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Man, I should double check what I type - anyway.

alcopop records is based there apparently and that looks good but it seems they put most of their shows on in london. one man team dance are playing a week on saturday and they're good.

http://www.facebook.com/DivineSchismPresents?fref=ts

these people put gigs on apparently. going to go and have a chat with them at the gig to find out about stuff. if there's a lack of stuff i'll probably end up putting stuff on my self tbh.

There are still venues like the Cellar, the Wheatsheaf, the Bully and now Modern Art Oxford who put on gigs. Truck Store also do some really good instores. It's mostly indie and metal here it seems.
Some friends and I put on hardcore/punk bands to varying degrees of success:
http://www.facebook.com/100PercentMosh

Although a majority of it may be arty type stuff as opposed to music.

as do oxford contemporary music.

I reckon Pindrop, Oxford Contemporary Music and Blessing Force are responsible for the best shows in Oxford:

https://www.facebook.com/pindropmusic
http://www.ocmevents.org/ocm/index.seam
http://blessingforce.tumblr.com/

Other (tiny) promoters pop in and out of existence to put on bands they really care about. I love this.

Both universities (Brookes and Oxford) have contemporary music factions (probably not the right word) that do things sporadically. This week/weekend Brookes is running their annual Audiograft thing, which is ace (Phill Niblock is playing tomorrow). The Oxford counterpart, M@SH, does things in term time I suppose. I know one of them through work (Chris G)and he is lovely:

http://www.audiograft.com/
http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/jdp-music-building/mash

There are a couple of other excellent annual events. Audioscope does an all-dayer in the autumn for Shelter which never disappoints. Supernormal is a new(ish) Oxfordshire festival which is a genuine alternative to the slew of shite on offer all over the nation at this point. No info on this year's lineup for either but you can look at last year's for an idea of the type of acts:

http://www.audioscope.co.uk/previousevents/index.php
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Supernormal-2012.jpg

To be brutally honest Truck is a bit underwhelming these days, (though there are some good free instores in the shop) and DHP's Gathering thing is largely major label showcase fluff. I've also seen some thin/shit crowds for excellent bands in the last year or so - Liars, Josephine Foster, Perfume Genius and Iceage all woefully under-attended (Liars were heckled at length at the aforementioned Gathering due to tech issues at the venue and played one song).

In summary, the local scene, run by people who know about and understand live music is great. The rest is hit-and-miss. There are a few good blogs/websites worth looking at to keep up to date:

http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/
http://www.oxfordmusicblog.co.uk/
http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/

Get stuck in!

Oxjam in October was pretty well-run last year (I only went to the one venue that had the Blessing Force gig), although I think one of the main organisers of that is working at the O2 now.

I should probably also mention Wood in a vaguely jaggish fashion. It's more of a family festival with workshops and kids stuff, as well as some folky music in the evening, but it is really nice. Supernormal takes place at the same place, and it (Brazier's Park) is absolutely lovely when it's sunny...

Ady VP doesn't put on gigs any more, which is kinda annoying cos it means I basically missed out on the best gigs in Oxford due to being in Manchester for uni.

The Cellar has a new promoter who's doing her damnedest to make it a venue with awesome gigs on again, but things have overall quietened down a bit since the ~2005 heyday of Truck / Vacuous Pop / Youthmovies peak.

Probably the most up-and-coming band atm is Spring Offensive, and The Rabbit Foot Spasm Band are pretty great. I've just realised I don't go to nearly enough gigs as I should do..

It's good to see the scene is far stronger than I was led to believe.

Just move to reading and i had assuming that I'd be using London for my gigs - but with the move eastwards of most venues to shoreditch etc and the trains going into paddington it looks like Oxford might be the better option. How accessible are oxfords venues to its railway station?

http://www.facebook.com/events/152633804892574/?fref=ts

and i'm going. one man team dance are pretty ace. don't know about anyone else. right in the city centre. maybe 15 or 20 minutes to the station i guess