TOMMY WÁ

The Louisiana, Bristol, GB Tuesday, 27 October 2026 7pm £15 + BF
16+ (under 18s to be accompanied by a responsible adult)
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Live Nation Presents:
TOMMY WÁ @ The Louisiana Bristol

TOMMY WÁ live at The Louisiana, Bristol. Tuesday, 27th October 2026.

Plus Special Guests

A whole multitude of worlds exist within the music of Tommy WÁ, one of the most special new voices to have emerged in recent years. Drenched in beauty and meaning, the music of the Nigerian-born, Ghana-based artist recalls the glistening atmospheres of Bon Iver and Michael Kiwanuka but has its roots in the African folk music of the mid-20th century. Presented through pristine hooks and vivid storytelling, it’s music that straddles eras, styles and continents, but has universality at its core. Born in Ibadan, western Nigeria, the radio was WÁ’s earliest introduction to music. Growing up on a diet of the traditional folk music styles of Jùjú and Fuji from his home country, this foundation then mixed with the African pop sounds of the mid-2000s, which he found after moving to the city of Abuja as a child. One radio station, Splash, played foreign music, and WÁ remembers a particularly formative moment when hearing Linkin Park and Jay-Z’s ‘Numb (Encore)’ for the first time. “I looked for that song for four years after that!” he smiles. From there, he was able to find music from across the planet and the genre spectrum, with The Lumineers, The Black Keys and more becoming firm favourites. These dual set of influences define WÁ’s charm and individuality as a songwriter. His foundation in west African folk music is in the bones of his songwriting, while masses of both foreign and more modern homegrown influences can also be clearly heard. The music he makes and the stories he tells are distinctly African, but determined to break beyond the continent’s borders and reach universality. “I didn't really think about it as a child,” he says of this blending of worlds. “All of this is other people's reflections on what is Western and what is African. To me, I was just churning out my own reality as a kid raised [speaking] English. My parents were colonised, and I became a product of their being and their consciousness. In school, they would beat us, or at least we’d pay a fine, if we spoke our own language and dialect at school.”

Show starts at 7pm.