Another Bristol venue bites the dust. St Bonaventures to close. Sad times. Statement from Tim Martin below: Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the final show to take place at St. Bonaventure’s will be the mighty Hans Chew, on July 23rd. The reasons behind the venue’s closure are many, complex and not a little tedious, so I won’t dwell on them. There may be an option to go back there at some point in the future, but the chances of that happening are, at best, remote. Over the last twelve years some of the best shows performed in the United Kingdom by some of Americana’s leading artists have taken place in a small and otherwise nondescript social club in north Bristol. It will be missed, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thanks everyone, artists and audience, who have made it possible, and have helped to create a truly fabulous venue with an international reputation from such an unlikely base. Particular thanks go to Stuart Amesbury, without doubt the best soundman in the South West, and his wife Cherie, who does virtually everything. Does this mean the end of great American music in Bristol? Absolutely not. The programme will continue at other venues, in particular The Tunnels, Temple Meads (plenty of free parking outside). There’s some incredible stuff coming up there and elsewhere, all under the banner of CRH Music, starting with the rescheduled Sarah Jarosz show on 30th. July. I’ll continue to send out regular emails with details of future events. The only difference is that they will be titled Americana in Bristol or something like that. Also, look out for Rockin’ Johnny’s fantastic posters, and of course keep up to date via crhmusic. In the meantime if anyone knows a place where the St. Bonaventure’s operation can be replicated (i.e. available regularly and occasionally at short notice, preferably holds a couple of hundred people, possibly has a car park or is in area where parking is possible, has a bar and that sort of thing) any suggestions would be very welcome and, if successful, handsomely rewarded. Finally, if there was one band I’d personally choose to say goodbye to St. Bonaventure’s with, it would be Hans Chew. A truly breath-taking powerhouse outfit, fronted by someone who represents everything that the venue stood for - great songs perfectly performed. In the words of PopMatters magazine Draws deeply from the playing of New Orleans masters & he clearly imbibed the grooves of classic British rock such as Led Zeppelin & the Rolling Stones. Life & Love is a barn burning smoker of a record that’s simply irresistible.” If you’ve got to go, you may as well go in the company of one of the best bands around, so I hope that you can come along and celebrate the end of an incredible era. Until next time, thanks again and au revoir from the reasonably OK Corral. In the words that countless performers have used to describe the audience at St. Bonaventures, its been a blast. Tim Martin
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:00:11 +0000
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