An opposition councillor has rubbished Marvin Rees’s claim that rock icons Queen would not have played a Bristol city centre arena because of a lack of lorry parking. The band, with frontman Adam Lambert, became the first act to perform at YTL Bristol Arena at the Brabazon Hangars this month, capping a secret five-day residency for full production rehearsals ahead of their new tour with a private gig to a small invited audience.
Labour mayor Mr Rees spoke of the significance of the event on Monday, May 23, which he said validated his decision in 2018 to scrap plans for what was then called Arena Island, near Temple Meads, and move the proposed venue to Filton on the edge of Bristol. He said the city centre site, now called Temple Island and earmarked for a conference centre, offices and 550 new homes instead of a major live music attraction, had room for a maximum of only “one or two” trucks, whereas Queen + Adam Lambert’s massive support crew brought their equipment to the new venue, which is still under construction, in 40 articulated lorries.
Lib Dem Cllr Tim Kent, a supporter of what would have been the city centre arena, has hit back saying this is not true, while Mr Rees has reiterated the assertion that the original location was too small for such a huge show. Tweeting a link to the Local Democracy Reporting Service story about the mayor’s claims along with two images of the original designs from Bristol City Council’s planning portal, Hengrove & Whitchurch Park ward Cllr Kent wrote: “How about some … erm facts…
Read more: Queen would not have played city centre arena, says mayor
“Here are diagrams from the actual planning consent. They show 4 rear loading bays and 6+ standby bays at the rear of the arena.
“Around the front in the disabled parking area was holding room for another 8-10 lorries. So onsite, all at once, Arena Island could have up to 20 artics.
“Of course it also had the temporary car park next door that could take about 30 more artics. But facts, we don’t need them.”
In response, a spokesperson for Mr Rees said: "The mayor said Queen wouldn’t play, mainly because of the size of the show. It would be difficult to see how a city centre arena on such a small plot of land would have hosted 40 artic lorries and 200 production crew.
"The city centre arena was too small and significantly less ambitious than the very exciting YTL Bristol arena. Bristol will now have a world-class arena, the greenest of its kind and one that will bring the best of entertainment to Bristol.”
Two days after Queen’s YTL Bristol Arena concert, Mr Rees told a fortnightly local press conference that it was a “very significant” moment that showed “what the venue could be”. He said: “If you line up all the questions around the arena, it just makes sense.
“One of those facts is that when you look out the back, for a band the size of Queen you have to think about how much equipment they bring. There were about 40 artic trucks out the back at that venue for Queen.
“I heard Beyonce brings about 50. The city centre arena site has room for one or two, maximum.
“So for any band that comes, are you going to get a band the size of Queen if they’re going to spend a day-and-a-half with the logistical challenge of how they sequence their trucks in and out? It’s not going to happen.
“At the Brabazon they just line them up, open up the back so the equipment is out, it’s back in in a day, they haven’t lost two or three days of gig time where they could have been earning revenue.” The 17,000-capacity venue is set to open in 2024.
