Purple Rain at Bristol's Colston Hall
Posted on: 30 Sep 2016The Prince is dead; long live Prince. Celebrate his work with a special screening of the Purple Rain at Colston Hall on 13th November.
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2016 has been a cruel year. If it weren’t enough that we tumbled out of Europe (and then, a week later, out of the Euros), this year the passing of celebrity has mimicked the action of London buses. First Bowie, almost before January had even begun. Then Alan Rickman, but four days later. It was as if they knew something that we ordinary people did not.
And then, in April, another legend left us: the Love Symbol, the little master, the High Priest of Funk, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince. What felt particularly cruel about the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, even in this the cruellest of years, was the sense of dashed potential - 2014’s Plectrumelectrum had marked a return to guitar-fuelled funk form, recalling 1999 and even Sign O’ The Times.
Let us not, however, mourn what might have been but let us instead celebrate that which Prince shared during his purple reign. The aptly named ‘Purple Rain’, the latest in a deluge of tributes to the greatest popstar of his generation, comes to Colston Hall in November, offering the chance to grieve and dance simultaneously.
Centring on a 7pm screening of the 1984 film with which the event shares a name, the evening also provides an introductory amuse bouche served by funkophiles Alex Penfold & band and dance group Funk Supreme. Afters are offered up by legendary disk jockey Norman Jay MBE, who will preside over what is being billed as the Jam of the Year once the credits roll.
This is Prince we are talking about, so it would be rude not dust of the glad rags as well as the dancing shoes. Costume is hotly encouraged: think raspberry berets, purple tuxes and velvet ruffs (see above).
Come and join the sexy revolution. And if the doves are going to cry, let them be tears of joy.
Tickets, priced at £16.50 incl. booking fee, go on sale tomorrow and can be bought here.
Presented by Come The Revolution, Colston Hall and Watershed in partnership with Ujima radio as part of #BFIBLACKSTAR. Part of the Norman Jay MBE Black Star Tour, produced by Live Cinema UK.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
