Live music has finally got under way at the troubled Co-op Live arena as the British band Elbow opened the new venue in Manchester.
The biggest indoor arena in the UK had postponed its opening show for the third time after part of its ventilation and air conditioning system fell to the ground from the ceiling during a soundcheck in early May.
On Tuesday, the £365-million venue officially opened its doors to "apprehensive" fans, before the rock band Elbow, who hail from Manchester, took to the stage after support act The Waeve performed.
Elbow are celebrating the release of their 10th studio album, Audio Vertigo, with their first tour since 2018. They made history as headliners of the opening night at the arena.
Frontman Guy Garvey told the audience that the people working on the building had been "so excited today, so nervous and so excited".
"There was already electricity in the air before you lot got in here and now it's fully amped up. I hope you can feel it," he said.
Before Elbow concluded their set, Garvey told the crowd: "You've house-warmed this beautiful new venue, shall we sing one last song together?"
Issues at the arena began after a test event in April led to the rescheduling of comedian Peter Kay's stand-up dates.
Kay, who was meant to be the "first artist in the world to perform at Manchester Co-op Live", according to promotional posters, had his shows postponed twice, as the venue was not ready to open.
The problems also led to the venue rescheduling a Black Keys gig.
The venue then planned for the US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie to open the arena on 1 May, but it was called off just over an hour before his performance and after doors had opened to fans - due to the ventilation system becoming detached.
Tim Leiweke, chief executive of the arena's operator, Oak View Group, said fittings in the arena had been "triple-checked" after the May incident, which could have been "catastrophic" if it had happened just 15 minutes later.
He told BBC News he was confident it was "the safest building in the world", adding there had been "no way" operators could have known the ventilation was not installed correctly.
"They didn't put the bolts in. It wasn't visible to the eye," he said. "And it fell out.
"So we [have since] got that double-checked and triple-checked. We've looked at thousands of bolts up in that ceiling now. We've looked at the life safety lines. And we were going to take our time to make sure we did this right.
"There was no way we were opening the doors until we checked every screw and every bolt and every one of those 95 shafts."
The ventilation issue meant scheduled performances by the US pop star Olivia Rodrigo and the British band Keane were postponed, while a series of shows by Take That were moved to the AO Arena in Manchester.
Last week, the East Sussex rock band Keane announced their postponed gig has been rescheduled for 19 October, while new dates are yet to be announced for Rodrigo.
The venue also added a headline performance from the US rapper Travis Scott, who will bring his Circus Maximus Tour on 13 July.
The Co-op Live arena is a joint venture between Oak View Group, co-founded by Leiweke and the US music mogul Irving Azoff, and City Football Group, owned by the billionaire United Arab Emirates royal and deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour.
Harry Styles is among the other investors.
Source: Press Association
Click here for more music news.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
