Rebecca Kane Burton in at Co-op Live as GM resigns
Venue management veteran Rebecca Kane Burton has been named interim boss of Manchester’s Co-op Live following the resignation of general manager Gary Roden.
Kane Burton served a near five-year stint as VP and GM of The O2 in London before stepping down in 2016 to become chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End venue chain LW Theatres until departing in 2021.
Prior to The O2, Kane Burton was MD of the 10,400-cap Alexandra Palace, also in London, and previously held a senior role at English Heritage. She was appointed UK & Ireland CEO of venue services company Sodexo Live! in 2022.
Roden’s exit from the 23,500-cap Co-op Live – a joint venture between Oak View Group (OVG) and City Football Group (CFG) – was confirmed last night (25 April) in the midst of a turbulent week for the UK’s largest live entertainment arena, which has been forced to postpone its opening for a second time.
The £365 million venue’s official launch was pushed back due to a delay in completion of the power supply at the site, days after its capacity for a free test performance by Rick Astley was cut from 11,000 to 4,000 at short notice.
Its grand opening with two shows by comedian Peter Kay, originally slated for this week, has now been switched to 23-24 May, while a 10,000-cap test event with the Black Keys set for tomorrow (27 April) will instead take place on 15 May.
“Rescheduling The Black Keys and Peter Kay gives the dedicated team the time and space needed to finalise systems and measures”
“It’s always been very important to me that we only open Co-op Live when it is safe and appropriate to do so, and rescheduling The Black Keys and Peter Kay gives the dedicated team the time and space needed to finalise systems and measures,” says OVG chair and CEO Tim Leiweke. “I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to every fan that has been impacted by this decision and others this week, and join the full team in thanking them for their continued patience and support as we prepare to open our doors.”
Roden’s recent comments to the BBC that some small music venues were “poorly run”, in response to the Music Venue Trust’s (MVT) calls for a compulsory £1 levy on tickets sold for UK live music events above 5,000-cap, also caused controversy.
“Why is a small venue failing?” he said. “Absolutely, en masse bills are going up and this, that and the other. But ultimately if there are 1,000 venues, one of them is going to be the best-run venue and one of them is going to be the poorly run venue, and where does the money go?
“If the conversation stops being ‘Give me a quid’ and quite aggressive – if it changed to be, ‘What can we do together to help?’, that’s where I think we start to get into that apprenticeship conversation and all those different things that we want to work through.”
MVT chief Mark Davyd criticised the remarks as “disrespectful and disingenuous”.
“The UK’s grassroots music venues are not ‘poorly run’, and it is disrespectful and disingenuous to suggest otherwise,” he told NME. “This is a highly skilled and experienced sector facing almost insurmountable and highly specialist challenges.”
“Neither Co-op Live nor Oak View Group share the sentiment expressed by former Co-op Live general manager Gary Roden regarding the grassroots industry”
Roden’s exit comes almost a year to the day since he joined Co-op Live as GM and executive director. He previously spent over eight years at Ticketmaster UK, latterly as SVP of client development and commercial.
OVG International president Jessica Koravos says Roden has “decided to resign” and the company remains “focused on opening Co-op Live”.
“We’d like to thank Gary for his help bringing the UK’s newest arena to live entertainment fans and wish him the best for the future,” she says. “Rebecca Kane Burton has been named interim GM, effective today. Rebecca is a seasoned veteran of venue management and live entertainment in the UK having served as VP/GM of The O2 from 2012-2016 and CEO of LW Theatres from 2016-2021.
“Neither Co-op Live nor Oak View Group share the sentiment expressed by former Co-op Live general manager Gary Roden regarding the grassroots industry. As OVG chairman and CEO Tim Leiweke has repeatedly stated, Co-op Live remains committed to grassroots music in Manchester and beyond, including teaming up with Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham on the Artist of the Month campaign, and as a founding partner of Beyond The Music.
“Co-op Live also donates over £1m a year to the Co-op Foundation to support communities and empower young people to take social action through its new Young Gamechangers fund. Oak View Group and Co-op Live remain happy to meet with grassroots organisations once the venue is fully operational.”
Meanwhile, Co-op Live has moved to reassure ticket-holders that upcoming dates with Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (1 May) and Olivia Rodrigo (3-4 May) will go ahead as planned.
A statement from the Co-op Group adds: “As the naming rights sponsor for Co-op Live, we are very disappointed in the delayed opening of the venue and fully recognise the disruption this has caused to affected ticket holders, many of whom are Co-op members.
“Co-op Live is an incredible venue and is a force for good for Manchester, our region and the UK as a whole. We look forward to seeing the venue fully open in accordance with the timescales provided by OVG today.”
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Licence granted for Manchester’s Co-op Live
Oak View Group’s Co-op Live venue is set to open next month as planned after being granted a licence by Manchester City Council, despite various objections.
