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Thanks to the impacts of Brexit, political instability, and a disastrous mini-budget by then-prime minister Liz Truss – which combined to deepen the inflationary crisis, sent interest rates rocketing, and increased international touring costs in this major touring territory – the UK has faced greater economic challenges than most equivalent markets over the past year.
Yet, by almost all reports, arena-level live events have weathered this perfect storm with an impressive sturdiness.
“It’s a busy time, much better than it was three years ago,” says Christian D’Acuña, senior programming director at The O2 in London. “We’ve still got a huge backlog of artists that are looking to tour, so the diary at The O2 is looking busier than ever. Ticket sales-wise, after the pandemic, it started off a little bit slowly, and we needed to regain confidence in the market, but that’s started to pick up again now, and all the shows since the pandemic have had the most incredible atmosphere. People want to have a good time and make up for lost time.”
“We’ve still got a huge backlog of artists that are looking to tour, so the diary at The O2 is looking busier than ever”
With a maximum capacity of 20,000 and capable of scaling down to half-capacity and smaller, The O2 is a keystone in many top-scale arena tours of the UK. It held the first major UK show back after lockdown – by Gorillaz in August 2021 – and has since seen a huge influx of events, both rescheduled (including ten nights of Elton John’s record-breaking Farewell, Yellow Brick Road tour) and last-minute. Ed Sheeran sold out two shows that were announced just two weeks in advance, while The 1975 filled two nights, thanks to the social media buzz around their ground-breaking theatrical show.
“They had incredible reviews,” says D’Acuña, noting how online clips of the production from earlier dates drove sales further along the tour. “It was the first time I’ve seen TikTok have an amazing effect on ticket sales in the two weeks running up to the show.”
D’Acuña has also been so impressed by the rise of K-pop that The O2 is planning its first festival dedicated to the genre in September. He also notes a freshly feverish appetite for rap and Afropop acts such as Wizkid and Davido and says the UK arena market is laughing its way back to good health, with nine shows by comedians Micky Flanagan and Peter Kay doing swift, short-notice business.
“It was the first time I’ve seen TikTok have an amazing effect on ticket sales in the two weeks running up to the show”
The venue recently updated its premium hospitality to include a lounge, introduced a Green Rider to help visiting acts remain as environmentally friendly as possible, and launched walk-through AI scanners at all entrances to allow audiences to enter without being delayed by security searches.
“Comedy tends to be strong when times are tough,” says Guy Dunstan, managing director of ticketing and arenas at Birmingham’s NEC Group, which runs the Resorts World Arena (15,700), Utilita Arena (15,800), and has catering, conferencing, hospitality, venue management, and ticketing brands. The Utilita Arena has seen shows by Kevin Hart, Ricky Gervais, and Michael McIntyre rivalling Snoop Dogg, Elton John, and local heroes Duran Duran.
“People want a night out where they can escape from reality and have a bit of a laugh. Plus, the price of a ticket for a comedian tends to be at the lower end of the arena scale of ticket prices.”
Dunstan has also noted shows going on sale with much shorter lead times, as well as audiences buying tickets late, wary of their tightening budgets for luxuries like live entertainment, cancellations, or another of the country’s numerous recent transport strikes.
“People want a night out where they can escape from reality and have a bit of a laugh. Plus, the price of a ticket for a comedian tends to be at the lower end of the arena scale of ticket prices”
“People are taking longer to decide whether to commit to going to something,” he says. “If they’re more marginal fans, then they’re holding out. People are looking for certainty in terms of ‘Am I going to be able to get to the venue? How am I going to get there? Have I got enough pounds in the bank account to go to the event?’”
The iconic OVO Arena Wembley – or simply Wembley Arena – has a capacity range from 4,000 to 12,000 using a draping system. It has a “healthy and active” diary for 2023 as the market returns to normal, including shows by Ricky Gervais, Pet Shop Boys, and K-pop stars NCT Dream.
