The Halls are alive!

Iconic Wolverhampton venue gets ready for its grand reopening

by Steve Adams

After being closed for seven years, The Halls Wolverhampton reopens next month following an extensive refurbishment. Steve Homer - CEO of new operator AEG Presents - talks to What’s On about the challenges and excitement of relaunching the iconic venue...

Seven years after it closed for what was supposed to be a six-month refit, the newly refurbished, and slightly renamed, The Halls Wolverhampton finally reopens next month. The project to upgrade the iconic Civic Halla Grade II-listed building - and its Wulfrun Hall neighbour has faced a catalogue of delays and setbacks, including the discovery of asbestos, major structural issues and even the original contractor going bust. The issues saw costs spiral from an original estimate of around £10million to more than four times that amount. Work is now virtually complete, with the City of Wolverhampton Council handing over running duties to new operating partner AEG Presents. A subsidiary of AEG, the world’s leading sports & liveentertainment company, the international organisation operates tours, live shows and venues across the globe, including California’s famous Coachella Festival, BST Hyde Park and London’s O2.

It’s a pretty big deal for such a global giant to be running the venue - on a 25-year lease, no less - but one that has been prompted by a very local connection. AEG Presents’ CEO, Steve Homer, hails from Stourbridge and attended dozens of gigs at the venue as a youngster, including his first.

“It’s incredible to be able to bring an iconic venue back to life,” he says, “and as a local lad, this is all the more special. I saw The Clash perform here in 1978, and it was an event that forever cemented my love of music. We can’t wait to open the doors of The Halls Wolverhampton and bring the world’s best artists to the West Midlands stage.” Steve says he jumped at the chance to work with the venue as soon as the opportunity arose, but admits he had to convince his American colleagues that it was worthy of their support.

“Most of them couldn’t pinpoint Birmingham on a map, let alone Wolverhampton, so it was starting from a very basic level in terms of familiarity and knowledge of the site.”

That familiarity spans five decades for the lifelong music fan, who admits he still proudly displays old concert tickets on his wall. During our conversation, he reeled off an array of bands he’s seen at the Civic and Wulfrun over the years, from the likes of Stiff Little Fingers, OMD and Elvis Costello while he was still at school, to grunge and Britpop acts in the 1990s - a time when it wasn’t even his local venue.

“I was living in Sheffield in the ’90s and I was coming down to see the likes of Offspring, Nirvana, Primal Scream and Oasis. I always used to come back to the Civic to watch them because you knew you were going to have a good gig. I could’ve gone to Manchester, as it was easier to get to, but I knew the Wolves gig would be better.

“There’s something in the DNA of the venue and the audience which means that Wolverhampton Civic has always been a good gig.”

That reputation is true for artists as much as fans, and it’s something Steve says he’s already capitalising on, with many acts keen to return to a favourite hunting ground. “One of the things I’ve found since we’ve reopened the diary is the amount of artists that say this is one of the best gigs they’ve ever had.

“We had a stab at putting on a headline show by Siouxsie from Siouxsie And The Banshees, because she’s doing a festival in LA with our company, as well as Latitude and a few other things in Europe. When I put in an enquiry, they came back and said she’s going to do it because it’s her favourite venue she ever played with the Banshees.”

Tickets for that show sold out within an hour of going on sale. A cursory glance at other upcoming shows - June is packed with big names such as Leftfield, McFly, James, Sparks, Sugababes and comedy-magicians Penn & Teller - reflects the appeal of the two venues as well as the ambition of the promoters. By the end of the month, Steve expects to have had more than 50,000 people come through the venues, now officially titled ‘The Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton’ (capacity 3,404) and ‘The Wulfrun at The Halls Wolverhampton’ (capacity 1,289).

“We’ve got every recognisable promoter involved in our opening month. The shows are all selling really well, and some incredibly well. Selling tickets also gives us confidence to put other shows in place. We’re comfortably and confidently seeing a great uptake in acts, but it’s obviously only a startwe have to maintain that and then start taking things away from Birmingham.”

The latter is clearly the nature of the business, but Steve’s under no illusion about the initial challenge of getting people to come to a venue that’s been shut for so long, whether that’s returnees or first-time visitors. “Being closed for seven years means you’ve got a hill to climb,” he admits, acknowledging that people familiar with the venue will need to be re-educated and reenergised, and that there’s a generation gap to be bridged for those who have never been.

“If you were 14 when you went to your first gig, you’re now sat there as a 21-year-old and you’ve never been to a show in Wolverhampton.”

