Tributes to Paul ‘Jacko’ Jackson

‘ONE OF THE FINEST GRASSROOTS MUSIC VENUE OWNERS THIS COUNTRY HAS KNOWN’: Paul Jackson

By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor

Tributes have been paid from across the world of music following the death of Paul Jackson, founder of Hull’s legendary and award-winning independent music venue The Adelphi.

Paul died on March 31 after a short illness. He was 71.

He lived with type one diabetes for 55 years and was diagnosed with charcot foot in 2015. He had the bottom half of his left leg amputated in January 2023.

Paul’s funeral will take place today at 1.30pm in the Large Chapel at Chanterlands Avenue Crematorium. The cortège will leave The Adelphi at 1.10pm and make the short journey down De Grey Street, Newland Avenue and Goddard Avenue to the crematorium.

The service will be live streamed outside the chapel, online for public access and also streamed live at The People’s Republic on Newland Avenue.

Paul founded The New Adelphi Club in 1984 at a former working men’s club at the now famous address of 89 De Grey Street. Under his brilliant, resilient and unique leadership it earned a national and international reputation as a must-play venue on the alternative music circuit.

As well as providing live performance opportunities for generations of local musicians who write their own material, The Adelphi helped forge the careers of many artists who became household names, including The Housemartins, Radiohead, The La’s, Pulp, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Fatboy Slim, Franz Ferdinand, The Stone Roses, Green Day, Echo & The Bunnymen, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and The Idles, to name a few.

It still does.

Some of those were among the first to pay tribute to Paul and to recognise his contribution after his death was announced by the venue.

Few perhaps put it better than Paul Heaton, of Housemartins, Beautiful South and solo fame, when he told Steve Lamacq on his BBC Radio 6 show: “Paul Jackson, what a brilliant personality… Every city had a club like the Adelphi, but I really don’t think any other city had somebody like Paul Jackson.”

The then unknown Housemartins were only the third band to play The Adelphi after it opened in the autumn of 1984.

The Music Venue Trust described Paul as “one of the finest grassroots music venue owners this country has ever known”.

ICON: The Adelphi

Radiohead’s Philip Selway posted: “Rest in Power Jacko! Always a total pleasure to spend time with him. So grateful for all the support that he gave Radiohead and everything he did for the live community. An amazing and inspiring man!”

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand described it as “very sad news” and said he had “such fond memories of the Adelphi”.

Closer to home, some of Paul’s friends and members of the community he created gathered at The Adelphi on the day he died to swap stories, hugs and maybe a glass or two. Paul was equally proud of the bar he kept, with his distinctive hand-written monthly gig fliers often also bearing messages such as: “HAND DRAWN REAL ALES OUR SPECIALITY.”

So far, 11 bands who have played in The Adelphi’s intimate surroundings of have gone on to headline the main Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, one of the biggest and most coveted gigs in the world.

All cut their teeth before one of the most discerning audiences in music.

By the time it celebrated its 40th birthday in 2024 The Adelphi had welcomed over a million visitors and played host to more than 40,000 bands.

HONOUR: Paul collecting the MVT Outstanding Achievement Award in 2019, with Steve Lamacq and KT Tunstall

Paul and the venue had by then notched up a number of awards. In 2022 The Adelphi was named UK Grassroots Venue of the Year at the Music Week Awards. Paul received the Music Venue Trust Outstanding Achievement award in 2019. The Adelphi was named Yorkshire Small Venue of the Year in 2018.

Central to the venue’s success and continued operation was Paul’s indefatigable commitment and ability to combine the running of the club on a shoestring budget while consistently booking great bands. It was a kind of genius.

Paul looked back on his career in an interview with this newspaper ahead of The Adelphi’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

Describing his booking policy, Paul said: “I think one of the things you’ve got to learn is to not let your taste, your personal taste, be too dominant.

“You’ve got to talk to people about the music they like whether you like it or not. And you’ve got to talk to them about how they respect it and criticise it and sort out the s**t from the decent stuff and all that.

“And if they talk about their music with the same reverence you have for your music then you’ve got to give them a go. And if the people who come to it are OK then you do it.”

The Adelphi became a not-for-profit Community Interest Company in February 2017, with Heaton and Jarvis Cocker as its patrons.

Paul was asked about his most treasured memories of The Adelphi in the same interview, and said: “There have been so many highlights my one to ten would vary from day to day. Most nights have been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to have been there and been involved in the organisation.

COMMON PEOPLE: Jarvis Cocker plays at The Adelphi’s 30th anniversary. Picture by Ian Rook

“It’s really nice to see bands starting at The Adelphi and to see them making careers and often very decent careers after they’ve played The Adelphi. It’s always nice to think that.

“You know, Radiohead, for example, did really well. It’s nice to see that and it was a real pleasure, both to have worked with them and to have seen them at their best because people say, ‘Oh, you see bands at The Adelphi on their way up and on their way down’, but on the way up is the best time to see a band, when they’re hungry.

“It’s no use going to see them when they’re all millionaires just going through the motions, playing all the hits, that’s boring. A gig in a place like The Adelphi whacks a stadium gig every time, pretty much, and we see lots of magic at The Adelphi.”

Paul also reflected on another proud legacy of the club in the environment he created with it.

He said: “I wanted The Adelphi to be a place that set standards of inclusivity in the city and I think to a certain extent I was extremely successful in that.

“I wanted it to be cosmopolitan, tolerant and inclusive in a way that probably hadn’t been seen in the city previously. And I wanted it to be a place where a woman could come alone and be treated like a human being.

“Along with lots of other stuff that I‘ve done that’s probably my greatest source of pride, really; that I’ve created a safe space, a place of good conversation, and kids who’ve come through The Adelphi have tended to do very well. There are people around the world who say they grew up in The Adelphi.”

Among the many visitors Paul had at Dove House Hospice during the last days of his life was the Lord Mayor, Councillor Cheryl Payne, who made him an Honorary Burgess of Hull.

It was a belated but fitting recognition from the city for a man who arguably made the biggest contribution to its cultural and creative life in modern times.