The gap between announcement and show has shrunk as short as it could possibly go, says VP and general manager John Drury. “Micky Flanagan played two shows on the [King’s] coronation day with five weeks’ notice and it worked really well.”
Last-minute shows, Dunstan argues, are a knock-on effect of global inflation. “We’re hearing one or two people say it is potentially the way things will work in the future,” he says.
Last-minute shows, Dunstan argues, are a knock-on effect of global inflation. “We’re hearing one or two people say it is potentially the way things will work in the future”
“The cost of touring has increased so much that in order to have certainty about how much it’s going to cost to tour, booking a show later means that can be factored in, the ticket price can be set accordingly, and show budgets can be more accurate. If a show confirmed and went on sale 12 months ago, the increase in the cost of touring over the last 12 months will put a serious dent in the bottom line.”
Dunstan reports business at the Utilita as “solid” rather than “spectacular” – although few events are underperforming. The shortage of international acts is gradually easing back to pre-pandemic levels and, despite the bleak economic outlook, spends and ticket sales are strong and bookings healthy.
“It wasn’t the boom year that we were all anticipating in the 18 months of closure,” he says, “[but] we had a really good full year in terms of returning back to business.” The NEC Group is looking to expand its festival programme after hosting Wireless in 2022, has recently announced a partnership with Secret Cinema (which debuts there with Grease), and hopes to soon restart its stalled plans to extend the 15,600-capacity Resorts World Arena once building costs fall.
Another venue rushed off its feet in 2022-3 was the OVO Hydro in Glasgow (5,000 to 14,300 capacity), which saw a record year in 2022, topping the Pollstar rankings of Europe’s busiest arenas, thanks to shows by Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, and Paolo Nutini. “The live entertainment market in Glasgow is exceptionally buoyant,” says Debbie McWilliams, director of live entertainment, who is excited to be marking the venue’s tenth anniversary in September.
“It wasn’t the boom year that we were all anticipating in the 18 months of closure,” he says, “[but] we had a really good full year in terms of returning back to business.”
Last March, the OVO Hydro was the first arena in the world to be certified as a Greener Arena in recognition of its continual striving for climate-friendly improvements, with the aim of reaching net zero by 2030 (the OVO Arena Wembley, also focussing on green initiatives in 2023, has since been awarded the accolade, too). Initiatives have included a switch to full digital ticketing and a stack-cup initiative, which replaces single-use cups with reusable ones.
It has also revamped its members’ bar and restaurant ahead of the arrival of a private Super Suite in 2024 and introduced self-ordering kiosks for regular customers.
Sustainability is forefront at the 10,250-capacity Alexandra Palace in North London, too, where commercial director Lucy Fenner reports a live entertainment market “bouncing back” despite the economic challenges, with over 1m customers set to attend shows by the likes of Avril Lavigne and The National as well as the outdoor Kaleidoscope Festival in 2023, the iconic building’s 150th anniversary.
As part of a 10-year strategy, the venue has partnered with DICE to offer solely digital ticketing, instal LED lights, and eliminate plastics from live music events.
Sustainability is forefront at the 10,250-capacity Alexandra Palace in North London, too, where commercial director Lucy Fenner reports a live entertainment market “bouncing back” despite the economic challenges.
Other venues are also making positive changes, both for the environment and the industry. The Royal Highland Centre (RHC) in Edinburgh is Scotland’s largest indoor and outdoor venue, comprising several large halls with capacities ranging from 5,000 to 8,000 (where techno festivals have proven popular of late and Boygenius, Fred Again…, and Primal Scream arrive in 2023), and 280 acres of land due to host shows by Lewis Capaldi and The Killers for up to 30,000 in the coming months.
Where many venues are having to pass the increased costs of operating their venues on to promoters and artists, the RHC is looking to share the burden.
