Wolverhampton Civic Hall
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| Location | Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England |
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| Coordinates | 52°35′12″N 2°07′51″W / 52.5866°N 2.1307°WCoordinates: 52°35′12″N 2°07′51″W / 52.5866°N 2.1307°W |
| Type | Civic |
| Opened | 16 May 1938 |
| Expanded | 2001 |
| Owner | Wolverhampton City Council |
| Website | www.wolvescivic.co.uk |
Wolverhampton Civic Hall is a music venue in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It has been one of the most important live music venues in the county for several decades. It is part of a complex also including Wulfrun Hall and the newer Little Civic. The complex is owned and managed by Wolverhampton City Council and is a Grade II listed building.
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[edit] Construction and development
The hall was built in 1938 following a design competition in 1934 won by Lyons and Israel to build a large concert hall and the smaller Wulfrun Hall, for theatre and chamber performances. Construction commenced in April 1936 and the Halls were officially opened on 12 May 1938.
The original halls were refitted and reorganised in 2001 to increase the capacity to over 3,000 and provide new backstage areas and public facilities. In 2001, a third, smaller venue, The Little Civic, was created.
[edit] Organ
A Compton Organ was specially designed for the Civic Hall and it is believed[who?] that the console was designed by the architects. The organ was made up of over 5,500 pipes and contained an early electronic division known as a Melotone. G. D. Cunningham, then Birmingham City Organist, had the distinction of being the first musician to play there. Two Borough Organists have served Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall, Arnold Richardson (1938–1973) and Steve Tovey (1991–present), the latter becoming City Organist in 2001.
The Organ was also re-built and enlarged in 2001, and is now capable of being played as a cathedral organ or theatre organ. Regular classical and theatre organ concerts are still held. Steve Tovey gives a brief demonstration of the civic hall organ [1]
[edit] Events
The first concert was performed on the evening of 16 May 1938, by the Old Royals Association, with Anne Ziegler, Webster Booth and several other soloists.
The hall has hosted a variety of events since its opening, although they are now mostly popular music based. In recent years the venue has been in competition for many of the bigger acts with Birmingham's o2 Academy, among others.
Despite this, the venue has attracted many mid-sized acts that have stopped at the venue on UK tours.
Comedians, such as Ken Dodd, Peter Kay and Jim Davidson, have appeared at the hall, which has also staged televised darts tournaments including the Grand Slam. Throughout much of the 1980s professional wrestling was broadcast live from the venue on Saturday afternoons. This became a noted part of English culture until American wrestling became more popular in the 1990s. British Wrestling returned to the venue in the 2000s.
Two long running club nights, 'Cheeky Monkey' and 'Blast Off' are held on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Friday afternoons see one of the largest ballroom and sequence dances in the UK. The hall has hosted dances since 1938, originally on Saturday evenings, when many top dance bands and orchestras have played to capacity audiences.
[edit] Notable concerts
Morrissey played his first solo performance at the Civic Hall on 22 December 1988. Admission was said to be free to anyone wearing a The Smiths T shirt. Nearly 20,000 fans were reported to attempt to gain entry to the show many of which had queued for days.
Slipknot's performance at the Civic Hall in 2000 was noted for turntablist Sid Wilson stagediving from the 20 ft high balcony onto the crowd, as per his trademark. This injured a young woman breaking her leg, she later recovered.
Mott the Hoople, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, McFly, Morrissey, The Specials and Space have all released live DVDs or videos of concerts filmed at the venue.
[edit] External links
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