The 23,500-cap development, which is a joint venture with City Football Group, will become the UK’s largest arena when it launches at Etihad Campus, the site of Manchester City FC’s Etihad Stadium, in April.
The council approved the licensing application today following a two-day hearing at Manchester Town Hall last week.
“We are delighted that Manchester City Council’s licensing sub-committee has today voted to approve our application for a premises licence,” says Co-op Live executive director and general manager Gary Roden. “We are grateful to local councillors and residents for their engagement during the process and will remain committed to being the best possible neighbour to the local community up to opening and beyond.
“Manchester deserves the best, and with the opening of Co-op Live just weeks away we’re excited to begin this new chapter in the city’s enviable cultural story.
“This £365 million investment will transform the fan experience of live entertainment, bring international superstars to Manchester”
“This £365 million investment will transform the fan experience of live entertainment, bring international superstars to Manchester, set a new benchmark for large arenas around the world and deliver a significant economic boost to the entire North West region.”
The bid had been subject to multiple objections, including from ASM Global, operator of Manchester’s longstanding 23,000-cap AO Arena, as well as 32 residents, two councillors, the council’s public health team and the Music Venue Trust, which argued the venue’s “ancillary spaces” could take trade off smaller businesses if they were allowed to stay open later.
ASM had argued that Co-op Live should close by midnight at the latest, and not be given the ability to open 24/7, 25 times a year, as requested. But OVG alleged the objections were “competition based”.
It was announced yesterday (29 February) that the 2024 MTV EMAs will be held at the new purpose-built live entertainment arena on 10 November.
Stand-up comedian Peter Kay will open the venue with his current record-breaking tour on 23 April, with other acts set to perform over the coming months including Pearl Jam, Take That, Liam Gallagher, Olivia Rodrigo, The Killers, Eagles, Kings of Leon, Nicki Minaj and Justin Timberlake.
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Co-op Live’s Gary Roden on changing the arena game
Co-op Live boss Gary Roden has spoken to IQ about the mission to make the new Manchester venue the “biggest and best arena in Europe”.
A joint venture between Oak View Group (OVG) and City Football Group (CFG), the 23,500-cap development will become the UK’s largest arena when it launches at Etihad Campus, the site of Manchester City FC’s Etihad Stadium in Eastlands, in April 2024. Harry Styles has also invested in the project.
Roden joined Co-op Live as general manager six months ago, taking charge of the strategic and operational delivery, after over eight years at Ticketmaster UK, latterly as SVP of client development and commercial. Roden credits OVG CEO Tim Leiweke’s influence on the arena’s groundbreaking “music-first” design.
“You can expect a building that’s very forward-thinking – that’s what Tim is all about,” says Roden. “Tim is always in the future and he’s put a big stake in Manchester because he firmly believes in it, along with our partner City Football Group. The plan is to build this incredible space in the north that is of the same scale you would expect from a capital city. It’s definitely got the Tim touch to it, put it that way.”
“Manchester is the UK’s second biggest music market by a significant distance”
He continues: “Tim Leiweke’s key focus was that he wanted it to be Europe’s biggest nightclub and the venue’s got a lot more going on for the fan to engage with before, during and after the event.
“The thing that is surprising people the most is how big, yet intimate it is, and that’s because the floor has been designed as a standing music floor and then the seats have been built around that. A lot of the legacy arenas in the UK are built around ice rinks, so they have a smaller footprint on the floor and it leads to the seats being a much steeper angle. But everyone’s going to be a lot closer to the artist on average here than they would be in an equivalent venue.
“We’re also very confident that from a sound perspective, the artist is going to be incredibly happy with what we deliver for them. I just can’t wait for that first big, loud gig to kick in; it’s going to be amazing.”
With concerts by Olivia Rodrigo (two dates), Keane, Take That (seven), Elbow, Eric Clapton, Barry Manilow, Smashing Pumpkins & Weezer, James, Liam Gallagher (four), Jonas Brothers, Niall Horan and Simply Red announced so far, Co-op Live’s opening season is rapidly taking shape. The headline act for its first night is still to be confirmed, however.
“We’ve got to go through a cycle of test events – which we think are going to be in April – and then the first official event will be in late April, so we’re in the final throes of working that out,” Roden tells IQ. “At the moment, we’re looking at 35 shows in the first two-and-a-bit months, so it’s a very significant opening period.
“Arenas usually go quiet in May/June because everyone turns their attention to festival season, so the fact we’re going to be doing up to 40 shows in that window is is huge and we’ve still got some big multi-night announcements to come. It might be quite late before we confirm the first show, but the options we’ve got at the moment are really exciting. Unfortunately that’s all I can say at this point!”
