Images have been revealed inside the new Co-op Live arena, as guests have been taken on a tour for the first time.
The arena, which cost an eyewatering £365m, is being built by Manchester City's Etihad Stadium. The 23,500-capacity arena is on track to be completed and ready to host events will open its doors in April, 2024.
As part of the "topping out" ceremony - the final stage of roof construction - guests including partners, venue stakeholders, media, as well as the construction and subcontractor team, were invited to sign the final acoustically treated roof cassette, lifted into place to top out the structure, with their signatures becoming part of the permanent structure.
The arena is being built by BAM Construct UK and is being led by a joint venture between City Football Group and Los Angeles-based Oak View Group. Pop star Harry Styles was also announced as an investor in October 2020.
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The venue, which was originally slated to open in December this year, will host around 120 events a year, and feature 32 bars, restaurants and lounges, including locally sourced and sustainable food and drink, the MEN reports.
Led by a keynote welcome from joint-venture partner Oak View Group CEO, Tim Leiweke, the event also included speeches from City Football Group CEO, Ferran Soriano; naming-rights partner Co-op Director of Marketing Communications, Amanda Jennings; BAM Construct UK Executive Director, James Wimpenny; and Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham.
Gary Roden, Co-op Live Executive Director and General Manager, added: "I have no doubt this venue is going to be one of the world’s best live entertainment experiences, and we can’t wait to announce the iconic artists who will play our stage very soon."
The arena will also include the largest floor space of any indoor venue, a "significantly lower" ceiling, and tiered seating. The venue was given the go-ahead in 2020 and has a 15-year naming rights deal with the Co-op.
It will also will feature a 'smart bowl' which took inspiration from conversations with Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles, and will feature no corporate branding and will be lined by suites at the edges of level two which will include soundproof black curtains to maximise the impact of shows' sound and lighting.
Also in attendance, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham admitted to having stage fright whilst stepping up to the podium inside the "smart bowl."
He said: "Look at the size of this place, this is going to make us the music capital of Europe. Obviously, we’ll have venues of all sizes, right from the smallest to this place, the largest in the country, one of the best and biggest in Europe, it’s going to put Manchester in a dominating position on the music map. People in this city region and beyond will come here for decades to come.
"What I like so much about it is that it won't just have the biggest names and the biggest acts in the world here on stage, but instead space is being created in the concourses and in the venue to put on the new and emerging acts from the region. I have a Mayor's Artists of the month, where I pick out up-and-coming Manchester bands and acts and give them a profile and we have an agreement here that some of them will play on those stages."
Co-op Live will open its doors in April 2024. Artist announcements across opening season are expected in the coming months.
