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What's it like for accessibility? Parking? Is parking secure? Acoustics? Good for rock?
Thank you so much. 🙂
right in the middle of town,
parking in trenchard street car park right behind, bloody expensive though. if you go up to st michaels hill one more street up its free to park after 6pm iirc.
secure parking in bristol, doubt it.
acoustics are pants.
can't say i've seen any rock there so not sure.
whos playing?
Saw a couple of gigs there when I lived in Bristol and thought it was a cool place.
flatfish - thank you.
My man of the moment - Joe Bonamassa - but later in the year.
Trenchard St has attendants and CCTV and they've recently tarted up the lifts.
Access is great since they opened the fantastic new foyer last year.
Acoustics are great. I've seen probably over a hundred bands there over the years from Orbital to classical.
Traditional seated, tiered venue though, and the management can get excited about not standing / dancing in the aisles / photography etc.
They sometime take the first block of seats out which can help.
Parking in Trenchard street is close by, and is manned, with CCTV, so about as secure as you're gonna get in Bristol. Apart from the s****y new £20m foyer, it's an old style theatre, which gives it a nice atmosphere. Depending on the hall used, there's seats, with a big space in front for the young hepcats to throw some shapes. Sound in that hall is amazing, think they have really good PAs to make up for the theatre balcony's etc.
It's absolutely shit c-g. So is every other venue in Bristol for that matter. Nothing good happens here. No reason for you to visit. Find another town I reckon.
have fond memories of the place, having seen the Buena Vista Social Club OAPs play an astonshing set there once...how it would work for other kinds of music have no idea...but don't be put off, anything live is good eh? Seconded the wise words above about parking.
I have had variable experiences at Colston Hall - when its in an all-seater format it can lack a bit of atmosphere, as can sitting in the balcony. Having said that I saw Sigur Ros there 18 months ago and it was one of the best gigs I have ever seen. Overall I prefer the Academy for atmosphere and acoustics. As above parking is easy in Trenchard Street - though can take ages getting out after a concert when a few hundred cars decide to leave at the same time.
It's a pretty good venue, sightlines are good, acoustics are fine, although, if you're right down the front, vocals can be a bit undefined, but that's like any venue with a wide stage and conventional speaker layout. I've seen acts from hard rock to acoustic folk there and it's better than many venues I've been to over the years, and that includes just about every one in Bristol, quite a few in London, and Gloucester, Stroud, Swindon, Reading, Oxford, Birmingham, Cardiff...
I saw Thin Lizzy, Yes, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Supertramp, Nils Lofgren, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Anthrax, Blondie, Television, Laura Marling, Goldfrapp, Portishead and a great many others at the Colston, and while it needs a good tidy up, it holds it's own as a national music venue.
It's fine. But the all seating aspect is annoying for rock.
Thanks for all the replies. Obviously concerned about car getting broken into, having read about huge bike theft in the area.
In some ways the newer venues have better sound quality although they do lack in character somewhat.
darcy - get a grip man. 😉 I'm only visiting, not recce'ing for a potential house move.
c-g - I'd park here:
http://www.at-bristol.org.uk/parking.html
Near to Colston Hall.
It's nice and secure and the only place I'd leave my beloved Stealh Bomber (car).
Bristol is dreadful for bike and car theft (lived there for 7 years) so you are right to be concerned.
I'm only visiting, not recce'ing for a potential house move.
Ok, then you can come for one evening only...as long as you are escorted back to the M4.
The Colston Hall is fine for most types of music, as above.
If I have to drive I usually find a place on Perry Row, close by - I've no idea why spaces appear there.
Otherwise I walk from home. 🙂
The risk of car / bike theft is overstated - but if you're worried about leaving the bike in your car, dump it with us overnight if you want.
The risk of car / bike theft is overstated
Of the close circle of Bristol friends I have, every SINGLE one has had a car broken into or nicked and/or a bike nicked.
Managed to keep hold of my bike but had terrible break in and vandalism issues on two Golfs.
One of my favourite venues for ease of access, and the big new bit is very smart & makes for comfortable surroundings in which to wait for the gig to start. I saw Porcupine Tree there recently & it was great, especially in comparison to the night before when I was queuing in the cold & rain outside the Manchester Apollo.
love it, met the lovely Beth Orton there, prefer the acadamy for rock though, seen the fall & babyshambles there amongst others, Brizzle's great for live music!
Thanks again, lots of useful info as always. 🙂
darcy - could you arrange a Police escort then as you're so keen to get shot of me? 😉 Will start practising my royal wave too!
No police. I have one or two contacts in the St Pauls area that'll make sure you're gone 🙂
OK - how about you hiring a stretch limo for me then? What's with the St Pauls area? Is that where the gangsta's hang out?
Most of them have moved to Southmead...
St Pauls is the "traditionally" dodgy area of Bristol but other areas are now worse. Don't worry - you don't have to go through it to get to the Colston Hall!
Don't mind deadly he's just an old curmudgeon 😆
Joe Bonamasa, tempted myself. Good venue, as has been said easy access and not bad acoustics.
Enjoy