‘Values, identity and passion’: Why Coldplay chose Craven Park
COMING TO HULL: Coldplay
EXCLUSIVE by Phil Ascough
The question from the lips and keyboards of Coldplay fans worldwide was not so much “Why Hull?” as “Where’s Hull?”
And it’s entirely likely that when the hordes from out of town descend on our city for the biggest gigs we’ve ever hosted they’ll head for the MKM Stadium because they won’t know we have another one.
But that’s what happens when you pull off a genuine coup. Even those in the know can’t quite believe it.
Paul Sewell, chairman of Hull Kingston Rovers, took the opportunity of his speech at the club’s recent annual awards night at Connexin Live to reveal a little about how they landed arguably the city’s biggest ever gig – and how doubts lingered until the official confirmation hit the media.
“It’s been bubbling all summer,” he revealed as he prepared to take to the stage.
“Even until recently people on our board have been asking if it’s a spoof or a wind-up. When word got out, some people on social media thought it was a tribute act.”
How Coldplay selected Sewell Group Craven Park as the venue for their only European shows outside Wembley in 2025 is a salutary tale. It’s one thing springing a surprise by taking what, on those days, will be the biggest gigs in the world to a place only a tiny percentage of the fanbase will have heard of, but you still need to be confident that the venue and its people can hit the standards which wowed Glastonbury.
In other aspects of his speech, Paul told how the Robins have transformed their fortunes from bottom of the league to table toppers. Salary cap restrictions ensure you can’t buy that sort of turnaround. However you measure sustainability, you only achieve it if you have the right culture.
INNOVATION: The Craven Streat entertainment and street food zone
Coldplay decided they couldn’t reasonably limit their shows to Wembley. They ruled out the big football bowls and cavernous arenas and asked their people to check out some rugby league grounds, thereby ensuring a bit of northern levelling-up. Sewell Group Craven Park made the shortlist, and the final decision is a fitting reward for a club which is hitting the heights yet keeping its feet firmly on the ground.
“All sorts of things change over time,” Paul told the awards audience.
“Your goals, your strategy, your plans and the context you are operating in. But the thing that never changes is your values. We have a strong identity here and we are faithful to that no matter what. That’s what I think Coldplay chose.”
Coldplay will also have been impressed by the passion, week in week out, of the Rovers crowd. Some Hull FC fans took to social media mocking the big announcement as “another reason not to go to Caravan Park”, but if they’re honest they’ll admit that the match day atmosphere across the city is electric, and it has nothing to do with results.
It will only be enhanced by plans, which Paul confirmed, to extend the east stand. Capacity in that hotbed of Rovers support will be increased by another 1,000 and will almost certainly be wiped out by the waiting list.
And then there’s “Craven Streat”, the entertainment and street food zone ingeniously created to fill the dead area at the southern end of the ground. It’s the perfect space for a stage which, after the shows on August 18 and 19 next year, will be packed up and relocated to Wembley.
“What in the past has been the biggest downside for us is now the upside because it gives us the space we need,” said Paul.
“It is the same size of show that they will take to Wembley. Their people have been backwards and forwards to our ground all summer measuring up.”
‘MORE THAN JUST A BIG CONCERT’: Paul Sewell
Whisper it, but Coldplay’s crew are also looking into the viability of setting up a temporary recording studio in Rovers’ gym. The band’s singer, Chris Martin, is on record as saying they will release their final album during 2025, and current thinking is that they’ll want to slot a few recording sessions into their eight-date gig schedule.
So, with the gigs in the bag, what happens next? Coldplay are renowned for their environmental credentials and they’ll be in the right place for that – from the back of their stage they’ll be able to see Greenport, Saltend and the Yorkshire Energy Park.
With the Hull residency they’ll also be doing a bit to promote sustainability in their industry. There will be specific ticket allocations for people living in the HU postcode area and for those within 50 miles.
There’s also a commitment to donate ten per cent of the band’s proceeds from the Wembley and Hull shows to Music Venue Trust (MVT), and that prompts the question of how we maximise the opportunities as a city and region of culture.
We recalled the UK City of Culture moment in 2013 when Maria Miller, the culture secretary of the time, let slip a tone of utter gobsmacked-ness equivalent to half a dozen question marks in announcing Hull as the venue for 2017.
“The attention will be on us for a week and we should take the opportunity to recreate that spirit and capture the attention of the rest of the country,” said Paul.
He’s right, and he knows a bit about how to do that. The first gig he ever saw was The Beatles in Hull in 1963. The most recent was the Rolling Stones in July in the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles. Over the years Paul has helped bring some household names from politics, business, sport and entertainment to Hull for the annual Business Week. He learns from every experience, filing away examples of best practice in his entrepreneurial memory.
“This is more than just a big concert,” he said.
FESTIVAL OF MUSIC: Humber Street Sesh
“It’s a cultural event for the city to mimic City of Culture. The week will be a huge opportunity for Hull and our area to take our place on the national stage and we must embrace it.”
Mark Davyd, CEO of MVT, said: “This money will go directly into work that ensures communities right across the country will continue to have access to great live music on their doorstep. The band’s support really will stop venues closing, make tours happen and bring the joy of live music to thousands of people.”
As a national charity MVT can only do so much, so how do we make a lasting impact for Hull? City of Culture provided us with a great platform, and there wasn’t much we could do about the impact of Brexit and Covid. But we can do more to generate early grassroots engagement and work towards a meaningful legacy.
A week of live music would be a start, a month even better – kicking off with the annual Sesh showpiece.
Mark “Mak” Page said: “At Sesh, we’ve been creating platforms for grassroot musicians for 22 years at The Polar Bear, and along with our annual festival and various other events such as Trinity Live and one of the city’s flagship festivals, Humber Street Sesh, we’d love to be a part of any discussions surrounding an annual month of live music in the city.”
But is that enough for a city that is pulling together a bid for recognition as a UNESCO City of Music? We’ve got some great bands taking the name of Hull all over the country, but how do they emulate The Housemartins by topping the charts? Do we even want them to? As someone who interviewed Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore busking down Whitefriargate and tracked their road to stardom, I soon became sick to death of news editors demanding the latest exclusive on “the Humber Sound”.
The link between our top bands from the 1980s – The Housemartins, Everything But The Girl and the Red Guitars – was the University of Hull. Their success was an inspiration to others who formed their own bands in the unlikely surroundings of The New Adelphi Club – a terraced house which became the creative hub of a burgeoning music scene and, against all the odds, celebrates its 40th anniversary this month.
Adelphi founder Paul Jackson said: “We want to create a situation in which talented people are migrating to Hull because of the vibrant music scene, harness the potential of the student population. Students come here from around the world and there are a lot of very talented people. While here they undergo their transformation to adulthood. If you provide a supportive environment they will take to your city and stay here.”
That means giving musicians opportunities to learn, collaborate, play and get paid for it. Building audiences who appreciate the value and importance of original live music and are happy to pay for the experience. Supporting venues who are prepared to take a punt on live bands playing songs people have never heard before.
Never mind Oasis. They only got together after hearing The La’s, who played two of their first three gigs at the Adelphi.
It means connecting with the grassroots, finding out what the industry needs, making the musicians, techies and other creatives part of the conversation, and keeping the culture.
Paul said: “All we did was to be ourselves. We didn’t pretend to be something we are not.”