The Carnival Concerts act as a great warm up for the clubs for their dance routines and choreography before the main carnival event.
This year the Concerts will be held at the McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater while the Town Hall undergoes refurbishment. The dates are Sunday 4 October to Thursday 15 October 2026 and will include two Sunday matinee performances on 4 and 11 October, both starting at 2:00pm. The Saturday evening performance will begin at 6:00pm, with all other performances starting at 7:00pm. Concerts will be judged exactly as in previous years, using the same criteria, formalities and trophy awards that underpin the competitive spirit of Carnival.
The Concert is itself a great spectacle, each night always dells out and has a prestigious local following.
Between the main acts provided by the 12 carnival clubs and 2 dance troupes that participate we have “front of curtain” acts that fill the time with music, singing and magic tricks to entertain the audience whilst the main acts change their scenery.
Tickets for the highly anticipated Bridgwater Carnival Concerts will go on sale on Friday 1 May 2026, priced at £25 per ticket. Tickets will be available in person from the Carnival Centre on Bridgwater High Street from 9.00am, with online sales opening from 10.00am via www.bridgwatercarnival.org.uk/carnival-concert-tickets
We would ask that you do not leave odd seats when you select your seats, there is a programme working in the background to try and ensure this does not happen, “orphan” seats cost us money so you may find that if you leave an odd seat you will not be able to purchase the seat you want unless you close up, this is not an error, it is a system which hopefully give us maximum benefit and you more choice?
Seat tickets sold in the Carnival Centre will not attract a handling charge as you will have to collect them personally, we do not post them out.
If you wish to avoid the queues you can always become a “Friend of Bridgwater Carnival” and order your priority tickets in advance, see the Friends Page.
Contact our Entertainment Officer, Sarah Humphrey for further details..
Concert Judging
You may wonder at the results sometimes and we often get asked how did we arrive at the decision we did? So to give a better insight as to what goes on behind the scenes in producing the results some explanation may be of benefit.
We have a panel of eight judges, all with experience of stage production or associated skills, each judge watches the concert at least twice, once each week. To give you an idea for what the judges are looking for, the club and the dancing troupe performances are judged against:
- Entertainment value – 50 points
- Presentation of theme – 50 points
- Vocal ability/choice of music – 25 points
- Choreography/stillness – 25 points
- Scenery – 25 points
- Lighting and effect – 25 points
- Costumes – 25 points
- Make-up – 25 points
The front of curtain acts are judged against the following criteria:
- Entertainment value – 50 points
- Presentation and choice of music – 50 points
- Aptitude – 75 points
- Attire – 25 points
Once all the results are in we then total them up deducting the highest and lowest placing each entry receives to ensure any potential points wide of the mark are excluded and the results are then calculated on the points balance. These results are then announced at the close of the Concert on the second Saturday performance.
Carnival Concert Auditions
Carnival Concert Photos
Concert Results
See the results of the Carnival Concerts, 1986 – 2025 results are obtainable from the Archive section.