With that in mind, Steve is keen to book more pop and urban acts aimed at younger audiences.

“That’s a real challenge for us - to try to get younger, contemporary artists to come and play in Wolverhampton. There’s no resistance from agents or managers, but you have to be able to convince the audience that it’s something that will be a great event.

“In some ways parents who were familiar with the venue will feel comfortable with their offspring going to Wolves Civic or the Wulfrun as they know it’s a safe environment.”

Ultimately it’s all about the quality of the acts and the overall experience, and Steve expects the refurbished venues to deliver on both fronts. As well as being able to attract bigger and better shows, he says the two halls will offer visitors a vastly improved experience, with better seating, more bars, more areas to socialise, improved toilet facilities, enhanced wheelchair access and more accessible viewing points.

Both venues have also had additional balconies installed, with the Civic now looking more like a theatre than a concert hall from the stage - something which Steve believes adds a new and different dimension without detracting from its longstanding appeal.

“I think audiences are going to be very pleasantly surprised when they return to both venues. They’re going to see an improvement in the facilities, and a re-fresh of what was a successful operation before. It’s going to feel quite special.”

To find out what’s happening and when at The Halls, check out the website: thehallswolverhampton.co.uk

Comedy previews from across the region

Josie Long

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Sat 27 May; Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton, Fri 15 September

Josie Long’s awardwinning comedian pal, Nish Kumar, has referred to her as ‘the David Bowie of standup’ - a description he’s used on account of the 41year-old comic’s impressive capacity for reinventing herself. London-born Long admits she is very much a political animal, but recognises that banging on too much about politics is a near-certain way to alienate an audience. Hence the fact that her latest touring show, Re-Enactment, focuses on ‘changes wrought by time, passion, moving to Scotland, and loving the world under - let’s face itdifficult circumstances’.

Jokes include: “When I was a kid, I asked my mum what a couple was and she said, ‘Oh, two or three’. And she wonders why her marriage didn’t work out...”

Tom Segura

Utilita Arena Birmingham, Fri 12 May

The title of Tom Segura’s current live standup offering, I’m Coming Everywhere, may sound a bit rude but it also has a ring of truth about it - the 44-year-old American comedian is taking the show to more than 200 cities across the globe!

Segura’s been scoring big in the comedy stakes for a long time now - so much so that he boasts numerous Netflix specials. He’s also made a name for himself as an author and podcaster.

Jokes include: “I’d love to learn another language, but there’s too much porn to watch,” and “I hate who I’m becoming socially. With all my social interactions I’m disintegrating into somebody I want to punch in the mouth.”

Wang

Phil Wang’s first-ever five minutes behind the microphone as a standup comedian were spent telling other people’s gags.

“I thought standup was like karaoke with jokes!” he recalls. “Most of the material I used was stolen, but I learned fast and immediately started writing my own

Tom Allen

Birmingham Hippodrome, Wed 17 - Fri 19 May; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Fri 6 & Sat 7 October; Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, Fri 10 & Sat 11 November

The always dapper Tom Allen is a master of camp comedy. Often likened in style to legendary raconteurs Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howard, he also doffs his comedian’s cap in the direction of Michael McIntyre and Eddie Izzard.

Tom is visiting various Midlands venues across the next few months with his new touring show, Completely.

“The title is about finally being completely grown up,” Tom told beyondthejoke. “I finally moved out of my parents’ home at the tender age of 38. I use the show to talk about getting used to having my own home, how stressful it is buying a mattress. Also, you know, being an adult means that your friends are adults, which sometimes means their children coming around and wanting to chip the paint off the wall...

“I lost my dad a couple of years ago, so I talk about that, too. I think it’s important to talk about all of life and not be afraid of it.” material.”

Inspired to become a comedian by his desire to avoid having to get up in the mornings, Phil describes his style of humour as smart, cheeky but always changing. He visits the Midlands with his touring show, Wang In There, Baby!

Scummy Mummies

Lichfield Garrick, Thurs 4 May; Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Wed 24 May; Old Rep, Birmingham, Fri 26 May; Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, Tues 3 October

“Our speciality is comedy for less-thanperfect parents - so that means all parents!” says Ellie Gibson about Scummy Mummies, her popular double act with Helen Thorn.

“Our live comedy shows cover a wide range of parenting topics - from pelvic floors and play-dates to farting and fish fingers...

“Expect songs, sketches, standup and very scummy stories!”