Bristol Big Jeff Hall?
Jeffrey Johns, aka Big Jeff, speaks out…
…after petition to rename Colston Hall after him
Changing The Name
The past few weeks have been a choppy and emotional one for the people of Bristol, with a huge Black Lives Matter protest removing the statue of slave trade owner Edward Colston. The statue itself has been a controversial thing as pretty much most of Bristol never wanted the statue in the first place. It was a thing of active campaigns over the best part of the past 30 odd years or even longer.
Over the past couple of years, Bristol has seen campaigns to remove the Colston name from buildings and road names, such as Colston Boys and Girls Schools and most notably the Colston Hall. One of Bristol’s most central concert venues, it is also probably the biggest venue in the city. It’s a venue that certain acts like Massive Attack have felt uncomfortable playing. In fact, Massive Attack have outright refused to play the venue as a form of protest because they didn’t want to play a venue that had a slave traders name slapped all over it, and to be honest, it’s kind of something that needed to be done for the past…I don’t know however many years.
It was about 3 years ago that it was announced that the Colston Hall was to undergo a period of renovation updating its arcane interior and to make it more accessible for disabled people and to turn it into a state-of-the-art venue that can attract top names. In amongst this, the Colston Hall announced it would be changing its name which was due to re-open this summer under a new name, but obviously it’s all been pushed back by the whole arrival of Covid19 that has caused the entire country to shut down, and it caused the Colston Hall to postpone announcing the re-branding of the hall. Now this is a big thing getting the name of the venue right because you want something that can sum up the city without sounding too much like a crass advert or shoe horning a brand onto the walls.
Edward Colston statue before it was torn down…
The halls name is something that came right into the centre of the public’s attention after the Black Lives Matter protest which was the reaction of the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police. I guess I’m writing this from an unusual position because over the past few weeks I have seen a petition go around the internet suggesting that the Colston Hall is to be renamed to my own name. I mean it would be really flattering but kind of also makes me feel like I am being put on a pedestal, which is something I don’t feel entirely comfortable with. I kept on getting messages on Twitter from various different artists. Even though it is really flattering, it can be overwhelming as in my point of view I haven't really done enough to warrant one of the city's biggest venues being named after me. All I've done is be a bum that has shown some enthusiasm for live music. I’ve seen some truly amazing shows in the Hall to name a few; John Grant with the Northern Royal Sinfonia (which made the venue feel like we were watching a spaceship taking off), a neo classical tribute to Joy Division and an all-star tribute to the likes of William Onyebor and David Lynch (both of which were pretty stunning). But I feel naming the Hall after myself just wouldn’t quite do the city justice, especially the cultural diversity that has really made this city.
Since the 1950s, the Colston Hall has been one of Bristol’s premier concert venues, inviting the likes of BB King, Bowie, Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Nick Cave, David Byrne amongst so many others to take to the stage. My first visit to the Hall was as a sweaty 16-year-old to see Bush and Cyclefly, which kind of had an old Victorian theatre feel to it. It’s definitely been needing an update for quite a while. In 2009, the Colston Hall opened a brand-new foyer which gave it a sparkly gold front and kind of gave the building a futuristic look vs going into the main hall which felt like you were going back in time. In its own right the foyer is actually a pretty good venue, with its specially designed acoustics and the fact that Simple Things have utilized the space for one of the stages.
I guess there are so many things that need to go into consideration when choosing the name of a venue; What will the name mean to the people of the city? Can we find a way to have a name that sums up people's experience of the city? As it stands, the building lies unmasked with its golden fronted foyer standing out in the city centre. In the renaming, people have got so many things that need to be considered; from re-branding, from the marketing team having to communicate with bookers and programmers for numerous events, along with having to redesign the venue website. The name really has to speak to many people on different levels, it’s a serious consideration reflecting on how language and what a name means. How does it resonate with the Halls cultural outreach? There are many things to take into consideration whilst also establishing the new name amongst the existing customer base. You can’t just slap on a new name overnight because it can take years to rebuild a customer following.
I mean this is not the first time I have found myself placed on a pedestal and I’m not angry at the people who started up the petition. I feel very flattered by it but I feel it might be too much pressure to have a venue named after me. Especially as I was not asked for my permission and especially with the movement at the moment which is trying to give people with unheard voices to be recognized. I heard that they might have picked the name Freedom Hall, which is a bit of a cheesy name but it’s hard to know which way to turn.
Big Jeff