The AO Arena welcomed Andy Burnham and Blossoms today to celebrate the completion of its £50m redevelopment.
As the biggest indoor venue in the UK and one of the busiest in the world, the AO Arena is now working to even further elevate the guest experience, from start to finish.
Its huge investment has seen new features added like an increased standing floor capacity in the arena bowl itself, a brand new lower concourse bar area with capacity for 6,000 (plus new bars in the main concourse), and new entrances to make getting in and out of the arena the quickest in Europe.
Then there is the crowning jewel at the AO Arena, its new bar and restaurant The Mezz, set to open in March, which will welcome a new partnership with chefs Simon Rogan MBE and Tom Barnes of soon-to-open Skof.
To mark its monumental redevelopment, the AO Arena invited Stockport legends Blossoms to place their hands in cement on the concourse, leaving their mark permanently on the city’s most iconic venue.
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Blossoms said: “When the AO Arena opened again after Covid, we were the first band to play a gig here. We’re excited to celebrate the official topping out of the redevelopments and look forward to seeing what the future AO Arena has to offer.”
The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was also in attendance to celebrate the landmark moment, speaking of all the shows he’s seen over the years (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Elbow all highlights, apparently).
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The improvements to the venue aren’t just on a fan level either – work has also included a complete back of house overhaul including an artist green room, dressing rooms and crew facilities.
AO has also announced it is extending its naming rights partnership of the 21,000 capacity, 30-year-old venue all the way into 2030.
The AO Arena’s £50m transformation includes a new VIP entrance, a members only bar and restaurant, a brand new lower concourse, an improved focus on customer safety measures, and full wall wraps highlighting the venue’s iconic milestones.
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On the concourse, there’ll be a brand new food and drink offering, including handcrafted burgers, salt and pepper chicken and accompanying vegan options including smash meat-free burgers with vegan smoked applewood and vegan loaded fries, as well as vegan bratwurst with sauerkraut in a vegan brioche bun topped with crispy onions and served with vegan chilli cheese sauce.
Over the years, the AO Arena has welcomed the biggest names in music and sport, such as Prince, Elton John, New Order, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Billie Eilish, Oasis, Dua Lipa and The Courteeners, plus of course Peter Kay’s record-breaking 50+ date residency (which is still ongoing, by the way…), and has also played host to The Commonwealth Games, The Davis Cup, boxing bouts with Mike Tyson, Anthony Joshua, Ricky Hatton and much more.
Visited by more than one million people each year, the AO Arena is promising this will be its best year yet, raising tens of thousands of pounds and giving hundreds of hours to local community projects.
And coming up this year alone there’ll be more Peter Kay Live, The 1975, Bill Bailey, Niall Horan, Ne-Yo, and plenty more to be announced.
A company has created some extremely sarcastic greeting and birthday cards mocking Co-op Live
Danny Jones
A UK card company has decided to join in with the pile on over Co-op Live’s chaotic ‘opening’ weeks by creating a series of greeting and birthday cards mocking the arena and its ongoing saga.
If you’re a deeply sarcastic person who struggles to be sincere with those you hold nearest and dearest or simply want to get a co-worker something that says we care that you’re leaving but not so much as to let go without one final dig, these are right up your street.
So, with that in mind, greeting card company thortful – who are just as good at novelty as they are being actually thoughtful when it comes to words – have come up with a few clever little ways of wishing someone a happy birthday or congratulating them on their new home at the arena’s expense.
There’s a new home version of this one too.(Credit: thortful)
Not bad, to be fair.
Tim Leiweke, Chairman and CEO of Oak View Group (which owns and operates Co-op Live), recently released a statement offering his ‘sincere apologies’ and explaining the steps being taken during the venue’s ‘short pause’.
He admitted, “It’s not been the smooth start we had planned for, and I know that has caused a huge amount of disruption and frustration to thousands of people”, adding that they are “working incredibly hard to get the building up and running, and we look forward to welcoming you to the arena from 14 May 2024.”
The London-based card company is known for lots of comedy captions and with every Tom, Dick and Harry taking a pop at the venue already, they clearly thought ‘We might as well join in’.
In fact, they’ve been taking the mick ever since the whole thing kicked off.
The date mentioned above will see Manc music legends Elbow arrive as the venue’s new opening act artists after so many other acts ended up having their gigs pulled and we can only hope and pray that everything is on course for next week.
With more and more names being announced for their 2024 and 2025 calendar left right and centre, the most recent being rapper Travis Scott, it looks as though they’re confident that the arena will open and live up to the expectations it has built up given its billing as the biggest indoor entertainment in the UK.
As for thortful and everyone else, we just have to wait with bated breath to see if there’s set to be another twist in this tale and enjoy the light-hearted jokes in the meantime.
Keane’s Manchester gig has finally been rescheduled after Co-op Live postponement
Danny Jones
Keane’s Manchester gig which should have taken place earlier this month has finally been rescheduled as Co-op Live looks to be back on track.
The Noughties pop-rock band best known for songs like ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and Everybody’s Changing’ were set to play the brand-new venue on Sunday, 5 May but had to cancel their date just days before after the arena had to once again inform music fans that it was still not ready.
Now though, the four-piece have confirmed they will still be playing Co-op Live this year, only the date has now been moved to 19 October.
We’re pleased to announce that our gig at Manchester Co-op Live will be rescheduled for Saturday 19th October 2024. This show is very special to us and we want to make sure we can give you the best possible experience. Thank you for bearing with us and for your love and support pic.twitter.com/fLYSFOqmQA
Keane’s much anticipated Manchester gig has officially been rescheduled to October.
Celebrating 20 years since the release of their seminal album Hopes and Fears, fans have been waiting a long time for the boys to come back on the biggest stages and have also roped in Wigan locals The Lathums as the support act.
While it’s still a fairly happy ending overall, knowing that the gig will go ahead come the fall, plenty of people have still been left irked by the whole situation, with many now worried about potential clashes and being unable to attend the new date.
Writing on X, one user wrote, “Looking forward to seeing you again [and] it gives Co-op Live plenty of time to get it right”, while another was less forgiving: “Best possible experience would have been to play the AO on the actual date or at least explain why Take That could and you couldn’t.”
Safe to say the arena still has some way to go if they want to restore faith.
OMG! Thank you @keaneofficial dreamy date to come back to the UK for me 💖. And @TheCoopLive you should be so thankful for Keane rescheduling your venue. I was there last Sunday and there were not even lights installed 🤡. Shame on you! Hope the venue to be ready for October
With Manc music legends Elbow now set to be the venue’s official opening act next week on Tuesday, 14 May, while the Co-op Live has so far avoided assuring that the gig will go ahead as planned (that came to bit them in the back-side the last three times), there has been no indication of another postponement.
Surely it can’t happen again, can it?
There are still some tickets left for Keane’s 20th-anniversary show too if you fancy rolling back the years with the lads and don’t worry – we’re pretty bloody sure it’ll be open by then.