The New Adelphi Club is a popular local venue for alternative live music in the city ofHull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has achieved notability outside its local area, having hosted such bands as The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Green Day and Oasis, in its over-30 year history. The club opened in October 1984, and Kaiser Chiefs performed there as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations in 2014.
History
In late 1984 the venue, which was formerly a terraced house that narrowly escaped a Luftwaffe bomb during the Blitz on Hull, and later had a spell as a working men's club, became The New Adelphi Club. Part of a Victorian residential street built in 1888 in the west of Hull, and named after the Earl de Grey and Ripon, 89 De Grey Street survived whilst the bomb scored a direct hit on a couple of adjacent properties. To this day the bomb site serves as a small car park next to the club. The club, whose owner Paul Jackson built on small beginnings, has hosted an eclectic range of national and international acts. The small intimate venue has remained shabby chic, ramshackle and idiosyncratic, but has retained a unique atmosphere as the colours of the interior walls changed from green to brown and back to green again. The venue contains a front room containing a pool table, and the bar area which is featured in CAMRA's 2015 version of the Good Beer Guide. This area remains open in the evening from 8 pm, irrespective of whether there is any live entertainment taking place. Otherwise the main concert room has hosted thousands of musicians over the years including those just commencing their careers such as Pulp, Green Day and Radiohead; plus local boys The Housemartins who first appeared there in 1988. Others appearing included The Stone Roses, Supergrass and Mumford & Sons. Oasis played at the Adelphi the day before the release of their first single, whilst Radiohead played there twice. Their second appearance was in 1992 around the time of their hit single, "Creep". Uniquely, The Shamen once slept overnight on the venue's kitchen floor, after concluding their late evening's performance. In 2009, a series of gigs were held, coupled with an exhibition and live performance at the Ferens Art Gallery, to celebrate the New Adelphi's silver anniversary. On 19 September 2014, BBC Look North broadcast details informing viewers of a forthcoming concert at the New Adelphi by the Kaiser Chiefs, which led to the 200 available tickets being sold out in less than two hours. A video by the local film maker Mark Richardson also documented events at the Adelphi minutes after the live television broadcast. At the same time, Kaiser Chiefs' bassist Simon Rix stated, "In our 13 years on the UK touring scene we've never had the chance to play the legendary, Hull Adelphi. It's a massive hole in an illustrious career. Smaller venues are so important to supporting new music but with many around the country closing down, it’s great to see the Adelphi celebrating its 30th birthday. We're looking forward to finally playing there". A film capturing Kaiser Chiefs performance was made, which was shown at the Adelphi in January 2015 as part of Independent Music Venue Week. In October 2015, the film was screened at the 2015 Tucson Film & Music Festival in Arizona, United States. Shortly afterwards, Paul Heaton and Richard Hawley both followed Kaiser Chiefs by playing at the Adelphi. In December 2015, The Bohicas performed at the venue. In January 2016, BBC Radio 6 Music's Steve Lamacq broadcast from the studios at BBC Radio Humberside, as part of BBC Radio's Independent Music Venue Week tour. One night of the nationwide tour was hosted at the New Adelphi on 26 January 2016, with Mark Morriss as the headline act. Lach is due to perform at the venue in March 2016.
Performances
Alphabetical list of notable musicians who have performed at the Adelphi over the years:
