talkin' Loud and the creation of New Forms.
Released in 1997, New Forms was a revolutionary fusion of electronic production and live musicianship. The album arrived during an extraordinary year for British music and was shortlisted for the 1997 Mercury Music Prize alongside albums including Radiohead's OK Computer, The Prodigy's The Fat of the Land, The Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole, Primal Scream's Vanishing Point and Suede's Coming Up.
Against that remarkable field, Roni Size Reprazent took home the Mercury Music Prize, marking a defining moment for the Bristol collective and for electronic music. New Forms subsequently went platinum and produced enduring classics including ‘Brown Paper Bag’, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Watching Windows’.
Thirty years later, the music has lost none of its power.
For the 30th Anniversary UK Tour, Roni Size Reprazent will return as a full live band, led by Roni Size on keys, with Dynamite MC and Onallee on vocals, Si John on bass alongside Clive Deemer on drums and two additional keyboard players.
The set will feature iconic tracks from New Forms alongside highlights from Roni Size Reprazent's catalogue, bringing the energy, musicianship and innovation of the project back to the stage.
The tour (except London) will feature special guest support from Fabio & Grooverider, two pioneers who helped shape the evolution of British drum & bass.
At the heart of London's emerging jungle scene in the early 1990s, the pair helped define the genre through their legendary Rage nights at Heaven before taking their music to a wider audience through radio shows on Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1. Their work as DJs, broadcasters and label heads helped champion a new generation of drum & bass artists and establish the genre's growing influence.
With Roni Size Reprazent and Fabio & Grooverider together on the bill, the 2027 tour brings together two of the defining forces behind the evolution of British drum & bass; from the Bristol sound and Full Cycle to London's pioneering rave and radio culture for a celebration of 30 years of New Forms.
Thirty years on, New Forms remains as relevant, innovative and exhilarating as ever.
The Roni Size Reprazent 30th Anniversary June 2027 UK Tour will be a rare opportunity to experience this landmark album performed live by the musicians who helped create it, alongside artists who helped shape the scene from which it emerged.
JUNE 2027 GIGS
Thu 3 Bournemouth O2 Academy
Fri 4 Birmingham O2 Academy
Sat 5 Brixton O2 Academy
Thu 10 Leeds O2 Academy
Fri 11 Nottingham Rock City
Sat 12 Newcastle NX
Thu 17 Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse
Fri 18 Glasgow Barrowlands
Fri 25 Bristol Sounds Canons Marsh Amphitheatre