“We want to create residencies in Manchester and distort the model so that, if something big comes to the UK, it just doesn’t sit in London”
While Co-op Live will go head-to-head with ASM Global’s long-established 21,000-cap AO Arena in Manchester, Roden says the goal is to “grow the overall pie” for live music in the city.
“We decided on Manchester on the basis that it is the UK’s second biggest music market by a significant distance after London,” he says. “And if you’re looking to build a new facility, then London’s got two [arenas], Birmingham’s got two, etc. I also think that people up north in general just love live music, and we see that in the stats. So I think there’s definitely room for us in Manchester.”
Roden is optimistic the residency model showcased by local heroes Take That’s seven-night stand will become more commonplace at the venue, potentially leading to longer UK tours for global superstars.
“The idea and the mission is to be the biggest and best arena in Europe, and secondly, to bring more global talent to Manchester – that is ultimately the focus,” he insists. “Our model is based on bringing in international and UK artists to Manchester and sit there for longer. Manchester has now got seven Take That [shows] and London’s only got six, and that’s a massive step forward for us.
“Hopefully in the next three months or so as we start to move towards opening, you’ll get to see what we mean by that in terms of what we’re trying to deliver. We want to create residencies in Manchester and distort the model so that, if something big comes to the UK, it just doesn’t sit in London, it comes to Manchester and sits up north longer.”
“The scene is vibrant and we’re looking forward to taking it up an extra notch”
Moreover, he notes the venue appears to be a draw in its own right.
“Tottenham Hotspur found that the talk about the quality of their new stadium led to a lot of people going to the first thing that they just to experience what it’s like, and I think we’re in similar territory,” he says. “A venue of this scale and size hasn’t been built in the UK since The O2, so it’s a big thing for live entertainment and a lot of people are keen to see it.
“The stats are crazy at the moment: 30% of people are travelling more than 100 km to see the first 10 acts we announced and 50% are coming more than 50km, so it’s not just a local thing, which we’re incredibly excited about because it proves out what we always thought this would be – a northern powerhouse of a venue for live entertainment indoors.”
OVG says Co-op Live, which is a partner for ILMC 36, has been designed “with sustainability at its core”, and will use electricity for everything from air-source heat pumps for heating and domestic hot water through to cooling and catering, without any gas supply serving the site. It will become the UK’s first all-electric arena upon its opening and has pledged to support Manchester City Council’s target of becoming net zero carbon by 2038.
“[Sustainability] has fed into every single aspect of it,” adds Roden. “With where we are in the world right now, you have to build any infrastructure project responsibly, with sustainability in mind – never mind a large entertainment building. The artists demand it and the fans demand it now as well, so that’s what we’ve got to deliver.”
Referencing the wider UK arena sector, Roden concludes: “The level of competition is high, but it needs to be because the demand is there. Live was always strong leading into Covid, but post-Covid that ability to enjoy something in a live environment has really captured the public’s imagination and they definitely crave live experiences.
“The arena industry, in general, is in great shape. Competition is high, which ultimately helps fans and artists because it means people have to invest more in their buildings. There are new facilities being talked about and people are looking to invest in the infrastructure to make it better, so the scene is vibrant and we’re looking forward to taking it up an extra notch.”
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Co-op Live names Gary Roden general manager
Manchester’s Co-op Live has appointed Gary Roden executive director and general manager, overseeing the operation of the UK’s largest live entertainment arena.
Roden joins Co-op Live after over eight years at Ticketmaster UK, most recently as senior vice president of client development and commercial.
He takes charge of the strategic and operational delivery of Co-op Live, a joint venture between Oak View Group (OVG) and City Football Group (CFG), leading an eight-strong executive team.
The arena, due to open in December, will have a capacity of 23,500 fans and play host to over 120 shows annually at Manchester’s Etihad Campus.
“Gary Roden’s experience speaks for itself, and we’re thrilled to have him join an already phenomenal team of exceptional industry leaders”
Roden says: “I am delighted to be joining Co-op Live, leading the team in Manchester to launch and operate a gamechanging arena experience for both fans and artists. I can’t wait to get started, working with Oak View Group, City Football Group, key stakeholders and partners to launch what is not only set to be a groundbreaking arena for the UK, but one that will see Manchester firmly leading the way globally.”
Jessica Koravos, co-chair of Oak View Group International, notes: “Gary Roden’s experience speaks for itself, and we’re thrilled to have him join an already phenomenal team of exceptional industry leaders, and to continue to drive Oak View Group and City Football Group’s joint vision to deliver world-leading, planet-friendly entertainment.”
Co-op Live says Roden’s appointment marks another major milestone in the arena’s journey to becoming the most sustainable and socially responsible arena in the UK.
As well as pledging to support Manchester City Council’s target of becoming net zero carbon by 2038 the venue will donate at least £1m annually to the Co-op Foundation to support local and national initiatives focused on young people, food security, education and sustainability.
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