“What we’re trying to do is take some of the risk out of it for the promoter by reducing some of the overhead costs,” says director of operations Mark Currie. “We are changing our traditional rental approaches and our commercial model to take a bit more risk so that the promoter sees that we’re sharing it with them. If a gig doesn’t sell well, we’ll take the hit with them; if it sells well, we’ll share in the glory.”
At the Motorpoint Arena and National Ice Centre in Nottingham (variable between 2,000 and 10,500 capacity) chief executive Martin Ingham has also seen a record-breaking year for music events but predicts a more balanced 2023 and 2024 as the rescheduled shows make way for other forms of entertainment.
“We are changing our traditional rental approaches and our commercial model to take a bit more risk so that the promoter sees that we’re sharing it with them. If a gig doesn’t sell well, we’ll take the hit with them; if it sells well, we’ll share in the glory.”
“If you look at the impact on the different genres during Covid,” he says, “a lot of the family shows and the sporting events just cancelled, whereas the music shows postponed. So the majority of the shows that rolled over were music shows, and that’s why I think 2022 was a particularly strong year for us with music. It was our busiest ever year for music by some distance.”
The venue – where Michael Bublé, Iron Maiden, and Peter Gabriel play in 2023 – is capitalising on its successes with extensive expansion work, including extending the entrance area to include a pre-show food and drink “activation space” in Bolero Square, as well as opening a new hospitality lounge called The Green Room; installing LED sports lighting ahead of the World Ice Hockey Championships; switching to Ticketek digital ticketing; upgrading Wi-Fi and backstage facilities; and expanding catering options.
Thirty miles north at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, GM Dominic Stokes finds the live market “generally optimistic and steadily building momentum” towards pre-2020 levels after a prolonged Covid recovery. “International acts seem to be leading that charge in stadiums, and we should hopefully see a ripple effect in the arenas,” he says.
Thirty miles north at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, GM Dominic Stokes finds the live market “generally optimistic and steadily building momentum” towards pre-2020 levels after a prolonged Covid recovery.
The venue, capable of capacity configurations from 1,500 up to 13,764, is excited to be hosting the return of local heroes Pulp this summer and has come to epitomise the term “multipurpose.” It doubles as the UK’s best-attended ice hockey stadium, will soon play host to a reimagined version of TV battle show Gladiators, and – thanks to a lay-out that allows lorries to drive straight into the venue – is a thriving rehearsal space for major tours by the likes of Dua Lipa and Sam Smith.
Other key venues across the four nations include the 7,500-capacity Cardiff International Arena in Wales, soon to be joined by a new 15,000-cap venue also run by Live Nation in 2025, and Belfast’s SSE Arena in Northern Ireland, boasting a capacity range between 2,500 and 10,800.
Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena (with a capacity range up to 11,000 and a schedule over the past year including Elton John, Rod Stewart, Christina Aguilera, and the World Gymnastics Championships) recently played host to the Eurovision Song Contest, the first time the event has been held in the UK since 1998.
The venue hopes the success of the event will help drive an “extremely encouraging” coming 12-18 months as, according to Kay Wilson, head of sales in entertainment and sport, “a large number of artists [are] keen to make up for time lost during the pandemic.”
“Eurovision really did help to project us onto the international stage,” Wilson says, “which has given us a fantastic opportunity to leverage this global event. We hope this, together with the city’s musical heritage, will impact the range of artists we attract and who want to perform here.
“Eurovision really did help to project us onto the international stage”
“It’s testament to the venues, promoters, artists, and the fans that live entertainment has not just bounced back across the UK, but there is room for new development and growth,” says Gary Roden, executive director and general manager of Co-op Live, a new 8,000-23,500-capacity, eco-friendly arena set to open shortly in Manchester as the UK’s largest indoor arena.
Set within a complex including 32 bars and restaurants, the venue will enhance Manchester’s live music standing already well established by the 21,000-capacity AO Arena, one of the world’s busiest.